Literacy Blogs

Last week I answered a teacher’s question about free reading time during the school day and its relationship to reading motivation (e.g., making kids like reading). I pointed out that such reading time has a rather weak relationship with learning (various kinds of instruction exert about an 800% greater influence on learning than on having kids reading on their own during the school day) and that the connection with motivation appears to be even more tenuous. I then compared the DEAR/SSR practice unfavorably with theories and research on what motivates human beings. Not surprisingly that generated much comment. Although the following ...

Blast from the Past: This entry was first published on October 4, 2016 and was reissued on February 29, 2016. The reason for revisiting this one is the steady accumulation of new research data supporting my original contentions. The latest studies are reporting that independent reading can have positive impacts on learning, but that these payoffs take a very long time to manifest and are quite small (Eklund & Torpa, in press). Studies are also showing that reading achievement has a decidedly bigger impact on motivation than the other way around (Hebbecker, Förster, & Souvignier, 2019). Teacher question: You have attacked DEAR ...

Blast from the Past: This entry posted on June 26, 2016, and was re-posted on January 31, 2018. Since this entry was first posted several states have backed out of their commitments to see that kids are taught to read more complex text than in the past. I certainly understand their fear of having to tell teachers that teaching children to read at "their levels" is not such a good idea for the kids. It makes teaching easier admittedly because it means you don't have to teach very much. But what is easier for the teacher is a rip off of ...

Last week a reporter contacted me. She wanted to know why we should encourage kids to read. Some of you might know that I am skeptical about a lot of the claims about reading. I certainly accept that idea that kids learn from reading (introspection alone should tell you that), but how much reading practice it takes to improve reading achievement is not exactly clear. Given that, I'm not exactly the poster boy for those who claim to be improving reading by getting kids to engage in it.   Nevertheless, I'm not against encouraging kids to read. Actually, I'm for it. The ...

As I've written here before, I serve on the Board of Directors of Reach Out and Read, one of the most valuable reading promoters in the world. This summer they have launched a campaign to give a brand-new, age-appropriate book to one million children in need before Labor Day. The Summer of a Million Books campaign unites Reach Out and Read pediatricians and family physicians at 4,500 hospitals and clinics across the country in their mission to prepare America’s youngest children to succeed in school. And you can help.   Reach Out and Read developed the Summer of a Million Books in ...

          The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has done a great service by trying to monitor how much young people and adults are reading. http:Although I certainly agree with NEA on the importance of reading--especially extended reading of challenging and worthwhile text, and I suspect that NEA is right students and adults are doing less of such reading these days, I do have some disagreements with them.           One concern is that I think their measurement of amount of reading is likely flawed. People are notoriously bad at reporting how they spend their ...

Here is one of my most controversial columns as President of the International Reading Association. It upset a lot of people, but it is important that everyone understands that encouraging kids to read effectively isn't as easy as first thought. Does he really think kids shouldn’t read? I’m a new president. And some might wonder about my ability to represent IRA. So, let me begin this first column of my presidency with an appraisal of the IRA mission. IRA has three purposes: (1) to improve the quality of reading instruction, (2) to encourage reading and an interest in reading, and (3) to promote ...