Teens who choose to pick up a book for pleasure are more likely to succeed in life, research shows. But getting them to do so isn’t easy, says Jonathan Douglas.
Street smart: a scene from the
hit US TV series 'Life As We Know It’ adapted from Melvin Burgess’s cult novel
'Doing It’. Below: Jonathan Douglas Photo: ABC
Inc/Everett/Rex Features
The Telegraph - 04 May 2013
Reading for pleasure at the age of 15 is a strong factor in determining
future social mobility. Indeed, it has been revealed as the most important
indicator of the future success of the child. That was the startling finding of
research carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development on education and reading, and their role in promoting social
mobility. It highlights why getting teenagers to read for pleasure is more than
a sepia-tinted ambition for frustrated parents. It is a fundamental social
issue.
The research findings need unpicking. A distinction is being drawn between
different motivations for reading – whether it is done for its own sake, or
whether it is the result of being cajoled by carrots and sticks. Research
suggests those who read for pleasure demonstrate an intrinsic desire to engage
with stories, texts and learning. Reading for pleasure therefore reveals a
predisposition not just to literature, but to the sort of lifelong learning that
explains increased social mobility.
There is a simple conclusion to draw from all this. We must encourage our
children to read for pleasure. But that is easy to say and hard to achieve,
particularly in the culture in which many young people grow up today in Britain.
They have plenty of other leisure activities to choose from.
They can, of course, read on a screen, but we read in different ways when
reading different formats. The language of emails, for example, is not the same
as the language we would use in a letter. Analysis so far of the impact of
digital literature is that it can play an important role in building core
literacy skills, but there is an ongoing debate about whether it conveys the
same benefits as reading a physical book. Initial research in the United States
would appear to suggest that it doesn’t.
There are also differences between boys and girls in terms of reading for
pleasure. In Britain, girls read more and have more positive attitudes to
reading than boys. This is not a universal phenomenon. In India, by contrast, it
is the other way around, though that may have more to do with questions of
gender and access in that society.
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