What's the problem with reading? : Thesis in language

Abstract: This project began with the basic preconception that there is a growing resistance towards reading among students and this has been partially proved correct. The research questions were: In upper secondary education, what is it that encourages or hinders the students’ incentives for reading? What effect does this have on the subsequent teaching of fictional texts? The aim of this investigation was to examine attitudes on reading among students in upper secondary education and how these attitudes affect the teaching of fictional texts. The project’s research material consists of a qualitative interview with a practising teacher, and a student questionnaire which was answered by two of the teacher’s classes; one studying the natural science programme, the other studying a vocational, practically oriented programme.  The overall majority of students recognise the importance of reading in their lives, seeing it as an activity that helps them understand themselves and the world. The importance of ”contact points” within the texts is vital for encouraging reading, yet finding texts which have a universal appeal proves to be an impossible task. Reading is seen by the students and the teacher as an activity that contributes to the students’ all-round education, although the teacher does not believe that most of his students truly understand this. A key factor which hinders reading incentives is time. Students grapple with a heavy workload of schoolwork and reading is not prioritised. Film is seen as an effective ”way in” to reading as many students state a preference for films over books, which is largely recognised by the teacher. Film is used as a supplement to the teaching of fiction and is found by the teacher to be a successful method. School texts are invariably described as boring on account of the difficulties that students have engaging and relating with them, yet many texts are also described in equal measure as exciting or interesting. Reading proves to be more popular among the natural science class, yet despite some very negative attitudes in the vocational class, there are still a number of encouragingly positive ones.