Authors blamed for teens’ decline in reading skills

WITH millions of teenage fans tuning into her videos, she’s one of the most famous girls in the world.

But now YouTube star Zoella, along with some other children’s book authors, is being blamed for a decline in reading skills.

Teenagers are falling dramatically behind in their reading because they stick to basic books such as those written by JK Rowling, rather than more “challenging” literature, a major study suggests.

High school pupils read simpler texts such as Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and comedian David Walliams’s books for pleasure instead of moving on to harder texts. Teens also prefer to stay with Roald Dahl’s classics, usually read by primary pupils, as well as the Harry Potter series and Zoella’s ghostwritten novels.

The study, conducted by Keith Topping, professor of educational and social research at Dundee University, examined the reading comprehension and habits of 848 219 children at 3 897 British primary and secondary schools.

It was based on an analysis of software that assesses the books children read and their understanding of those stories. It is likely that a similar pattern would apply in other countries, including South Africa.

Researchers found primary school children “typically push themselves to read more complex books than secondary pupils”.

In the final year of primary school, pupils’ ages typically match up with their expected reading age. However, by the first year of secondary school, aged 11-12, pupils’ reading age falls behind their actual age by one year.

By the time pupils reach their mid-teens their reading age typically falls to at least three years behind.

This means that many 16-yearolds are reading books expected of 13-year-olds. However, the study found that Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School was the “most chosen and read” book by secondary school pupils, followed by Walliams’s Gangsta Granny. Virtually the same books feature in primary school children’s top 10 titles.

In addition to measuring the number of times a book was read, the study asked pupils to vote for their favourite books.

In primary schools, JK Rowling was the favourite author with six books in the top 10.

At secondary school, Zoe Sugg’s (aka Zoella’s books) Girl Online and Girl Online: On Tour claimed the top two spots, followed by Harry Potter books the Deathly Hallows and the Order of the Phoenix.

Topping said he would like to encourage children to be reading more challenging books, but they must be free to seek these out themselves. – Daily Mail

Online star Zoella is being blamed for teens’ poor reading skills.