Reading for Pleasure — A Door to Success...
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'Aside from the sheer joy of exercising the imagination, research shows reading for pleasure improves literacy, social skills, health, and learning outcomes.' The National Library Trust (UK), defines reading for pleasure as 'Reading we do of our own free will, anticipating the satisfaction we will get from the act of reading.' There are a number of benefits of RFE that are identified by the National Library article, Reading for pleasure — a door to success, but I would like to highlight the fact that RFE helps to develop positive attitudes towards reading and increases self efficacy, which as we know breeds success in reading and across a wider range of learning areas. If you feel you're good at something you’re more prepared to engage.
- Opportunity for choice = motivation
- Frequency, duration and increases reading mileage
- Stimulates imagination
- Academic success
- Engagement
- Stronger social and oral skills
- Positive reading attitudes
- Self-confidence as a reader
The students we teach now 'will need literacy to feed their imaginations, so they can create the world of the future.'
Why is reading for pleasure important?
Books and reading transform lives and enrich our communities. Research cited in this article also shows that reading for pleasure at school is strongly influenced by relationships between teachers and children, and children and families. Parents are influential in developing early reading for enjoyment, and if books are valued from a young age, this is likely to continue. We need to take a collective and collaborative approach across school and community. Exposure to a wide vocabulary helps children absorb and connect to information across the curriculum.
The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure
'When a reader is lost in a book... it develops the capacity to engage... visualise meanings, relate to characters, and participate in making meaning.... it develops the capacity to experience the world from other perspectives'
One idea I took from this article that will help me promote RFE is to be seen as a fellow reader by my students. The idea shared here was to put up a sign eg: “Mrs A is reading _____.” The article suggested I share not only texts I choose to read for pleasure but also suggests I share that I am reading the texts my students like to read to help to foster informal opportunities for us to talk about a wider variety texts. My biggest takeaway from these readings is if we are to develop reading for pleasure habits in students we need a collective and collaborative approach that allows our tamariki to see role models at school and at home who value reading.
