The process by which children become a reader is when they become familiar with written language by giving it meaning in literature. (Wray et al, 2012) There is no set time for the process of becoming a reader to take place, but it does usually occur from a young age as books are introduced to them to make the children feel excited by the piece of writing. This can be by parents or teachers helping the children begin to develop skills in reading literature. It is important to remember that the ‘will’ to read needs to be developed alongside the ‘skill’ of reading, because they will both feed into each other. (Lockwood, 2008) By reflecting on my own personal experiences, my knowledge on children’s reading development, observations of children’s reading in school and the teaching of reading in the classroom, I will investigate how children become readers.
Personally, my first memories of reading were at home, when my parents would read me a story before going to sleep. My parents had always read to me from a young age, and as I got older I began to recognise the words they were reading, and could begin to start reading with their assistance certain words. Fiction books were more appealing to me at this age, because they were more imaginative and captured my attention, for example, the Harry Potter book series. Picture books were something I looked at all through my infant years, and I would make up my own stories from the pictures on the page and tell them to my parents. I may not have been reading any words, but I was creating my own words on the page by creating a story when giving meaning to the pictures. (Gamble, 2013) Reading came quite naturally for me in school, perhaps because I had a head start with learning to read at home before coming to primary school. Joshi (2015) would agree that reading at home before starting reading at school gives children an advantage. One reason as to why I believe children become readers, is when they find a book/author that they can relate to, so become more emotionally involved in the story. My personal experience was with the author Jacqueline Wilson who wrote books that I felt I could relate to, and her style of writing appealed to me. Despite being an avid reader in my primary school years, I began to lose my passion for reading during secondary school. I believe this was because I had less of a choice in what I was to read, as we would read and study the text that the English teacher told us to. In primary school I had more of a choice, being able to go to the library and pick out a book that I found appealing to read. As I got to choose the book, I became involved in what I read, making it more personal for me. (Meek, 1988)
One of the most effective methods that is used all over the country to aid the development in children’s reading is the use of phonics. The Rose Review of Early Reading (2006) found that phonics teaches beginner readers to blend phonemes to create words, and allow them to segment words in order to sound them out correctly. In children’s early years at school they will practice their phonics practically every day, which helps to perfect their skills in reading. It is important to remember that phonics does not teach children to read, it simply aids them to decode words with more fluency, and as the child becomes more skilled in reading, they will begin to give meanings to the words. (Goouch and Lambirth, 2011) Another factor that has developed children’s reading is their reading outside of the classroom. If other adults take time with the children to read, their reading skills will develop. Data has been collected showing that children who read over the summer holidays with their parents scored better on their reading tests when they came back to school in the autumn. (Goldhor and McCrossan, 1966) Teachers always encourage parents/ carers to read with their children at home, for example, they send them home with reading books and contact books to write down progress that the children are making at home with their reading. Sharing a book between an adult and a child leads to a growth in vocabulary and success in the child’s reading abilities. (Blewitt, Rump, Shealy and Cook, 2009) Reading a story before the child goes to bed is more educationally beneficial than a parent/ carer may believe it to be.
From observations conducted during my time on placement in a reception class, I was able to see the development of children’s reading. I had one student in particular who I worked one to one with on her reading a few times a week, alongside reading once a week with the classroom teacher or teaching assistant. She developed a love for reading, and with extra time to read at school with myself, she excelled to the top of the class in reading levels. At home, her parents did not read with her often, so having those extra days working on her reading development with myself showed that the practice of reading made a strong contribution to excelling in her reading comprehension abilities, despite her lack of home adult help in reading. (Storch and Whitehurst, 2002) Even though guided reading was not completed with this age group, the one-to-one reading acted as a replacement for it because we were still encouraging the child to take responsibility for their own reading, for example, turning the page themselves, and looking over words that they struggled on to teach them how to pronounce them correctly for future reference. (Wray et al, 2012) As often as the class teacher could, she would read stories to the whole class. The children would vote for the book she would read, which gave the story meaning for the children because it was something they enjoyed reading. Giving the story a meaning kept the children more engaged, and even though they were not reading the book themselves, it was beneficial for their language, cognitive and emotional development; all factors that contribute to the development of reading skills. (Justice and Pullen, 2003) Intervention groups were held for any children behind in their reading, which mostly built up these language and cognitive skills, along with the children’s phonological awareness to help develop the children into readers.
The most important statement about reading for teachers to understand when teaching children how to read is that it is a process, and it will be learnt through practice and experience. Children will develop into readers at different stages, sometimes in their early years, sometimes not until later when they find a book or author that really engages them. Teachers perceptions to reading makes a huge difference in developing young children’s reading interest, for example, if they have a positive outlook on the children reading, then the children are likely to have a positive attitude towards reading and becoming a reader. (Pajares, 1992) The classroom teacher should use class readings and guided reading to make reading an exciting activity. This can include discussing the front cover as to what could happen in the story, and discussing who the author is and what an author is. Another example could be to encourage children to join in with the reading in guided reading groups by finger-pointing at the words. (Wray et al, 2012) Bishop, Berryman and Richardson (2001) found that the most effective teaching strategy was to set up an ‘orally rich environment’ using children’s real-life experiences and language-rich environment, in order to extend their vocabulary, and understanding of the meanings of words in the story. The self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000) believes that children’s intrinsic motivation determines whether or not they make an effort. This can be the deciding factor as to whether or not a child becomes a reader. Teachers will mostly focus on the development of those who struggle with reading motivational skill, but it is important not to lose the intrinsic motivation of the children who are already readers, because you want to keep that passion. (Connor et al, 2004) More teacher-directed practices in reading would be better suited to lower-ability readers, and more meaning-directed practices about the book directed at the more able readers to keep them engaged.
In conclusion, from analysing my own personal recollections, my background reading on children’s reading development, and first-hand observations of reading and teaching in the classroom, children do not just become readers, it is a process that many factors can help to develop. These factors include the help in school from the class teacher and teaching assistants/volunteers, and outside factors, such as parents assisting children with their reading at home. A child’s motivation to become a reader is determined by their interest in reading, which comes from both the teacher’s support in their reading and the child’s own reading skills. (Baroody and Diamond, 2012) In the end, children will become a reader in their own time, and this process is hard to rush. It can instead just continue to be developed as much as possible by the factors spoken about previously to keep children as actively engaged in the reading process as possible.