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Jakarta Post

Do our children lack reading habits?

The myth that has always been fervently rearticulated regarding the plummeting rate of children’s literacy skill is children’s lack of reading habits

Setiono Sugiharto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, August 12, 2017

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Do our children lack reading habits?

T

he myth that has always been fervently rearticulated regarding the plummeting rate of children’s literacy skill is children’s lack of reading habits. Poor reading habits among children, as has been suggested, is a resulting effect of the unequal rate of development across the nation (The Jakarta Post, July 29).

While it is true that children residing in far-flung and underdeveloped regions rate lower in terms of literacy development and skill compared to those living in urban areas, it is groundless to lay a claim that the former have poor reading habits.

For one thing, no research evidence exists to support such an assertion; therefore, it is just an ill-founded generalization. For another, this false claim is always made regarding children living in remote areas, rather than about their counterparts residing in developed regions where access to books abounds.

Quite contrary to the “poor reading habit hypothesis,” children, even those living in isolated regions, are by nature avid readers. They are book enthusiasts and enjoy reading either for their own pleasure or to seek information. Crucially, they never show lackadaisical attitudes toward books they love reading.

A plethora of research in early literacy development has consistently revealed that children — even without adult instruction — are readers by themselves. On the condition that they are supplied with a rich-print environment (both at home and in school), children read on a voluntarily basis, select books that are compelling to them and can arouse their inquisitiveness, and read to satisfy their curiosity.

Interestingly, research has also shown that even without being “bribed” or given awards and incentives for what they have read, children always take the initiative to read, provided that they feel engaged with and hooked to the books at their reading level.

Thus, the problem for children living in poverty-stricken regions is not that they exhibit poor reading habits, but that they are often hampered by the lack of access to books, which is mistakenly attributed to poor reading habits among children. Indeed, lack of access to a print-rich environment is a major obstacle for children in underdeveloped regions.

This is exacerbated by the fact that schools in these regions are hardly equipped with libraries, a condition that further stymies children’s literacy development. The role school libraries play should not be overlooked. Research on the correlation between libraries to literacy growth confirms that more access to books results in more reading, and better libraries (those equipped with more interesting books and better staffing) result in more literacy growth (McQuillan, 1998).

Other research evidence also finds a strong relationship between interest in reading and a visit to a public library. That is, those who live closer to public and mobile libraries make more use of books, resulting in a profound increase in interest in reading, which in turn results in more reading.

A print-rich environment, however, does not always guarantee that children will love reading. There are times when they become resistant readers, refusing to read books selected for and offered to them.

In-school reading, for example, can be a case in point. Generally, children resist reading books that they find less meaningful to them and lack communicative values at their levels and interest. Another reason for resistance can also be due to the fact that the books they are exhorted to read contain linguistic materials that are beyond their level of competence.

This nevertheless shouldn’t lead to the generalization that they lack or exhibit poor reading habits. It might be the case that the reading materials given to them are too dull and uninteresting to read, thus making them resistant to reading.

All children are basically book lovers and reading enthusiasts. The problem is too often that they are not exposed to an environment where access to books becomes customary.

For children from opulent families, getting access to books should not be a cause for concern. Yet, children living in poverty in remote regions cannot equally enjoy access to a print-rich vicinity as their wealthy counterparts in urban areas can.

It is this impediment that encumbers their engagement in literacy activities both at home and in school, and that makes them rate lower in literacy skills. Therefore, to suggest that these print-deprived children show poor reading habits is tantamount to sustaining the long-held literacy myth, which has been debunked by literacy research and eventually abandoned by education practitioners.
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The writer teaches at the graduate school of Applied English Linguistics, Faculty of Education and Language, Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta.

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