Boys' Lack of Confidence in Reading
Using What Boys Read to Improve Their Reading Skills
The problem is not that boys dislike reading; it is that boys’ reading habits change as they grow, starting in the late elementary years. What needs to be addressed is how to build on and transfer the reading skills of roughly one-half of the student population into the classroom.
Gender Studies
Gender studies have shown that many boys are interested in different avenues of learning than most girls. Boys eagerly grab anything associated with numbers, facts, and moving around; girls, on the only hand, tend to gravitate toward quieter, more solo activities. In middle and high school, classes dealing with nonfiction/logical processes and/or creative processes, like math, science, and band, tend to hold boys’ attention better.
While these classes allow boys to work with their hands and move around, they also involve smaller amounts of reading. And that is one reason that boys score lower in reading on standardized tests. With the increased focus on reading and test scores, educators need to focus on how reading is defined.
The definition of literacy as only referring to reading of materials that are determined to be “literature” must be changed in the education field if the majority of boys are to be seen as readers. Reading the great works of literature is reading, but it is not the only form of reading.
Alternative Assignments
With some research and collegial conversation, alternative reading materials can be incorporated into the classroom to address the boys’ reading habits. Why, after centuries of education, does a book report still have to be on a fiction book? or even a book? Why not an article or a series of articles around a particular sport or profession? Why can students not write a comparison/contrast essay on the growth/decline of two sports teams?
Why not base a unit of reading around non-fiction essays? Topics like global warming, the gaming industry, gender equity in sports, animal cruelty, ethical cosmetic research, and other topics are suitable for boys and girls. There is no harm in expanding girls' reading habits at the same time.
To continue to chastise boys by telling or implying that they are not readers solely because they do not read “literature” is doing a great injustice to them. Boys are readers, and they need to see themselves as readers. By scaffolding on their reading skills, educators can work on broadening boys’ reading habits in the classroom. Don’t try to force them into a mold that does not fit. Instead, reshape the mold to fit what research is saying most boys are like.
References:
“Ad-dull-escence.” Linda Rief, editor. Voices from the Middle 13:1. Sept. 2005.
Taylor, Donna Lester. "Not just boring stories: Reconsidering the gender gap for boys." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 48:4. December 2004/January 2005.
