T&L Blog W2- How to support with teenage reading!

 

Dear WA,

Hope everyone had a great first week back. This week for Bitesize Research, I was interested to

see some research findings from Aston university as reported by TES about teenage reading. Reading is something that we’ve discussed a lot already at WA, and will of course continue to do so, particularly under the leadership of our Literacy Coordinator, Ellie Winter.

Objectives: To understand what the issues are with teenage reading, and to consider

strategies to support this.

Summary: 

• The authors of the research started from the premise that many secondary teachers are explaining that teenage students are struggling with reading (particularly with respect to transitioning into secondary school, and when students have a limited vocabulary), and that they don’t know how to better support it.
• As such, the authors created two longitudinal studies to look at the issues and suggest possible solutions to support students.
• The authors discovered that there is no discernable ‘transition slump’ between YR6 and YR7, and rather there is a rise in expectations going from a primary to a secondary curriculum.
• Moreover, disadvantaged students appeared to have a difference specifically in vocabulary and reading comprehension when compared to their more advantaged peers. This was not the case for word recognition.
• The data suggests that many students entering secondary school have vocabulary and reading needs, and that also how good students are at reading helps students to learn directly about vocabulary.
• The authors suggest the following strategies to support teenage readers including:

• 1) Secondary schools should prioritise reading

• 2) Embedding a reading for pleasure culture should be prioritised at secondary level

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might

be helpful to consider are: 

• How do I teach vocabulary and reading in my lessons currently? What could I try to do differently?
• How specifically might I support disadvantaged students with their reading and vocabulary?
• How should we at WA encourage reading for pleasure? How do teachers and support staff play a role in this?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks, Jaya