Welsh children’s reading habits revealed by survey
CHILDREN in Wales are reading harder books than their UK peers but are still falling behind in comprehension, a new report has found.
A study by Renaissance and Professor Keith Topping from Dundee University’s School of Education has found that although Welsh schoolchildren are on the right track by reading harder books than their counterparts in England, Scotland and Ireland, their comprehension is slightly lower.
What Kids Know is the largest study on literacy conducted in the UK and Ireland, with more than one million children – of whom 19,791 are from Wales – having their reading habits studied.
The study analysed the difficulty of the books children were reading and the level of pupils’ comprehension. The report found a clear formula for children’s literacy success – reading practice, reading for pleasure and appropriately challenging books.
It recommended primary school teachers in Wales should be given more information and training to help them encourage children to be more proactive.
James Bell from Renaissance said: “Literacy is at the heart of every successful education. Reading is fundamental to a broad range of subjects. Children need to understand their exam paper they’re facing, whether that’s maths, science or history.
“It’s great to see that Welsh pupils are reading more challenging books than the other home nations. However, they still have some way to go if Wales is going to climb up the international rankings.
“This study shows that reading motivation, appropriate reading challenge and reading practice is the key to literacy success.
“We have to make sure that children are both challenged and charmed by the books they read.”
Prof Topping added: “This report gets under the skin of children’s reading habits in the UK, and the results are eye-opening. We can now see that balancing the three factors of appropriate reading challenge, reading practice and reading motivation is fundamental for children’s reading progress.
“Despite the good news that Welsh pupils are reading more difficult books, there is plenty of room for improvement, particularly in comprehension.
“Although important, instilling reading culture in schools isn’t just about dedicated reading time. Teachers and librarians should also encourage lively classroom discussion about fiction, with children sharing favourite authors and titles.
“They should also be on hand to advise on books with appropriate challenge bespoke to the child’s interests. And of course, it is important to encourage children to read outside of school, so letting them take books home is crucial.”
Overall, children in primary and secondary school were found to be reading more than last year, particularly those in primary school.
While there is little to separate boys and girls in terms of their reading attainment, the report found boys tend to prefer non-fiction, especially in secondary school. In turn, the non-fiction favoured books tend to be male-dominated texts such as sports biographies.
The survey also highlighted the importance of reading motivation and reading for pleasure.
Pupils’ favourite books were read with better comprehension, often in spite of more difficult text. By contrast, less difficult texts which were not as favoured sometimes had poorer comprehension by children.
Overall, Jeff Kinney remains the UK’s most widely-chosen and read author overall for the sixth year running, followed by David Walliams and then Roderick Hunt. Roald Dahl is in fourth place.
The favourite books in primary and secondary school were Harry Potter titles. For primary school children, all eight books were included in the top 10, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the only title in the secondary school top 10, albeit at number one.
In secondary school, David Walliams’ book Gangsta Granny remained the most widely-chosen and read book, with Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid coming second.