A longitudinal study of the reading habits and interests of children from 11 -14 years

From the starting point of the Schools Council Working Paper 52, in 1975, a small-scale longitudinal study was carried out (1975-78) with 40 children, a stable, homogeneous group from one primary school. Because of the composition of the sample no generalisations could be made to the child population as a whole. The survey studied the voluntary reading of the children in the sample. Data was collected by questionnaire, interviews, standardised tests and an attitude scale, devised by the researcher. Some of the findings were not unexpected, but several controversial issues arose in the small-scale study. The appropriateness of always using mean scores to examine this kind of data was discussed. It was questioned whether children in fact read less because they listed less books. Few children were non-readers. Children read more magazines and newspapers as they grew older. They were keen to read adult fiction. Boys gave up reading children's books sooner than girls did. Major influences were seen to be those of the media, of friends, of public libraries and of interested encouraging adults. Examples of different types of readers, presented as detailed case studies of individual children, comprised a major part of the study