Learning to Love Reading in the Digital Age

Literacy rates in Aotearoa New Zealand have been declining for over a decade. At the same time, the number of teenagers who avoid reading has been increasing. Evidence strongly shows that students and adults who read for pleasure have higher rates of general literacy and which helps them achieve better academically, as well as a host of other benefits.

However, as many parents know, it seems almost impossible to convince teenagers to put down the smartphone and pick up a book. How can secondary school English teachers, who see them for barely an hour once a day during term time, help change teens' perceptions of reading for pleasure while keeping up with the rest of the curriculum?

While there are plenty of case studies that describe ways to foster a reading community across an entire school, it can be difficult to sell the idea of regular "Drop Everything And Read" sessions to science, PE, art, language, maths, and other non-English teachers. This is especially disruptive during the post-pandemic era, when teachers are trying to catch up on lost learning time, as well as adjust to the new curriculum in their own subjects.

Therefore, this doctoral thesis project is using the most up-to-date evidence around learning, literacy practice, reading, and reading communities to develop a Reading For Pleasure classroom programme for NZ high school English classes. By merging the best academic research practices with the invaluable experience and knowledge of teachers in their own classrooms, the project will then test, refine, and re-test the programme to reveal and understand what works and why. 

The outcome will be a set of guidelines, design principles, and examples of learning activities that other teachers and schools can use to help their tamariki and rangitahi learn to love reading.