Remarkable Reading�at�Clacton Coastal Academy
Reading for Pleasure
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT YOUR CHILD
“Reading is like joy: you can exist without it, but why would you want to?”��MARCUS SEDGWICK
“Because reading is so integrated into every aspect of modern life, teaching reading really is equipping children for the future.”�
JAMES MURPHY
DID YOU KNOW?
Research shows that reading has benefits in many areas of education and life. In addition to the obvious benefits on reading comprehension, vocabulary and attainment, it also impacts upon:
DID YOU KNOW?
If students struggle to read, then the texts they encounter at secondary school can be off-putting for them and then, understandably, result in low levels of enjoyment and therefore demotivation. This creates a vicious cycle: as they struggle and don’t enjoy it, they read less - and because they read less, they don’t progress and then find that they struggle to acquire the necessary knowledge in many other subjects too. Wellbeing and behaviour can also be affected as a result of this.
It is, therefore, vital that we help them not just with their reading skill, but their perception of it as an enjoyable activity. Research suggests that reading for pleasure makes the most difference to students’ progress and attainment in reading which has a hugely positive impact in their attainment in all subjects.
THE BENEFITS OF READING
UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS WHO STRUGGLE WITH READING
THE CYCLE OF POSITIVE INFLUENCE
National Literacy Trust research into the interrelationships between reading enjoyment, attitudes, behaviour and attainment suggests that the current thinking could be considered as a ‘cycle of positive influence’.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S READING AT HOME?
Share your experiences
Sharing your experiences about why reading is important for life and work, while being mindful not to add to any negative feelings, can help children to see that everyone struggles with certain things but it’s worth persevering.
Don’t make it a chore
Avoid reading being seen as a chore through requests such as ‘if you read for 15 minutes, you can…’. Whilst this may work for some young people, it is unlikely to lead to reading being seen as an enjoyable activity.
Take an interest
Take an interest in what they’re reading and studying at school by reading around topics as well so that you can engage in discussion about their texts/ areas of learning, whilst modelling an interest in reading.
Give lots of praise
Help your child to experience feeling successful with reading. Praise and encourage them, whilst showing interest in what they’ve read.
Make time
Research showed that reading for pleasure increased during the COVID lockdowns because they had more time to read and less distractions. This would suggest that helping your child to balance their time and factor reading into their schedule in a quiet environment would be beneficial.
FINDING TEXTS FOR YOUR CHILD
If your child struggles with reading, they may find it difficult to access certain texts that would otherwise interest them and which explore issues relevant to their age. This can be a barrier to finding reading enjoyable.
Research by the National Literacy Trust found that students who experienced an increased enjoyment in reading during Covid-19 lockdowns noted an increase in the choice of good quality reading material as one of the reasons. However, some missed having the guidance of hearing others read and getting suggestions for different books.
It’s clear, therefore, that we all need to be able to help guide students towards finding a range of reading material they could be interested in, so that they can see the various options and have a selection to choose from. This could include non-fiction articles from magazines, newspapers or websites, novels, plays, or blog posts etc. It doesn’t necessarily matter what they read; the important thing is to help them get into reading in whatever form that may take. Emerging research also suggests that audiobooks may be helpful for increasing interest in reading, as well as modelling good reading fluency, so these may also be worth exploring if your child is reluctant to pick up a book.
WHERE TO LOOK:
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILST READING WITH YOUR CHILD
You could use the prompts below to help you start a discussion about an extract or whole text. You could read the text with your child (either one of you reading, or taking it in turns) or you could read the text independently from each other and use these prompts to start a discussion afterwards.
BEFORE YOU READ
PREDICT�Make predictions before you read something together. This could be based on what will happen next in a story, what an article could be about based on the headline or what clues the book cover can give you about the narrative.
DISCUSS RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES
Discussing any knowledge or experience they have about a topic may help them to understand a text better or to make connections. For example, if you are reading a text about dinosaurs, you could ask what they can recall about dinosaurs (even if it’s just from Jurassic Park!).
CHECK UNDERSTANDING REGULARLY
As you read, you will come across words and information they may not fully understand. Make sure you pause and check your child’s understanding, thoughts or ideas about something they’ve read regularly to ensure that they definitely understand what they are reading.