Boring books

I’ve written before about how my son’s reading came on loads from reading about football. I don’t think it matters what children read as long as they enjoy reading. 

Recently a University of Warwick professor of literacy education has been looking at the subject from the point of view of university lecturers proving reading material for undergrads. Speaking at a literacy event in Stirling recently, Professor David Wray spoke about US research which found that high school text schools had become dumbed down over the past few years.

In his opinion students accustomed to reading complex texts were better prepared for university. He suggested that an overemphasis on early reading skills was causing problems later on, saying that often the enjoyment of reading was being put second. Wray also said that schools who were better at teaching literacy were the ones who gave children more freedom over what they read.