“What do you like to read?”
About the kind of texts boys read and how they
talk about their reading
The Visions Conference 2011, University of Oslo
Eva Michaelsen and Joron Pihl Oslo University College
Research questions
• What kind of texts are interesting for boys between the ages 10 to 12, and how do they talk about their reading?
• How do the school acknowledge boys’ reading interests and leisure time reading?
• How can the school utilize the boys’ special competence and enhance their self esteem, in order to motivate them to
Background I
“Multiplicity, Empowerment, Citizenship”
• partnership between two primary schools, two teacher education institutions and a public library
• project period 2007-2011
• development of literacy and inclusive education
• extensive access to reading and the use of public and school libraries in education (“book-flooding”)
• three classes at each school
• collaboration between teachers and librarians (and researchers)
Background II
”Literacy practices are part of broader social practices” (Barton 2007:184) PIRLS 2007, PISA 2009: difference in reading achievement between boys
and girls (Begnum et al. 2007, Kjærnslie & Roe 2010)
Important factors (individually)
• how the student evaluates his or her reading skills
• negative or positive attitudes towards reading
• reading related leisure time interests Positive factors (school level)
• Teachers facilitating activities after reading (PIRLS 2006, international report)
”Much is more”
•
Students who read a lot of fiction become
good readers
•
The good circle: the more you read, the more
you trust that you can read
•
When you read what the school recommend
as good fiction you are an ”insider” in the
The project includes
•
Three classes at the school ”Askeladden” (from
4th to 7th grade)
•
Three teachers
•
A school librarian
Method and data
•
Observation in class
•
Intervention/joint planning (researchers, teachers,
librarians)
•
Interviews (teachers, librarians and students)
This study:
•
Survey - students 2009, 2010
What do you like to read?
Survey 2009
Boys and girls (51) Boys (21)
What kind of books do you want to find in
the book cases in your classroom?
In the students’ own words (in black):
• demonata serien (horror, demons), one piece bøker. Gone(supernatural dytopian novel series). flere grøssere (horror)
• vet ikke
• One Piece fra nr. 45 (Manga)
• hardy-guttene
• er ikke sikker
• hele darren shan (horror) og hele one piece serien
• naruto (manga) dragonball (fighting) one pieac
• skrekkbøker eller grøssere
• ringenes herre (Lord of Rings)
• jeg har lest nesten alle bøkene i kassa så jeg vil ha flere
• VET IKKE
• grøsere, spennig og donald duck&Co
Two cases
Boy 1 and Boy 2 (2009/2010) Boy 1before 5th grade
• ”hated” to read End of 5th grade
• increasing reading interest, reading speed and
understanding
Boy 2 before 5th grade
• struggled with reading and was not motivated to read books at all
End of 5th grade
• increasing reading interest, reading speed and
Are you fond of reading?
All the boys 2009
Are you fond of reading?
All the boys 2010
Alternativer Prosent Verdi
1 Ja 70,0 % 14
2 Nei 30,0 % 6
Total 20
Boy 1: no Boy 2: yes
Boy 1
Survey 2009
He
• reads action and cartoons
• likes to read
• is reading several times a week
• is talking to mom, dad, his
brother and friends about books
• has read 69 books during 5th grade (his own number)
•
Survey 2010
He
• reads cartoons
• does not like to read
• never reads because he wants to (it is boring, he doesn’t have
anything good to read, he is doing other things)
• is talking to friends about what he reads
• has read 58 books during 6th grade
Do you think you are a good reader?
Survey - boys 2010Boy 1: No
Boy 2: Ganske god (average)
Alternatives Percent Value
1 Nei 31,8 % 7
2 Ganske god 59,1 % 13
3 Veldig god 9,1 % 2
If you answered ”no”, why?
(Survey - boys 2010)
•
I read slowly (57,1%)
•
I do not understand all I read (28,6%)
•
I think it is difficult to read some times (14,3%)
•
My reading has not become better (28,6%)
Boy 1 in interview 2010
Are you a good reader?
”Average”
”I always read very fast, especially when it is
about school matters”
Boy 1 in interview 2010
about reading interests
sport
Computer and
video games
MANGA
INTERESTING BOOKS AT HOME ABOUT VIKINGS (FIGHTING) 2ND WORLD WAR Sometimes . .Boy 2 in interview 2010
Are you a good reader?
•
”Yes. I used to be a bad reader, but I have become a
better reader. Earlier I hated to read!”
•
”A good reader likes to read. If you struggle with
difficult texts, you just have to try”
•
”I got exciting books of course. And then I just
started *to read+”
Discussion
Start from where the child is?
• “If teachers value marginalized literacies and literacy practices outside the educational domain, they will understand more about those children who reject school literacy”
• “Children tend to feel excluded when their own literacy practices are not valued by the school. “
Further questions
• How can the school support and strengthen the students’ self-esteem as readers?
• How can the school acknowledge the boys’ reading practices and at the same time help them to develop literacy in more areas than those of computer games and cartoons?
_
___________________________
• Parents, teachers and librarians - interested role models and facilitators
Literature
Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: an introduction to the ecology of written language. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Pub.
Roe, A. (2011). Lesedidaktikk: etter den første leseopplæringen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget Begnum, A. C., Daal, V. v., Gabrielsen, N. N. og Solheim, R. G. (2007): PIRLS. Norske elevers leseinnsats og leseferdigheter. Resultater for fjerde og femte trinn i den internasjonale studien PIRLS 2006. Lesesenteret, Universitetet i Stavanger.
Kjærnsli, M., & Roe, A. (2010): På rett spor. Norske elevers kompetanse i lesing, matematikk og naturfag i PISA 2009. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Mangen, Anne (2008). Nytt medielandskap, nytt tekstbegrep – og ny forståelse av emnet ”gutter og lesing”. I Nasjonalt senter for leseopplæring og leseforsking: Gutter og lesing – lesevaner, lesetips, nye medier. Stavanger: Universitetet i Stavanger.
McKechnie, Lynne E. F.(2004). Canadian Journal of Information & Library Sciences, Dec2004, Vol. 28 Issue 4, p73-88, 16p"I'll Keep Them for My Children" (Kevin, Nine Years): Children's Personal Collections of Books and Other Media.
McKechnie, Lynne (E.F.) (2007). "Spiderman is not for babies" (Peter, 4 years): The boys and reading problem from the perspective of the boys themselves. Canadian Journal of Library and Information Science 32(3)
Pihl, J. (2009). Interprofessional cooperation between teachers and librarians: analyzing theoretical and professional arguments for cooperation in an era of globalization. In
Holmarsdottir, H. & O’Dowd, M. (Eds.): Nordic Voices: Teaching and researching Comparative and International Education in the Nordic Countries (pp. 39-59): Sense Publishers
