Reading for Pleasure impact

We know that using creative reading activity with adult learners can motivate them to improve their reading skills so that they can read more - and enjoy it.

Three-quarters of participants in an evaluation of impact for The Vital Link reported an increase in skills and aspirations to continue reading and learning. Research with Essex Adult Community Learning and Essex Libraries showed that reading for pleasure helps to increase enjoyment, self-confidence, motivation and the acquisition of functional literacy skills and that is well supported by the expertise and resources of the library service. Our evaluation of the impact of the first year of The Reading Agency's national Six Book Challenge in 2008 reinforces the point that reading for pleasure improves readers' skills at the same time as giving them a sense of achievement and enjoyment and an appetite for more. Eighty-eight per cent of survey respondents said that they had gained something from the experience and 60% reported an increase in skills - a finding endorsed by tutors.

Reading for pleasure has tended to be sidelined in an era of achievement targets and constrained funding and yet it has a key role to play in motivating and inspiring learners. However we're pleased that a number of Government initiatives have coincided to focus attention on the role of reading for adults who are improving their skills:

  • support for a push on reading for pleasure
  • online publication of the revised core curriculum for adult literacy which now includes more explicit reference to reading for pleasure
  • availability of a practitioner guide on teaching reading, a report on an action research project on oral reading and now a further report on oral fluency and use of phonics in teaching available here.
  • This follows earlier research into effective practice by the University of Sheffield which shows the contribution of group and paired work in class and of self-study and practice between classes (ie reading for pleasure) to progress in reading.
  • Greater awareness of the role of libraries in informal adult learning in the Learning Revolution White Paper published in March 2009 and the establishment of the Adult Learning Board on which The Reading Agency is a member.