By Nancy Martin, Reading Department Chair (retired)
 

As counterintuitive as it may sound, the best way to encourage a reluctant reader is to let them read independently. However, as parents and educators we must model, guide, and encourage for it to happen. My teaching background is both as an English teacher and as a reading specialist who has taught students in middle and secondary school, as well as college. Often early on in my classes, students tell me they don’t like to read and have never voluntarily read a book for pleasure. My response is simply that “we haven’t found the right book for you yet.”

 

Four components are essential for any student to learn to read and enjoy independent reading:

Finding the Right Book
 

Matching students to books is essential. Reluctant readers usually don’t have a “what to read next” list, so the adults in their lives need to help them find the right book. Do this by beginning with where the student is. Learn who they are, offer book suggestions, but make no book mandatory. Let them switch books and even reread a favorite book (don’t we do this as adults?). Knowing readers and knowing the kinds of books that would appeal to them are critical. Many online resources have book lists: Amazon, Goodreads, YALSA, and YourNextRead. Another way for teachers to “hook” students is through short book talks. In two to three minutes, you “sell” the book by showing the cover, giving a brief synopsis, and reading a short excerpt that makes the listeners pine for more. Teachers and parents need to make the reading experience enjoyable, not arduous. This means not requiring a book report, providing a pleasant environment in which to read, and allowing plenty of choice.
 

With respect to "reading level" use this rule: if a student is enjoying a book, it’s the right level, regardless of some number attached to it for readability purposes. Teachers can help students determine if a book is “just right” by having the student read a page aloud. If the student is reading most of the words without miscues and can demonstrate an understanding of what was read, the book is the right level.

 

How much time should a student read?
 

In a comprehensive study of independent reading, Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988) investigated the relationship of reading time to reading achievement. Their findings demonstrated that the amount of time students spent reading independently was the best predictor of vocabulary development and reading achievement gains. The following chart (Beers, Kylene, and Probst. 2017) displays the relationship among high impact in independent reading time, word exposure, and of reading achievement:

 

 

Reading Achievement
 

Percentile	Independent Reading Minutes per Day	Words Read per Year
98	65	4,358,000
90	21.1	1,823,000
80	14.2	1,146,000
70	9.6	622,000
60	6.5	423,000
50	4.6	282,000
40	3.2	200,000
30	1.3	106,000
20	0.7	21,000
10	0.1	8,000
2	0	0

 

I often think of Malcolm Gladwell’s theory in Outliers in which he asserts that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. If students were in a school system with independent reading programs every year, and were encouraged to read for pleasure on their own, by the time they graduated from high school they would have read around 1,000 books, well on their way to 10,000 hours.
 

Often one hears the argument that teachers who give up precious class time for independent reading are shirking their responsibilities. As teachers, we are responsible for creating an environment in which students want to read of their own volition. In other words, we have to provide the time, space, and books in order for reading to occur. I would argue that this is all the more critical for students who learn differently; by allowing more choice, more time, and access to books, they will become strong readers.
 

Sources:
 

Allington, R. (2006). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing research-based programs. Boston: Pearson.

Anderson, R. C., Wilson, P. T., & Fielding, L. G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 285-303.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. Print.
Beers, G. Kylene, and Robert E. Probst. Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters. Scholastic Inc., 2017.