Interest Levels of Boys Reading at Primary School Essay

Interest Levels of Boys Reading at Primary School - Essay Example Most children entering Key Stage 2 are not certain about their reading processes. Some of these children require specialist assistance and they still require all the experiences offered to the Key Stage 1 children. Other children make a considerable beginning with reading but in the process, they are not able to comprehend majority of the words they are reading in the books with any fluency or speed. They frequently regard themselves as poor readers and they get little pleasure from what they read. These types of children require texts they can manage accurately and those that offer them maximum satisfying experience (Bentley 1999, p93). Data from Lancashire County Council indicates that pupils underperform in reading by; (a) the failure to evaluate the author’s methods in offering an impact on the audience, (b) being not capable of citing evidence for their own opinion from the text and, (c) being not able to draw basic conclusions concerning a character or a situation. Boys fail to perform in reading because they find it difficult to engage with un-macho texts, for instance, they dismiss all female characters as ridiculous (Martin and Waters 1999, p159). It is suggested that in the western societies, the media particularly the television is replacing reading as the main interest of young people. The loss of interest in reading is very worse especially among the boys. The situation has been worsened by the arrival of the Internet and computer games (Goodwyn 2002, p48). It has been argued that â€Å"sex is the major factor in studies of children as readers, being more strongly linked than either social class or ability and attainment with how much children read† (Lockwood and Lockwood 2008, p101). There are many differences on what boys read, how well they read, the much they read, what they discuss in their reading and their performance in certain reading assessments. Researchers have also identified certain elements of English as a subject that tend to alienate boys. The boys are at a disadvantage when emphasis is put on reading narrative fiction specifically realist fiction that deal with daily interpersonal relationships. Outside school, the boys reading interests tend to change when they get older; their interest is more on fantasy than realism and they are engaged more in non-fiction genres than girls. Research shows that boys enjoy non-fiction materials than girls (72 percent of boys as opposed to 57 percent of girls) (Lockwood and Loc kwood 2008, p101). According to the research, the preference for individual responses by the English subject teachers to fiction reading severely disadvantages the boys. This is because the boys are very reluctant to express their emotional engagement with