Supporting and encouraging young adolescents in New Zealand to be effective readers

Abstract

Young adolescents are at a critical age in their schooling as they transition from primary schooling into secondary education. The reading development of these young adolescents in New Zealand occurs within a variety of contexts. Reading is not only a complex skill to achieve, but it is also contextual. Therefore, understanding the context and the perceptions of key people who have specific roles in supporting reading, are the cornerstones of knowing how we as a society can improve reading outcomes for all students. Prompted by concerns about motivation to read and achievement in reading of students in the middle years of schooling, this study focuses on the interviews of 57 participants at six case study schools, comprising a range of school types in New Zealand. The participants included 11–13-year-old students, their teachers, principals and parents. Participants were asked about the reading practices that were happening to support and encourage reading development and the ways parents supported reading. The analysis of these interviews and associated research literature in this study, employs an ecological lens, where the student is in the centre of a series of interrelated concentric systems that all influence development and learning. The research found that there was a complex array of factors evident within each school environment which interplayed with supporting reading for young adolescent students.

Keywords:

• Reading
• literacy
• primary/elementary years
• learning
• students