"When children read for pleasure, when they get ”hooked on books," they acquire, involuntarily and without conscious effort, nearly all of the so-called "language skills" many people are so concerned about: They will become adequate readers, acquire a large vocabulary, develop the ability to understand and use complex grammatical constructions, develop a good writing style, and become good (but not necessarily perfect) spellers. Although free voluntary reading alone will not ensure attainment of the highest levels of literacy, it will at least ensure an acceptable level. Without it, I suspect that children simply do not have a chance. " - (Krashen 1993:84) Quotes from the Power of Reading
"Fifteen-year-old students who are highly engaged readers and whose parents have the lowest occupational status achieve significantly higher average reading scores (540) than students whose parents have the highest occupational status but who are poorly engaged in reading," the report says. All the students who are highly engaged in reading achieve reading literacy scores that are significantly above the international mean, whatever their family background." - BBC News
Reading Volume and General Knowledge
"The results indicated that the more avid readers in our study —regardless of their general abilities— knew more about how a carburetor worked, were more likely to know who their United States senators were, more likely to know how many teaspoons are equivalent to one tablespoon, were more likely to know what a stroke was, and what a closed shop in a factory was, etc. - "What Reading Does for the Mind" by Anne E. Cunningham, Associate Professor of Cognition and Development
"The connection between leisure reading activities and reading achievement has been established by numerous studies (e.g., Watkins and Ewards, 1992). Part of the reason for this connection may be that students who frequently read for fun not only gain practice in the process of reading, but also are likely to be exposed to a broad scope of topics and situations in their reading that can provide a base from which future reading experiences are enriched and made more meaningful. A clear connection between frequent reading for fun and higher average reading scores is suggested by the NAEP 1994 (and 1992) results. At all three grades, students who more frequently read for fun on their own time had higher average proficiencies." - NAEP (1994)
88 Generalizations about Free Voluntary Reading - Stephen Krashen
Literacy Falls for Graduates From College, Testing Finds "We're seeing substantial declines in reading for pleasure, and it's showing up in our literacy levels," - The New York Times
Book flood describes the recent theory, tested in a number of countries, that being exposed to literature will help students learn English as a second language more quickly and effectively than more traditional methods. - Wikipedia
Free Voluntary Reading and Autonomy in Second Language Acquisition: Improving TOEFL Scores from Reading Alone - Beniko Mason
"In the early grades, children learn to read; in middle school and beyond, they read to learn. Without good comprehension skills, kids lack the ability to manage more difficult text, and their progress across the curriculum suffers. Sadder still, they often lose interest in reading. The process has become more difficult, yet their skills have not caught up. They view reading as tedious, boring, and useless. It doesn’t offer the immediate reinforcement they crave. Unfortunately, reading for pleasure has become somewhat of a rarity among kids. - Youth Development (March 2007)
Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) leads to improved reading skills, writing skills, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and general knowledge.
Does Educational TV Make You a Better Student?
"Preschool children who watched a few hours a week of educational programming perform better on achievement tests over time than their peers who watch more general entertainment shows, according to researchers at the University of Texas in Austin." - Center for Media Literacy
Subtitling: "In fact, almost 50 percent of Finnish television consists of foreign TV programs and movies that must be read — and read quickly — in order to be understood. Finnish 9-year-olds want to learn to read in order to understand TV and therefore watch a moderately heavy amount. By age 14, however, the situation reverses itself and Nordic children who watch a light amount of TV outscore the heavy viewers." - Trelease on Reading
Planet Read "Same Language Subtitling (SLS) is a simple yet powerful idea by which lyrics are added as subtitles to film songs on TV programs. Words are highlighted in perfect timing as they are sung. This association of the spoken and written word is a proven method to improve reading skills." (India) Article about Planet Read
"Similarly, we have analyzed a variety of other misconceptions in a number of other different domains—including knowledge of World War II, the world’s languages, and the components of the federal budget—and all of them replicate the pattern shown for this question. The cognitive anatomy of misinformation appears to be one of too little exposure to print (or reading) and over-reliance on television for information about the world. Although television viewing can have positive associations with knowledge when the viewing is confined to public television, news, and/or documentary material (Hall, Chiarello, & Edmondson, 1996; West & Stanovich, 1991; West et al., 1993), familiarity with the prime time television material that defines mass viewing in North America is most often negatively associated with knowledge acquisition. - "What Reading Does for the Mind" by Anne E. Cunningham, Associate Professor of Cognition and Development
...watching a lot of television during childhood means you are a lot less likely to have a degree by your mid-twenties, according to new University of Otago research - University of Otago
"Children under the age of three who are allowed to watch too much television have below-average reading abilities by the time they are six, a new study claims." - Telegraph
"Middle school students who watch TV or play video games during the week do worse in school, a new study finds, but weekend viewing and gaming doesn't affect school performance much." - USAToday (Oct 2006)
Reading Skills May Be Hurt by Too Much TV - Personal MD
Rembering what you see on TV: researchers found that when formal features (camera edits) increased to more than 10 in 2 minutes (that is greater than once every 12 seconds) that viewers remembered much less. - Scientific American
Graffix is a fiction series in comic-strip format, designed for reluctant readers - Word Pool
"There is no current research that I know of on the use of graphic novels, but there is evidence suggesting that comic book reading can be a conduit to "heavier" reading. In our study, we found that middle school boys who read comic books read more in general than boys who did not read comics, read more books, and enjoyed reading more (Ujiie and Krashen, 1996)... There are also compelling case histories of children who were reluctant readers until they discovered comics... Comic reading led to other reading. After a year or two, Haugaard's eldest son gave his collection away to his younger brother (who now "pores over the comic books lovingly"), and Haugaard noted that "he is far more interested now in reading Jules Verne and Ray Bradbury, books on electronics and science encyclopedias" - Stephen Krashen - Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California
”Dorrell and Carroll (1981) show how comic books can be used to stimulate additional reading. They placed comic books in a junior high school library but did not allow them to circulate; students had to come to the library to read the comics. Dorrell and Carroll then compared the circulation of non-comic book material and total library use during the 74 days the comics were in the library, and the 57 days before they were available. The presence of comics resulted in a dramatic 82 percent increase in library use (traffic) and a 30 percent increase in circulation of non-comic material.“ - The Power of Reading - page 108
Teen Romance
"Kyung-Sook Cho... worked with a group of women in their thirties who, despite years of formal training (grammar-based) study of English in Korea and considerable residence in the United States, had made little progress in English. Cho first suggested that her subjects read books from the Sweet Valley High series, written for girls 12 and older. These books proved to be too difficult; and they could only be read with great effort, and with extensive recourse to the dictionary. Cho then asked her subjects to try Sweet Valley Twins, novels based on the same characters but at a younger age, written for readers ages 8 to 12. Once again, the texts were too difficult. Cho then recommended Sweet Valley Kids, novels dealing with the same characters at an even younger age, written for readers ages five to eight. Her subjects, all adults, became enthusiastic Sweet Valley Kids readers."
"Cho reported significant vocabulary growth in her readers... and also gathered informal evidence of their progress, including reports from their friends... Perhaps the most impressive result is the report of one of her subjects one year after she started reading Sweet Valley books. After one year, this subject, who had never read for pleasure in English prior to this study, had read all 34 Sweet Valley Kids books, had read many books from the Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High series, and had started to read Danielle Steele, Sydney Sheldon, and other authors of romances in English" - The Power of Reading - page 111
Home Run Books
"Trelease (2001) introduced the concept of a "home run" book, a reading experience that readers claim stimulated their initial interest in reading... It was difficult to characterize home run books, because, as in other studies, children named a wide variety of home run books. Very few titles were selected by more than a handful of students. The champion home run book was Harry Potter (19), followed by Goosebumps (11), the Three Little Pigs (11), Dr. Seuss (6), Animorphs (5), Scary Stories (5) and Winnie the Pooh (5)... In agreement with previous studies, a large percentage of children reported that they had had a home run experience. Having a home run experience appears to typically lead to greater reading interest, but it does not guarantee it. It was clearly the case that more of those who had home run experiences became enthusiastic readers." - Stephen Krashen - Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California
"The research supports the commonsense view that when books are readily available, when the print environment is enriched, more reading is done. A print-rich environment in the home is related to how much children read; children who read have more books in the home..." - The Power of Reading - page 57
"The report, by the National Literacy Trust (NLT), found that pupils from lower earning families - defined as those eligible for free school meals - are less likely to read for pleasure and more likely to say that reading is "boring". They are also likely to have far fewer books at home." - Guardian Unlimited
"Whatever type of reader your child is, starting a book club can help foster a love of reading and provide a fun way to get families in your neighborhood together." - GreatSchools.net
"The critical role of self-selection is confirmed in this
report from a reader interviewed by Carlsen and Sherrill (1988): As soon as I was progressing through the primary grades I remember a distinct lack of enthusiasm for reading because my mother tried to force books on me, which I disliked, either because they were too difficult or they were about subject matter in which I had no interest. My older sister had been extremely fond of horse stories and I could not tolerate them. - The Power of Reading - page 88
Libraries
"Elley found the availability of books is a key factor in reading achievement. He studied the reading achievement of children in 32 countries and found that factors which consistently differentiated high-scoring and low-scoring countries were large school libraries, large classroom libraries, regular book borrowing, frequent silent reading in class, and frequent story reading aloud by teachers. The highest scoring countries typically provide their students with greater access to books in the home, in nearby community libraries and book stores, and in the school." - EdResearch.info
Highlights of Research on Summer Reading and Effects on Student Achievement - New York State Library
"This study examines the impact of an intervention targeting economically disadvantaged children in child care centres. The program was designed to flood over 330 child care centres with high quality children's books, at a ratio of 5 books per child, and provide 10 hours of training to child-care staff." - National Literacy Trust
Reading Connects - National Reading Campaign funded by the Department for Education and Skills (Britain)
New Study Finds Children Age Zero to Six Spend As Much Time With TV, Computers and Video Games As Playing Outside - Kaiser Family Foundation
"I had this sense of kids clamoring to use media and parents trying to keep their finger in the dam," lead researcher Victoria Rideout said. "I found that not to be a very accurate picture in most cases. Instead, a generation of parents raised on TV is largely encouraging the early use of television, video games and computers by their own children." - San Francisco Chronicle
"According to the study of 1,183 people in January, which was released at TVB's annual marketing conference in New York, adults spent an average of 264.5 minutes per 24 hours watching TV, compared to 125.5 minutes for radio, 85 for the Internet, 20 for newspapers and 16.3 with magazines." - Broadcasting & Cable
The Gaming Krib Challenge - "The parent will now be able to limit the amount of time played with TV / video games / PC games / online activities and cell phone use after installing our suite of products."
My own conclusion is that reading for pleasure (including comic books and trashy novels) is much, much better than any kind of television, even educational TV. Educational TV does impart more general knowledge than regular TV, but once the TV is in the house, it's very hard to control (like a Trojan Horse). But for kids who are heavy TV watchers, and who aren't very interested in reading, Mr. Trelese's suggestion of turning off the volume, and turning on the closed captioning was excellent.
Only 31% of college graduates were proficient! This helps explain, I think, this shocking fact.
A big selling point with TV is that it is both entertaining and educational. But after 50 years of research, it turns out that it isn't all that educational after all. Reading for pleasure, on the other hand, turns out to be not just educational, but essential for learning the literacy skills necessary for life in the 21st century.
So the next time you come home exhausted after a long day at work, consider sitting down with a good trashy novel or comic and losing yourself in the story line (with no commercials !) Your brain will get an enjoyable work-out and if you have children at home, they'll learn that reading can be fun and rewarding (from their most important role-model).
If the riches of the Indies, or the crowns of all the kingdom of Europe, were
laid at my feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all.
America Reads Challenge: "The America Reads Challenge calls on all Americans to help ensure that every American child can read well and independently by the end of 3rd grade." (U.S.A.)
Bookends: "BookEnds, a nonprofit organization based in Southern California, is about Kids Helping Kids. BookEnds' recycles children's books through student-run book drives and places them in schools and youth organizations in need of books." (California)
Book-it! "...motivates children to read by rewarding their reading accomplishments with praise, recognition and pizza. BOOK IT! is simple for the teacher to use, flexible because goals match reading ability, and fun because achieving a goal is a great reason to celebrate. A literacy activity that parents can participate in, BOOK IT! was created in 1985 and has since grown to 22 million students strong." (U.S.A.)
Book-it! reading clubs: "ContinYou has been helping schools set up Year 7/S1 reading clubs since 1998. Previously we worked to set up clubs, with an emphasis on reading for pleasure, rather than curricular development. We are now helping schools to set up and sustain reading clubs and can offer a practical package, including everything you need to get started." (International)
Bookstart: "Bookstart aims to promote a lifelong love of books and is based on the principle that every child in the UK should enjoy and benefit from books from as early an age as possible." (United Kingdom)
booktrust "Booktrust is an independent national charity that encourages people of all ages and cultures to discover and enjoy reading. The reader is at the heart of everything we do" (United Kingdom)
First Book: "First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs." (U.S.A.)
Get London Reading "All over London companies and organisations are joining together to Get London Reading!" (London, England)
National Literacy Trust "...founded in 1993, is an independent charity dedicated to building a literate nation." (United Kingdom)
Raising A Reader: "The Raising A Reader mission is to foster healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills critical for school success by engaging parents in a routine of daily ”book cuddling“ with their children from birth to age five... Each week, bright red book bags filled with beautiful picture books are rotated into homes. The book bag and its contents quickly become a child's favorite toy. The result is an irresistible request: ”Please read to me!“ (U.S.A.)
Read a Million Words "Read a Million Words is an initiative supported by Bristol City Council that aims to challenge children and young people to read a million words in a year (either individually or in a group), and to encourage children to read more for pleasure." (Bristol, England)
Oakland Parents Literacy Project "The Oakland Parents Literacy Project hosts more than 50 events each year, reaching nearly 10,000 students and parents. The program gave away 8,000 free books last year alone." (U.S.A.)
Reading Is Fundamental "prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year." (U.S.A.)
Room to Read "The first step towards the lifelong gift of education is putting a book in the hands of a child. Room to Read seeks to facilitate this by establishing a library in every new primary and secondary school we build, as well as in many existing schools, through our Reading Room Program." Book by Room to Read Founder (International)
International Book Project "IBP has a unique history of having supplied millions of books worldwide since its beginnings in the basement of Mrs. Van Meter's home." (International)
The Literacy Site "The Literacy Site was founded to help promote literacy among children from low-income families nationwide. Partnering with First Book, the site makes books available to children around the country, giving many children their very first book. With the generous support of our sponsors, each click provides 1% of a book. Making books a part of a child's life is the best way to encourage the love of reading. " (U.S.A.)
Exercise The Right To Read "Our Mission: to raise funds to provide books for school libraries and disadvantaged children" through running (U.S.A.)
Reach Out and Read "Reach Out and Read is a national, non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by making books a routine part of pediatric care." (U.S.A.)
Non-Profits Promoting Educational TV
C-Span.org "Created by Cable, offered as a public Service" (U.S.A.)
PBS "With your support, PBS programs and education services enrich the lives of all Americans." (U.S.A.) Note: Study Finds Lack of Balance, Diversity, Public at PBS NewsHour - Fair.org
Planet Read "Same Language Subtitling (SLS) is a simple yet powerful idea by which lyrics are added as subtitles to film songs on TV programs. Words are highlighted in perfect timing as they are sung. This association of the spoken and written word is a proven method to improve reading skills." (India) Article about Planet Read
Sesame Workshop "Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit organization of writers, artists, researchers, and educators. Best known for Sesame Street, we create educational content for children from birth through age 12, delivered through a variety of media including television, radio, the Internet, film, home video, books, magazines, and community outreach." (International) Note: Experts Rip 'Sesame' TV Aimed at Tiniest Tots
If the riches of the Indies, or the crowns of all the kingdom of Europe, were laid at my feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all.
Read, read, read. Read everything-- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.
For example, the following statements were presented to members of a mostly preliterate tribe in a remote area of the Soviet Union: "In the far north, where there is snow, all bears are white. Novaya Zembla is in the far north, and there is always snow there." Then these people were asked what color the bears are in Novaya Zembla. A typical response, as reported by Father Walter Ong in his book "Orality and Literacy": "I don't know. I've seen a black bear. I've never seen any others. Each locality has its own animals." These people could not solve this simplest of logical problems.
It is not that such preliterate people are less intelligent than we are. They simply think differently -- "situationally." When words are written down, not just enunciated, they are freed from the subjective situations and experiences ("I've seen a black bear") in which they were imbedded. Written words can be played with, analyzed, rearranged and organized into categories (black bears, white bears, places where there is always snow). The correspondences, connections or contradictions among various statements can be carefully examined. As investigators such as Ong and anthropologist Jack Goody have explained, our system of logic -- our ability to find principles that apply independently of situations -- is a product of literacy. This logic, which goes back to the Egyptians, Hebrews and Greeks, led to mathematics and philosophy and history. Among its accomplishments is our culture.
And when written words are set in print, they gain additional powers. Our sentences grow even less connected to our persons as they are spelled out in the interchangeable letters of movable type. Our thoughts grow more abstract, more removed from the situations in which we happen to find ourselves. Superstitions, biases and legendary characters like dragons and kings have difficulty fitting into these straight, precise lines of type. Charts, maps and columns of figures can be duplicated exactly for the first time. According to seminal media theorist Marshall McLuhan and historian Elizabeth Eisenstein, the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment were both products of the printing press.
Kids' book club ends first year with formal tea - 
