Fostering Young Learners’ Reading Habits: Practical Ideas for Primary School
1. Propose some practical ideas that help foster young learners’ reading habits
This essay aims at putting forward practical ideas and activities which help increase Primary School learners’ reading habits. We will first outline our approach to reading and the use of literary texts in foreign language teaching. Then, some practical suggestions on how to use reading materials will be proposed.
As stated in our curriculum, reading constitutes a key factor in the development of the basic competences. Schools must ensure the inclusion of an amount of time devoted daily to reading, which should be no less than thirty minutes, throughout all grades in the stage. Therefore, we must contribute to the growth of the Linguistic Competence by encouraging our learners to read, as reading performs a two-fold function. First, it facilitates the interpretation and understanding of the code behind the use of written language. Secondly, learners must understand reading as a source for pleasure, which helps them discover new environments, languages and cultures, as well as the world of fantasy and knowledge. In order to fulfil these functions, schools elaborate Foster Reading Plans to which the foreign language are can and must contribute. Some of the objectives of these plans refer to improving learner’s reading comprehension, creating a positive attitude towards reading activities, learning to value and respect books, improving the use of libraries, and helping learners incorporate reading as a leisure time activity.
Kemba A. Proposes these criteria when creating a reading programme:
a. Identify each child’s specific readiness for the reading programme through classroom observation and diagnostic testing.
c. The programme should integrate the four components of literacy: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
d. Both fictional and non-fictional texts.
e. Integrate into the curriculum an opportunity for reading for leisure
Bearing these principles in mind, I will now suggest some practical ideas to make learners include reading as one of their enjoyable routines. Firstly, an appropriate selection of reading material will be necessary, one that caters for learners’ age, interests and background. The type of books will very much vary among different levels, from big books and fairy tales to fiction narrations. In order to increase learners’ motivation, the selection of books must not be felt as something imposed, but rather based on learners’ expectations and choice from a group of readings selected by the teacher. Surveys and classroom observation can help select the most suitable reading list for each group.
Setting a time and place for reading will benefit creating a habit for reading while at school. The time can be chosen depending on the learners’ timetable, for example as a relaxing activity at the end of the day or the week. The amount of time should not exceed 15 to 20 minutes, mainly when it is done individually as it happens in the case of third cycle learners.
A class library or English reading corner can be organised in our classroom. This consists of a series of reading materials, classified in a library fashion which learners may borrow during or after class. The materials are easily accessible and learners can browse and select those of their own choice. We extract some of Ellis and Brewster methodological suggestions on how to exploit this resource:
– making the display of books as attractive as possible, showing their covers, including visuals (posters, photographs…) or realia which makes reference to the content of the book.
The shelves could be decorated with any artwork done by pupils, which, preferably should be connected with the readings.
– involving pupils in the organization of the class library.Through this activity, we help learners accept shared responsibilities and help them think of reading material as valuable resources that must be treated accordingly.
– Implementing a lending system controlled by the teacher. Reading material should be available for borrowing and the “librarian” can keep track of books borrowed with the supervision of the teacher; through lending learners can read appropriate material outside of the class.
Finally, Information Technology (IT) can also help foster learners’ reading habits since computers and multimedia resources can be a complement to traditional methods. Interactive books available on CD-ROM and on-line versions present reading content in an attractive and colourful fashion. Also, this kind of material integrates references to vocabulary or sociocultural content which can be accessed with one click. Therefore, teachers should point learners to appropriate IT reading resources which they can use both inside and, more important, outside of the class.
To conclude, teachers should help learners feel reading is a fun and enjoyable activity, an attitude that can be also applicable to reading material in the foreign language. By doing so, reading should become a pleasurable occupation and past time which is adopted by learners in a natural way with chances of becoming a life-long habit.