Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators

© 2015 National Association for the Teaching of English. The emphasis on schools' providing reading materials for students at home is very much on the primary school years, when the skill of reading is being acquired. Little consideration has been given to the impact of curtailing school-mediat...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Merga, Margaret
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/67155
_version_ 1848761490273730560
author Merga, Margaret
author_facet Merga, Margaret
author_sort Merga, Margaret
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2015 National Association for the Teaching of English. The emphasis on schools' providing reading materials for students at home is very much on the primary school years, when the skill of reading is being acquired. Little consideration has been given to the impact of curtailing school-mediated access to books beyond this point. Regular recreational reading offers a wide range of benefit, and is essential for supporting ongoing literacy development. Without easy access to books, it can be readily surmised that capacity for regular engagement in reading can be limited. This article adds to the body of research supporting the benefit of student access to books in the home, linking access to books in the home with improved attitudes toward and frequency of engagement in recreational book reading, particularly in boys. It also provides analysis of data on students' access to books in the home, as well as discussing alternative avenues of access to books, such as the library and devices. The implications of the findings are explored, with educators ultimately urged to support increased access to self-selected home reading materials through the secondary school.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T10:32:30Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-67155
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:32:30Z
publishDate 2015
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-671552018-05-18T08:05:52Z Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators Merga, Margaret © 2015 National Association for the Teaching of English. The emphasis on schools' providing reading materials for students at home is very much on the primary school years, when the skill of reading is being acquired. Little consideration has been given to the impact of curtailing school-mediated access to books beyond this point. Regular recreational reading offers a wide range of benefit, and is essential for supporting ongoing literacy development. Without easy access to books, it can be readily surmised that capacity for regular engagement in reading can be limited. This article adds to the body of research supporting the benefit of student access to books in the home, linking access to books in the home with improved attitudes toward and frequency of engagement in recreational book reading, particularly in boys. It also provides analysis of data on students' access to books in the home, as well as discussing alternative avenues of access to books, such as the library and devices. The implications of the findings are explored, with educators ultimately urged to support increased access to self-selected home reading materials through the secondary school. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/67155 10.1111/eie.12071 restricted
spellingShingle Merga, Margaret
Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title_full Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title_fullStr Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title_full_unstemmed Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title_short Access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: Considerations for secondary school educators
title_sort access to books in the home and adolescent engagement in recreational book reading: considerations for secondary school educators
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/67155