Features
Boys’ Reading on a Par with Girls’
March 7, 2012 Nicola  |
A study suggests that boys’ reading ability has improved since last year and that they’ve now caught up with girls.
The ‘What Kids are Reading’ 2012 study uses computer software to analyse what level of difficulty children are reading at when they read for pleasure. Conducted by Professor Keith Topping of Dundee University and funded by Renaissance Learning, it examined the reading habits of thousands of students in British schools. Over 1237 schools took part and around 213,000 students from years one to 11 were evaluated. In total, the children read an enormous 2,866,920 books.
The report found that the difficulty level of books read by boys is no longer generally lower than girls and so it suggests that any disparity in overall achievement amongst girls and boys must be caused by other factors.
This is good news for boys, as for years there have been concerns over their reading abilities. In 2010, data obtained by the BBC’s Today programme suggested that one in 11 boys were starting secondary school with the reading skills of a seven-year-old and that 9% of 11-year old boys fell well below the expected standards.
But it isn’t just boys who have come out well in the report; there is evidence that while the difficulty of books read by children declines after year nine. This is more positive than figures for previous years, where the difficulty generally declined after year six.
In addition, the youngest children studied were effectively over-achieving in regard to reading as they went above the level of difficulty that was recommended by the software manufacturers. In the middle years only one or two cases fell below the recommended level, but the upper years fall below in five out of 10 cases.
Speaking to The Fresh Outlook, Professor Topping said that reading amongst young people is vital because “reading ability is highly correlated with overall academic achievement. The better children can read, the better they do in academic subjects.”
Professor Topping acknowledged that there was a discrepancy between the reading ability of girls and boys in school. He said: “This is a world-wide phenomenon. In all countries in the PIRLS [the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study] studies girls were ahead of boys. Possibly this is because girls are more conforming in elementary school, and because elementary school teachers are largely female and have a female perception of desirable literacy.”
So now that boys are apparently doing better, what’s changed? “Remember that my study only looked at books that children self-selected to read,” said Professor Topping. “The results do not tell you anything about how well boys do on books selected for them by others, or on tests of reading ability. So this ‘catching up’ might only be partial.” He said that: “motivation clearly has a good deal to do with it. Boys like to read magazines, websites, and other non-book material more than girls.”
Mr Topping also believes that: “Parental involvement in children’s reading is absolutely crucial. Parents who help their child with reading secure considerable gains in their child’s performance, which of course reflects in the child’s overall academic ability.”
By Catrin Hughes
[Image courtesy of slightly everything]
