Chapter 7 - Reading Development During Adolescence

Teen-Agers | High School | Reading Interests | Increasing Independence | Personal Development | Effective Instruction | Reading Problems | Reading Difficulty | Q + A

An adolescent boy made this comment: "Parents pay a lot of attention to their children during the early years, but neglect them more and more as they grow up." This tendency is due partly to the adolescent's apparent rejection of parental authority and supervision and partly to the parent's feeling of inadequacy to guide an adolescent's learning.

The home loses much of its influence as the peer group comes to be a decisive arbiter. For example, in the matter of speech, a word sounds right to an adolescent if it is used by the clique or gang, and wrong if it is not. School and neighborhood associates compete with parents and teachers as authorities on preferred usage. Similarly, values, standards, and purposes are shaped by the dominant attitudes of the group. Only a very mature youngster dares to be different.

In his schoolwork as well as in his social relations, the junior and senior high school student is growing away from his parents. He is becoming more and more independent. It is much harder for parents to help him with his homework. They are unfamiliar with many of the books and assignments that he brings home.

As the child moves from elementary into junior high school, the required reading becomes more voluminous and more complex. His textbook assignments are longer, he has more reference reading to do, more facts to organize more abstract concepts to comprehend, more need for critical and interpretative reading skills.

In his survey of the junior high school, James B. Conant stated that students need at least sixth-grade reading ability to succeed in high school.

Reading instruction should be continued throughout the high school years; it is especially needed in the seventh and eighth grades. These are the strategic years in which to perfect the basic word recognition and comprehension skills, and to develop the more complex techniques of interpretation, critical reading, and application.

Characteristics Of Teen-Agers

In the early adolescent period, between the ages of twelve and fifteen, youngsters are sorting out and revising their childhood values and traits of behavior. Reading should make an important contribution to their personal development. In order to do so, reading must compete with many other attractions: TV, disc-jockey shows, social dancing, clubs, sports, and other preferred leisure activities. A tenth-grade girl described one possible way of putting books on an equal footing:

My parents have always encouraged me to read. They have built a library of classics, . . . beautifully bound. In spite of the encouragement of teachers and my parents, I have read a small number of books. I find it hard to get interested enough to read a good book, the main reasons being that I don't have much time and I'd rather do other things than read. Once I do get into a good book, however, I can hardly keep away from it.

This year I explained my problem to my dad who solved it very quickly. He said I had to read at least one book a week before I could go to any of my club meetings after school. Every week he assigns me a certain book to read, usually a classic or a good novel. This week I am reading The Moonstone, which is proving very interesting.

Despite the competition of other activities, many teen-agers maintain a lively interest in voluntary reading. The following composition, entitled "Future Readers of America," by a gifted high school girl bespeaks a remarkable degree of maturity:

High School

Location Of Information Skills | Clues From Context | Literary Interpretation | Thinking While Reading | Recognizing The Author's Intent | Thinking About Words | Interpreting Sayings | Thinking To Solve Problems | Examining Sources | Detecting Propaganda | Finding Applications | The Role Of Parents

In this scientific, well educated world of today, good reading ability and background are essential parts of a youngster's schooling, both elementary and higher. Without the ability to read and comprehend easily, how can a young person be expected to understand newspaper editorials and keep up on current events? How can anyone poor in reading expect to successfully complete high school and enter the competitive college race, when so much depends on the ability and ease with which words are read and used? The answers to both these questions illustrate the fact that reading is an important part of a child's life; it is up to us, the future parents, to prepare to instill an interest in literature in our own children and those of others.

During the last year, I read an article by a mother of two teen-age sons who, since her boys could read, has set aside a certain time in the evening for a "reading hour." During this time, her whole family puts away whatever each member is doing and reads various books and articles together or separately; how much better this must be for children than to be wasting time on cowboy programs or cartoons! If I am ever fortunate enough to have my own family, a "reading hour" will certainly be part of each day, for an hour a day would instill good reading habits in almost any child.

In my own future home, there will be plenty of good reading material where youngsters can reach it, and the titles will not all be of children's books. When I was nine, Mother gave me Tale of Two Cities for Christmas; I read one chapter, became thoroughly bored, and put it back on the shelf. This incident repeated itself three more times, about once every two years, and finally six years after receiving the book, I was able to see through Dickens' longwindedness to the warmly emotional plot and magnificent characters. When I commented on how long it had taken me to read her gift, Mother confided that her parents had done the same thing and that it had taken her almost as long to enjoy Tale of Two Cities! This same thing has happened with other classics; just having the books around made them seem like old friends and encouraged me to finally read and understand them.

Besides preparing to interest future children, there are certain things I and others of my age can do now to "inspire" young readers. I leave my own dusty store of Terhune, Nancy Drew, the Alcott series, and other well-loved children's classics to any neighborhood child who wants to use them; one third-grader even wrote a book report on Little Women which won a prize at school. This is not a particularly exciting or amazing feat, but it feels good to know that it was my book which supplied all the enthusiastic enjoyment shown in the report!

Another method which I have unconsciously used to stimulate my younger brother's interest is taking part in my parents' discussions of books. It made me feel very grown up to see David's wide eyes when I coyly mentioned one of my books, so when he began to join in, it became an all-out battle to see who could read the best and the most books!

With more and more stress being put upon reading and English skills in schools, it seems reasonable that a child's grade-school teachers will give him most of his background in reading; but the fact remains that it is in the youngster's home life that he gets a good part of his interest.

Today and in the future, I shall try my best to introduce as many young readers as possible to the wonderful world of books.

As we have already suggested, the adolescent is extremely sensitive to the opinion of his peers. If his gang scoffs at the bookworm, he may suppress his genuine interest in reading. On the other hand, the enthusiasm of his friends may stimulate him to do more voluntary reading. In the words of another tenth-grade girl:
Most all of my friends read a lot, and their interest in certain books often rubs off on me. When one of my friends has read a good book, his enthusiasm often causes my reading it also. I notice I do the same thing and recommend a great many books to my friends.2

Sometimes a small group of popular boys or girls can overcome their classmates' indifference or hostility to reading by taking a firm stand for intellectual interests. They may form a Great Books Club, meet regularly to do dramatized readings of one-act plays, or select stories to read to children in a recreation center or hospital.

The adolescent's exuberant urge for independence tends to subside by the senior year of high school. At first, adolescents crave only the freedom of staying up late, choosing their own clothes, going places without adults. As they grow older they become more aware of the responsibility that accompanies freedom.3 They read more serious books: descriptions of various careers, true-to-life stories, and biographies of people who have faced life's problems courageously. In their reading they seek answers to their questions of who they are, where they are going, and why*

In addition to these common characteristics, we find all sorts of individual differences in ability, interests, achievement, attitudes, and values. All of these factors influence an adolescent's response to reading. They determine what he reads, how he reads, and why he reads.

Reading Development During High School Years, And Ways Of Achieving It

For some children, the junior high school period is a kind of renaissance. They enter this new era in their school life hopefully. They should have all the help they need in mastering these reading skills that will be their chief tools of learning:

Location of information skills

Word-recognition skills Context clues Prefixes, suffixes, and roots Rapid recognition of word

meaning; fewer clues
needed

Vocabulary building Precise and vivid usage Semantic interpretation

Ability to organize and communicate ideas gained from reading

Ability to interpret Read critically Draw sound conclusions Make generalizations

Increased appreciation Expanding interests

Concern for quality

Increasing fluency, adjusting rate to purpose and motives

Appropriate methods for different subjects and kinds of material

Pleasure in precision
 
Real problems to solve Reports to write

Exercises prepared by students Practice in solving unfamiliar words by appropriate methods, using a minimum number of clues

Preliminary or subsequent study

of words in selections read Collecting synonyms and homonym! Interesting word origins Interpretation of symbols

Discussion of books Practice in making written and oral outlines and summaries

Instruction and practice in finding and interpreting clues to character plot

Material that requires this kind of reading

Stating purpose for reading

Orientation to the selection Discussion of characters, motives, etc.

Individual reading plans Conferences with teacher Publicizing of books

Comparing books of different quality Development of criteria

Time limits

Exercises in reading for different purposes

Demonstrations and instruction in how to read effectively in each subject
 
Location of Information Skills
During the high school years the student develops his ability to write reports on various topics. This requires searching more widely than he did in the lower grades for sources of information. Parents can sometimes help by giving him access to references that are not in the school library. They may also help the student to select information that is pertinent to the topic and to evaluate its relevancy, accuracy, and adequacy. By discussing the topic with members of his family, the student may get a sense of the structure of his materials and a better idea of how to organize his report and present it interestingly. Of course, all these skills should be taught in school, but they may be developed by the interest and cooperation of the parents.

Clues from Context

Although the child has long been using context clues to get word meanings, he will continue to use them all his life; he should become more and more expert in recognizing subtle indications of character, of motives, and of cause-and-effect sequences.

During the high school years, the student will probably get more instruction and practice in recognizing and interpreting context clues. (McCullough gives examples of a variety of context clues.5) He will become more adept at using various clues to meaning. He will look carefully at pictures and diagrams. Well-chosen charts and illustrations make certain meanings much clearer than any verbal explanation could do. For example, how could you describe a space ship as clearly as a color photograph would do, with a man beside it to give an idea of its relative size? In some instances, a picture is worth a thousand words. For more abstract ideas, a diagram may be still better; it can focus on essential principles and relationships, ignoring the irrelevant details that might be present in a photograph.

A second common context clue is furnished by the reader's experience. Some city children would have no difficulty in supplying the word delicatessen in the sentence: "Cooked food is sold in a store." Any reader who was familiar with the ways of pickpockets from reading Oliver Twist would have a fairly clear idea of the meaning of deftness in the sentence: "He removed the watch with the deftness of a pickpocket."

Synonyms give specific clues: "He had never been so gay; he was simply buoyant."

Sometimes the meaning of a word is given in a summary statement: "She was disheveled in appearance. Her hair was dirty and uncombed. Her dress was torn and stained and falling off one shoulder."
A mood or situation that is first described may then be crystallized in a single word whose meaning thus becomes plain: "The day was dull—the air was oppressive. This dreary landscape cast a melancholy spell over him."

In textbooks, a definition frequently explains the unknown word: "The land was dry and sandy; it was a desert."

A familiar expression may suggest a clue: "As famished as a bear" suggests the more familiar "As hungry as a bear."

Of course, getting the meaning from context is not always so easy as in the example we have given. Quite often, no context clues are to be found. However, all readers need a battery of skills for searching the text itself for possible meanings of unfamiliar words.

Literary Interpretation

When you read a story you would probably enjoy it more if you looked for the subtle clues that the author gives to help you understand the characters, and anticipate developments in the plot. Students are taught to do this in school. It makes reading more meaningful and enjoyable to them.

The teacher may demonstrate the process of clue recognition and interpretation with the entire class as they read a story together. They may go through the process together a number of times. Then the students read a story at home and the next day in class discuss the clues they have found and the interpretations they have given to them. After they have learned how to do so, and have discovered the interest and depth it adds to their reading, they will continue to read in this way on their own.

Some clues make clear the physical appearance of the characters and the setting. These may comprise a direct description like this: "The cook squatted in the bottom and looked with both eyes at the six inches of gunwale which separated him from the ocean. His sleeves were rolled over his fat forearms, and the two flaps of his unbuttoned vest dangled as he bent to bail out the boat." Or a few significant details: "In the wan light, the faces of the men must have been gray. Their eyes must have glinted in strange ways as they gazed steadily astern."

Or the clue may lie in the character's own speech or action: "The cook had said: There's a house of refuge just north of the Mosquito Inlet Light, and as soon as they see us, they'll come off in their boat and pick us up.' 'As soon as who sees us?' said the correspondent." The three preceding quotations were from Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat."
Appearance may also be implied by a suggestive observation: "At the very sight of her, children would stop their merry chatter and freeze in their places."

Similarly, feelings, moods, motives, and intentions may be inferred from the character's statements, tones of voice, actions, reactions, and the responses they evoke from others. Figures of speech, subtle shades of meaning, irony, sarcasm—all these literary devices point to meanings.

The setting and mood of a story may be inferred from its opening sentences: "None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them" (Stephen Crane, "The Open Boat").

The title may contain a clue: "The Phantom of Buck Hill Caves," "The Spell of the Yukon."

Appreciation of humor sometimes requires recognition of double meanings, as in Mercutio's words describing his fatal wound: "'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." A word may be given an unexpected or absurd meaning by the turn of a phrase. A situation may be so outrageously exaggerated that it becomes hilarious. Cumulative detail may make a character appear more and more ludicrous.

Inferences about a character's appearance, personality, and changes in personality are based on the cumulative effect of separate clues scattered throughout the story. For example, the change in Silas

Marner that is brought about by the presence of the little child may be inferred from statements such as the following:

"Gold—his own gold—brought back to him as mysteriously as it had been taken away! . . . He leaned forward at last, and stretched forth his hand; but instead of the hard coin with the familiar resisting outline, his fingers encountered soft warm curls."

"Presently she slipped from his knee and began to toddle about, but with a pretty stagger that made Silas jump up and follow her lest she should fall against anything that would hurt her."

These few examples suggest how much students need to learn about the subtle aspects of interpretation. To be sure, a few youngsters need no help in learning to read with keen appreciation. But most students profit by class instruction in recognizing and interpreting the clues from which inferences may be drawn.6
Thus the reader enters into the thoughts and feelings of the characters, follows the interaction of characters and events, and pictures the whole story in his imagination. Good readers do this. They prefer reading to television because it gives them a chance to use their imagination.

To do successful interpretation of this kind independently, the reader should choose books that are appropriate to his reading ability and emotional maturity. Some fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds can bring real understanding to books like Silas Marner, A Tale of Two Cities, Winter Wheat. Others would gain more from books like Johnny Tremain, Hill Doctor, and To Tell Your Love. Still others can read with pleasure and profit simpler books such as Two Logs Crossing, Going on Sixteen, Escape on Skis. The child gains nothing by floundering about in books that are beyond his reading capacity or emotional readiness. When he has acquired skill on an initially appropriate level, the individual should raise the quality and broaden the scope of his reading interests.

The child's response to a book indicates whether he is ready for it. Parents sometimes choose books the child lacks the capacity to understand or enjoy, or expect a depth of interpretation of which he is not capable. Children, too, in their anxiety to please the parent or gain prestige among their peers, choose books that they had better leave until later.

Increased awareness of the many factors involved in interpretation enables parents to help children apply and enhance what they have learned in school. In discussing a book with the child or in reading aloud in a family group, parents can increase both their own enjoyment and that of their children by paying attention to plot and character clues, figures of speech, and subtle humor, and by stopping occasionally to reflect upon a word or a phrase or to trace a sequence of cumulative impressions.

Parents further strengthen teachers' instruction in literature by helping adolescents go beyond a knowledge of "who did what and when." In their conversation with the children they can consider such questions as these: What was the author's purpose in writing the book? What was its thesis? Do you agree with it? What kind of philosophy—materialistic or idealistic—does the author emphasize? Do the characters do what they do because of their deep-seated personality traits, or are their actions unpredictable and subject to blind chance? Comparing a classic with a modern book is especially useful in bringing out certain unchanging elements in human nature, and the way writers depict them in different situations.

The teacher will usually give students a list of recommended books from which they may choose. Students like this degree of freedom. There is something in adolescents that resists required reading. One youngster advised: "If I wanted to stimulate a young person's reading, I would have his teachers encourage reading and make as many good books on his level as possible available. In his family I would never try to force reading on him. I would have his parents encourage reading, but leave it completely up to the individual to decide to read."

However, some young people admit that they are now glad someone made them read certain books. "After the first few chapters," they say, "we became interested and were glad we read it."

Thinking While Reading

In these days when there is so much propaganda in circulation, our young people must learn to recognize a writer's intent so that they will not accept blindly whatever they read or hear. The process of learning to think while reading begins in the first grade and continues throughout high school. The teacher must ask searching questions and use other means to teach students to distinguish between fact and opinion, to test the accuracy of statements, and to appraise the soundness of an author's inferences, conclusions, and generalizations.

Recognizing the Authors Intent

The importance of knowing something about the author and his intent was brought out clearly in an experiment in which high school students were asked to read a parody by Mark Twain of a sentimental overblown style of writing. The students did not know the author's name, and did not think about what his purpose might have been in writing the paragraph. Practically all of them took it seriously, not realizing that it was satirical.

To avoid such misinterpretations and to encourage critical reading, teachers give students practice in recognizing the author's intent. They ask such questions as these: Is he trying to inform, amuse, persuade, prejudice, or otherwise influence the reader? Or is he neutral, maintaining a take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward the reader? Putting the onus on the reader, is there likely to be anything in the reader's background and attitudes that might lead him to interpret the facts incorrectly, or remember only those details that support his point of view?

Thinking About Words

In secondary school, word study attains new importance. One teacher played the overture of an opera over and over while the students wrote on the board all the words the music suggested to them. One boy said, "I never want to hear that overture again, but that was when words first became fascinating to me." Other teachers ask students to think of substitutes for a given word such as said—words that have different shades of meaning— and use these words in sentences or in a short story.
Students also learn that there are various levels of abstraction; one begins with a concrete object in a specific situation, and then becomes more and more general: for example, a Newton Pippin-* apple-»fruit-»food. They observe how, as the level of abstraction increases, readers bring an increasing number of different meanings to the word democracy, for example, or security. High school students find this kind of semantic analysis fascinating. They also enjoy looking for the symbolic meaning that lies behind a word or phrase. They like to pick out signal words and phrases such as but, moreover, on the other hand, that give clues to organization.

Some classes write word autobiographies in which they assume the role of the word: telling its history, how it originated, what its original meaning was, how the meaning changed, how it is used today. They may find or draw pictures that show its use or meaning, and write sentences illustrating its use. Parents should not be surprised if their teen-agers begin to cut up magazines to find pictures that aptly illustrate the word meanings they are studying. We should encourage their enthusiasm and aid them in seeing more deeply into words.

Interpreting Sayings

Another kind of experience that promotes thinking while reading involves the interpretation of sayings and proverbs. For example, the saying, "Trifles make perfection but perfection is no trifle." When asked to interpret this saying, in his own words, one eighth-grade pupil wrote: "To me this means doing little or trifling things makes one perfect, but after you are perfect, there is nothing little or trifling about that."

When asked to interpret the saying, "The secret of happiness is not doing what one likes but liking what one has to do," another eighth-grade student wrote: "To me this means to find happiness, one cannot do what he likes all the time, but when he has something to do that he does not like, it will make him a lot happier if he learns to like what he has to do."

Thinking to Solve Problems

Thinking is stimulated if there is a problem to be solved, a situation to be handled, a practice to be improved. Thinking does not take place in a vacuum. That is why the most skillful teachers, in presenting a problem whose solution requires reading, make the situation vivid and personal, and raise questions that will help to clarify difficulties.

In history, for example, one teacher used the "you-were-there" technique. The students read concrete descriptions of an event, and imagined that they themselves were participating in it—how they felt, what they were thinking, what they thought should be done, and what they thought would follow if it were done. Then they consulted reliable sources to find out what actually happened in consequence of the event. The best approach to thoughtful reading is guidance in finding solutions to real problems.

Examining Sources

Critical reading is essential to the writing of reports or themes. After the student has located sources on the topic, he must examine them critically, asking such questions as these:

Will it serve my purpose?

Is it an original document or someone's comment on a document?

Is it sufficiently specific?

Is it up to date?

Is the author an authority on the subject?

Is his intent to inform or to persuade?

Does he discriminate between fact and opinion?

When students are reading different books on a topic, they will often find differences of opinion. Exercises such as the following help them to distinguish between fact and opinion. Are these statements facts or opinions?

The New York Central railroad trains are never on time. The train this morning was ten minutes late. California is the most beautiful state in the union.

Students learn to look for clues that indicate statements of opinion rather than fact:

It is believed . . . According to authorities . . .

Students also learn that the value of an opinion depends on the degree to which it can be substantiated, on the amount and accuracy of the information on which it is based.

Detecting Propaganda

High school students enjoy a unit on propaganda analysis. They start with advertisements and TV commercials. They may reject the criteria on which a judgment is made: "Everyone uses Sunrise cereal." Or they may question the validity of generalized statements. "No young person can succeed without a college education." They detect bias that stems from the omission of facts on the opposite side of the argument, words that are quoted out of context, words that purport to be factual but carry an emotional charge, half-truths, exaggerated statements, and similar devices used with intent to influence the reader.

From the study of propaganda, teachers move into the interpretation of more subtle literary devices: metaphors, irony, satire, parody, and others.

Finding Applications

When students read critically and creatively, their purpose is not merely to find out what happened and what the people did, but why it happened and why they did it.

Many students are content to read superficially and thoughtlessly unless they are challenged. They can be challenged by thought-provoking questions:

1. Can you think of similar situations today?

2. Will the solutions you've read about be applicable today? Why or why not?

3. What results of that past event still persist today?

4. Does the description you have read give us any understanding of the ways people act today?

5. What motives might have prompted the peoples' action at that time?

6. How is this event related to what went before and came after?

7. What additional information do you need? Where can you find it?

These are some of the ways in which teachers systematically help students to read critically and think about what they read.

The Role of Parents

Parents may informally guide their children's thinking in similar ways. If Jeanie comes home with a history assignment, Mother or Father may talk with her about it before she begins to read. They may be able to recall incidents or details that make the time and place seem less remote. They may help her to see the event as a problem that people of that time had to solve. This will encourage her to speculate about what happened, and then read eagerly to see whether she was right. After she has read the selection, she may want to discuss it with her parents in order to add their experience to hers for its interpretation.

This approach is quite different from the one we usually use in helping a child with his homework. It is more like two adults discussing a topic in which both are interested. Both enjoy the experience and learn from it.

Expanding Reading Interests And Appreciations

Reading contributes to the adolescent's expanding world, as do selected programs on television. Both take him far afield in time and space. In the following account, a gifted fifteen-year-old girl describes her expanding reading interests:

This morning, I finished Dickens' immortal novel, Tale of Two Cities. As I cried over Carton's heart-rending last thoughts, I began to think of how terrible it would be not to be able to take pleasure in such great works as those of Dickens, Poe, Shakespeare, and others. I think that the gift of ease, enjoyment, and interest in good reading material is one of the greatest that schools and parents can bestow on young people, and I am thankful for some very understanding persons who helped me along the "royal road to literature."

Mother influenced my interests in literature. Of course I went through the horse story stage and, later, the teen-age romances, but since the age of seven I have, for many years, been reading and enjoying historical novels. Mother taught history before she was married, and the only books I ever received for Christmas were about Queen Elizabeth, King Louis, or some similar topic!

The point at which I was doing the most reading was about five or six years ago. During the spring and fall I would be sick with asthma most of the time and often would read fifteen or twenty books a week. These, of course, were mostly children's books, but here I became acquainted with classics such as David Copperfield, Secret Garden, and the entire Alcott series.

Only this year have I started picking up the works of Schweitzer, Shakespeare, and other great minds, and I do not thoroughly understand this thought-provoking literature as of yet. But I hope and feel sure that the interest and understanding will grow with time and that I can look forward to enjoying good reading material for the rest of my life.

Parents and teachers may expect teen-agers to grow in their ability to make deeper interpretations of books and to show increased skill in finding clues to character and plot that make voluntary reading more creative and rewarding. They may also expect them to show increased ability to grasp the author's pattern of thought as they read, to make a creative summary, and to read fast when skimming is appropriate.

Increasing Independence

During the senior high school years students should take more responsibility for their own improvement in reading. Some teachers let each student choose a topic on which he wants to read intensively. From time to time the teacher will have a conference with the student to discuss the books he has read and to suggest others along similar lines.

When special reading groups are formed, juniors and seniors often join them voluntarily. They are eager to take advantage of opportunities to improve their reading. This represents admirable growth in self-direction. They no longer depend on parents or teachers to make them do what they ought to do.

Personal Development Through Reading During Adolescence

Why do we read? Do not most of the objectives as stated represent means to personal development? Through reading, the adolescent may identify himself with heroes he would like to emulate, with persons who have admirable character traits and exemplify them in action. He compares his own character as he sees it with that of persons in fiction or biography who were courageous and resourceful in difficult situations.

By changing the ways in which young people perceive reality, books may influence their vocational aims, help to shape their philosophy of life, give them insights into their own lives and the lives of others, and develop in them a sense of destiny. After children have mastered the mechanics of reading, it becomes a thinking-feeling-responding process.

The degree to which a book influences a child or young person depends on his need at the time, the intensity with which he identifies himself with the characters, and his ability to place himself in the situations they are facing. Readers extract from a book what they need at a particular time. This is not always exactly what the author intended to communicate or what parents and teachers thought the individual should get out of the reading. Efficient readers who have to cover a large amount of reading material use a method of judicious selection; they extract from books, newspapers, and magazines ideas that are pertinent to the problems with which they are concerned.

We cannot measure the exact extent to which reading changes young people in this flexible, unstable period of their lives. However, we do have many introspective reports in which high school students describe how books and articles have influenced their points of view, attitudes, and behavior. They tell how books have helped them to find goals and persist in their efforts to attain them, have made them more understanding of their parents and brothers and sisters, have helped them clarify their religious perplexities, and have led them to think about life decisions and commitments.

Effective Instruction

In junior high school you may expect your child to be given instruction in the reading of every subject. When he enters the class in science, English, or social studies, the teacher will want to find out how well he can read the text or reference books that are to be used. The student will read a selection, write a summary, answer specific questions, and define the key words and concepts. By scoring and discussing their answers, the students learn what kind and degree of comprehension the subject requires—and where they fall short. They are then receptive to instruction in the reading skills in which they are deficient.

The teacher will also demonstrate effective study approaches to each type of assignment. The students will practice each one until they have acquired sufficient proficiency. Then they will know how to select and use the best reading method for each day's study.

The key words and concepts in each subject require special instruction. The teacher will bring as much meaning and interest as possible to each new word as it is introduced. Students will share their experiences with the word, find pictures that illustrate its meaning, and use it in their conversation. They may make individual dictionaries or a class dictionary of the new words they have learned.

At home parents can encourage their children to talk about the interesting ideas they have gained in each subject, to see relationships among them, and to find applications for them in their own lives. They can help children tremendously by enriching the meanings of new words; they can describe their own experiences, show the children pictures, take them on trips to historic places, and give them access to selected radio and TV programs. With suggestions from the teacher, parents can make available additional reading material that will enrich the subject for an able reader, or develop the specific skills and abilities that another child may need. Enrichment of the single basal reader or textbook by many supplementary books is common practice today in the teaching of all subjects.

Books should be easily available. We often pick up a book that is lying around, when we would not bother to get the book from the library. Youngsters do likewise. They may also prefer buying a paperback book at the corner drugstore or stationery store to going to the library. Although the number of high-quality paperbacks is increasing, they are still in the minority among the lurid volumes on display in most stores.
In English classes, teachers are putting increasing emphasis on the deeper interpretation of literature. One boy expressed appreciation of his freshman English teacher's approach to reading: "Sure I knew how to read when I was his pupil. But he taught me to read for meaning and the idea in the story, not just the story itself."

Occasionally the class may undertake a word-by-word analysis; they compile all the possible meanings of a word and decide which is the most exact. Sometimes it takes a sentence or a paragraph to clarify the meaning of a single word. To determine an author's full and precise meaning, one needs to understand his overt or hidden intention, know something of his life and times, and assess his attitude toward himself, his reader, and his subject.

The questions that the teacher asks about chapters in history or the social studies should accord with his main purpose in teaching the subject. It is generally agreed that the main purpose in these subjects is to help the pupil understand his world and assess his relation to its diverse population, in order that he may become a more effective participant in it.

In accord with this purpose, the questions the teacher asks about the student's reading are not all of a simple factual nature. Many of them are designed to bring out relationships, sequences of events, conditions that gave rise to important moments or periods of history; in short, the student should consider how the present grew out of the past, and what changes and trends should be encouraged in the future. Such questions as the following might serve these purposes:

What conditions led up to Paul Revere's Ride?

What countries have lost their colonies in far corners of the world in recent times? What were the reasons behind their desire for independence? What problems has this independence created, for example, in the Congo? Home discussions of similar questions would help children read history more effectively.

Parents may encourage supplementary reading that is related to the period of history their children are currently studying. For example, one advanced class, in studying the American Revolution, read Carl Van Doren's Mutiny in January and Secret History of the American Revolution, Kenneth Roberts's Oliver Wiswell, and Esther Forbes's Paul Revere. Another group used the Reader's Guide to locate the facts about Woodrow Wilson's philosophy as seen in articles published in the 1920's and in articles published in the 1940's. This was preliminary to writing their own estimate of Wilson's ideas.
Able learners are especially happy when they have a wealth of reading material, freedom of choice, and opportunity to discuss the ideas they have gained from reading. The ideas they bring to family discussions are often as stimulating to the adults as to the other young people. Parents can keep in touch not only with what is going on in the school but also, to some extent, with what is going on in the world, by sharing their children's school interests.

In addition to giving instruction in the reading of every subject, your school may offer special courses in reading. These may take many forms. One type of program is called individualized reading. The teacher, usually with the help of the librarian, provides books for every member of the class. These are suitable to various degrees of reading ability and appealing to varied interests. Each student chooses the book he wants, reads it independently, and writes a book review of it. During this free reading time the teacher has ten-minute conferences with individuals who need help. The period of silent reading is followed by a class discussion of the books the students have read. Thus the students are getting experience in reading, speaking, listening. But this should not be the whole reading program. Group instruction, special practice for those who need it, and help in reading the various school subjects should also be included.

Another form of reading program uses what has been called multilevel material. This idea was first developed in its present effective form by Don Parker; the materials are published by Science Research Associates, Chicago. A preliminary test is given to determine on which level the individual should begin. Then he starts reading interesting short articles on this level. After reading each article he answers a series of comprehension questions, scores himself on the answers by using a scoring key, makes a graph showing his progress day by day, and notes the skills in which he needs to improve. Teachers, students, and parents have been most enthusiastic about this multilevel material that is used in many schools as part of the total reading program.

You may also have heard of reading programs that use various kinds of machines, designed chiefly to increase speed in reading. Some students, especially those who have already acquired a good vocabulary and fair comprehension skills, but have slipped into unnecessarily slow habits of reading, are enthusiastic about these machines. One type of machine flashes a phrase on a screen for a small fraction of a second; the reader is expected to recognize its meaning. Another type simply forces the student to read faster by means of a lever or bar that moves down over the page at a rate slightly faster than his present reading rate. There has been no conclusive evidence that these machines are, in general, any more effective than psychologically sound instruction that does not involve machines.
The best type of reading class is one in which the reading abilities of the students are continuously studied, and a combination of practice and instruction is given to meet the needs thus indicated. Some of this instruction and practice will be given to the whole class, some to small groups, and some to individuals.

Reading Problems And What To Do About Them

The Reluctant Reader | Difficulty With Spelling And Writing | Retardation Due To Immaturity | Slow Rate Of Comprehension | Unevenness In Abilities | Early Retardation In Reading

The course of improvement in reading does not always run smoothly. Sixteen-year-old Jim described the ups and downs in his reading development as follows:

I was about four years old when my mother tried to teach me to read. She would take a card and write a word on it and then say it. This took a very long time and after a while I became very tired of reading.

The school entered was a country school and I did not care much about it, but in the second grade I began to read more and more and to like to read very much.

In about the sixth grade I read a great deal about airplanes and each year I read more and more about airplanes. When I go to the school library I always get a book about airplanes, but I wish the library had more books about them.

In the eighth grade at junior high I lost interest in reading. Instead of reading I watched TV and radio. As summer came on, most of the stories on TV were reruns and I lost interest in them.

Now, in the tenth grade, I have to do a lot of reading, but it is not for pleasure; it is for school. So far this year I have read only a few short stories.

Here was a boy of average ability whose early dislike of reading was owing to inappropriate home instruction that was begun before he was ready to learn to read. In subsequent years, his reading interest seemed to be left to chance; the home did not support the school by making suitable books available and by giving him approval for reading them.

The Reluctant Reader

Perhaps the child who annoys his parents the most is the reluctant reader who can read but won't. The parents realize that he is missing the enriching experience of wide and thoughtful reading.

It would be well for the parents to explore the possible reasons for this indifference or resistance to reading. The child may have accepted at face value the philosophy of life presented by the mass media. This is represented by such slogans as "Take it easy," "Dream your troubles away," "Pleasure up," and many other invitations to indolence. This philosophy is inimical to serious reading, which requires effort.

A lackadaisical school atmosphere may lead certain students to accept or even prefer mediocrity. This kind of anti-intellectual attitude is more effectively countered by example than by exhortation.

If the individual's background of experience is limited, he has little to bring to a book. He cannot get much meaning out of it because he cannot put much meaning into it.

Adolescents are normally more or less rebellious. We sometimes create resistance to reading by just plain nagging. It is better to set a goal for the child to strive toward. Children and young people try to live up to the expectations of others. "Because my mother and father took it for granted that I would enjoy good books, I read with an intent to like them," one girl said, and added, "and I really did." However, the goals set must be reasonable; we must not expect full steam ahead all the time.

Another reason for resistance to reading may lie in the child's personal relations. Hostility toward a parent or teacher may cause a child to resist learning anything that person advocates.

Voluntary reading may be crowded out by too many distractions in the home or by the pressure of too much required homework. Recognizing this, one French school left one school night each week free of homework, with the understanding that the students would use the evening to read books of their own choice.

Previous experience with reading is a potent factor. If the individual has found no rewards in his previous reading, he has no incentive to continue this boring and futile experience. From this standpoint, the recommendation of appropriate books is most important.

Of course, if the child's reluctance to reading is extreme, even careful personal recommendation of books is likely to be ineffectual. However, one mother got through to her reluctant teen-age son by carefully choosing one or two books that seemed to be in line with his interests, and merely leaving them lying around, without making any reference to them. After pursuing these tactics for several weeks she was rewarded one day when he picked up one of the books and, of his own accord, began reading it. This experience proved to be the entering wedge. He read other books by the same author and gradually widened his reading interests. When he found that reading was a satisfying personal experience, he became willing to put forth effort; he realized that reading involves work as well as pleasure.

Children whose homes are well stocked with books, magazines, and reference material, and whose families discuss current events and the books they have read and often recommend books and articles to one another, usually read wisely and well.

If a young person can read but doesn't, there's a reason. We can usually discover it and start him forward on the royal road to reading.

Difficulty with Spelling and Writing

Occasionally a child or adolescent who reads with fairly good comprehension is very poor in writing and spelling. One boy had no concept of words as composed of letters, and no understanding of the relationships between letters and sounds. After some training in phonics, he now tends to spell words the way they sound; he writes ate instead of eight, and sometimes adds an extra e to a word. He still copies words wrong from the board. He seems to see them wrong. This tendency may be caused by defects of vision that should be diagnosed and corrected, or by confusion in the brain areas that are involved in perception. At present he has become really concerned about his spelling and writing, and wants help. Some boys who have this kind of difficulty have been greatly helped by the kinesthetic or tracing method described by Fernald.7 It is important to recognize competency and approve the good spelling and writing that children do; we should not constantly call attention to their errors.

Retardation Due to Immaturity

General immaturity may be associated with reading difficulty. A bright boy whose father was an architect had a home environment that presented rich opportunities for acquiring word meanings and fluent speech. Tests showed a marked difference between the boy's verbal ability and his nonverbal or quantitative ability. At eleven years of age he was reading at the third-grade level. His school had placed him in the sixth grade. Physically he was only as mature as a nine-year-old. Although he was six years old when he entered school, he was probably very immature for his age and did not respond to formal beginning reading instruction.

The parents were relieved to know that the boy's present retardation in reading seemed to be due to slow maturation and early failure to learn. They were glad to cooperate in a program of improvement that began with building a basic vocabulary, acquiring word-recognition skills, and reading many books far below his present grade level.

Slow Rate of Comprehension

Slowness in reading is one of the most commonly recognized difficulties. This tendency may be part of a temperamental lethargy. The mother of one fourteen-year-old boy said that he began to have difficulty with reading in the fifth grade. Her chief concern is the amount of time it takes him to master his lessons—much longer than his younger brothers and sisters have to spend. He is very conscientious and does a good deal of homework under the parents' supervision. Both parents fear that he will not be able to keep up with the pace of a private preparatory school unless he can read faster than he has been able to do thus far.

The boy is overweight. He has poor motor coordination and does not participate in sports. Nevertheless, he seems to be quite well accepted by his peers. To all appearances, he accepts his difficulties philosophically and does not seem to be overconcerned about his academic problems or his younger brother's ability to complete his homework faster than he does. He likes to help with the household chores and the cooking. He is exceedingly polite for a boy of his age.

According to his mother, he does not read as much as he should during his free time. His comprehension is up to par but his word attack is poor. His favorite subject, in which he obtained an average of 95, is mathematics; his poorest subject is spelling. He was placed in a remedial reading class in the fifth grade.

This boy's reading difficulty may be explained in many ways. He may have had poor instruction in beginning reading. A lethargic temperament has already been suggested. Feminine interests, though often associated with reading interest, may in this case be causing conflict with the counterdesire to establish masculinity. Inner conflict tends to distract attention from reading.

In this case, as in many others, general immaturity seems to be affecting reading performance. And the parents, instead of encouraging initiative and responsibility, seem to be fostering dependency by helping the boy so much with his homework and assuming so much responsibility for his reading. It is also possible that environmental conditions during the boy's infancy and preschool years may have established attitudes of apathy and passivity.

Improvement may occur when the boy modifies his self-concept and when his parents and teachers begin to expect him to assume more responsibility for his own learning. If he then receives instruction in the reading techniques in which he is deficient, these changes should pave the way to better reading and more effective study.

Unevenness in Abilities

Sometimes we meet students of high school age who are proficient in science but poor in reading. One understanding father described this difficulty in the following letter to the director of a reading center:

My wife spoke with your secretary concerning our 15-year-old son who will be entering his second year of high school in the fall, and she advised that we write you full particulars concerning same.

In the spring he took the entrance exam for a private preparatory school, and while he excelled in math, receiving a 97 percentile in math, and a 96 percentile in theoretical math, he only got a 23 percentile in spelling, and a 27 percentile in reading.

We have been aware of this deficiency in reading, and hate to have him approach college level without help. We thought remedial reading would be the answer. He never reads unless it is a book on science or math.

Spelling words which he studies he can get perfectly without too much effort but words he is not familiar with, he is at a loss at trying to spell. We felt that if his reading scope were enlarged, his spelling would benefit, also.

He finished this year with very creditable marks; 98 in science, 97 in math, 95 in Spanish, 95 in English, and an 85 in history. The latter, I am sure, he read as little as possible.
Even though his present high grades are good, we feel he must have help in his weakest point as it will be a hindrance to him in college.

I would appreciate your opinion and help in this matter, and would be very happy if he could take work in reading in your center in the fall.

Early Retardation in Reading

Adolescents sometimes have a history of poor health and unfortunate early school experiences. Such is the case with Paul. During his first five years he suffered from poor health—spasms, diarrhea, digestive disturbances, and foot defects that required him to wear specially fitted shoes.

In the first grade he had an elderly teacher who was actually cruel in her treatment of some of the children. Though she seemed to like Paul, she expressed her fondness for him roughly and he was terrified of her. During this year and the next, he did not learn to read, and his reading has remained a problem ever since.

In Junior high school he was placed in a class of slow learners because he was reading at only third-grade level. In this class he did average work, but made no friends because he had few interests in common with these children. In the ninth grade, he had been transferred to an average group where he has made friends, joined clubs, and engaged in sports, even though his foot defects are still uncorrected.

Though his older brother is a good reader, versatile, well liked, and very good in sports, Paul does not seem to regard him as a threat. In fact, he is protective and kind toward Paul.

Since Paul has the potential ability to read well, and since the social and emotional factors are favorable, it would appear that what he needs is instruction and practice in reading to make up for what he lost in the earlier years. The Science Research Elementary Reading laboratory might be very useful in helping Paul.

Multiple Causes Of Reading Difficulty

Reading difficulties have many causes. But some adolescents have all the cards stacked against them and need all the understanding and help we can give them. For example, a fifteen-year-old boy of average intelligence, was "born blue"; that is, he suffered a serious oxygen deprivation, which usually affects the brain cells that are connected with speech and reading. To revive him, the doctor administered an injection, which injured a nerve and made one leg shorter than the other. He had so much pain as a baby that he used to bang his head against the wall.
All through his childhood he had headaches and throat infections. He walked at eleven months, but did not talk much until he was two and a half. He had special difficulty in pronouncing / and r. His family thought this was cute. In the first grade, he said he wasn't going to school any more because people laughed at him because of his mispronunciations. His speech defect continued to make him terribly self-conscious. In the fifth grade he went to a speech class, but still has trouble with his r's. He has always been poor in reading and spelling.

Despite all these handicaps, this boy is now studying and trying to do better. It is hard for him to concentrate, and it takes him a long time to do his homework. He does some reading, but his mother feels that the books he reads are either childish or quite beyond him. He makes friends and behaves in school. Through his pain he has maintained a sense of humor, although his frustration occasionally breaks out in fits of temper. School takes most of his time and he has no special interests, not even drawing, which he used to enjoy.

Home conditions are unfavorable. He fights with his sister and calls her a "stupid idiot." She retaliates with similar disparaging remarks. He shares a room with his grandmother and they hate each other. A change in environment is clearly indicated.

Through wise and sympathetic counseling, this boy might gain a more hopeful and more realistic self-concept. When he has clearly recognized and accepted both his strengths and his weaknesses, he should be helped to focus on the things he can do.

As handicapped children grow toward adulthood, they become increasingly anxious about the future. They wonder what is to become of them. If they find a suitable vocational goal, they will put forth much effort in preparing for it. If they know what reading is required for their chosen work, they are often willing to start on a childish level and progress step by step as fast and as far as they are able. Parents should accept a realistic goal and give the child the opportunities, encouragement, and special help that he needs to make progress toward it. A boy of this kind needs individual reading instruction that begins where he is. His physical and emotional distractions should be reduced, and he should receive genuine approval for the progress that he makes. Under these conditions he will gradually attain his reading potentialities.

A negative attitude toward a child may not only aggravate a reading difficulty; it may even cause one. The mother of a thirteen-year-old boy constantly expressed her fears for the boy's future, and stated that regardless of how hard she worked to support him, he did not appreciate it. Both the mother and the older sister tried to help him with his reading, but he was so stupid, according to the mother, that they lost patience with him. The boy seemed to be satisfied, she said, to go through junior high school accumulating report cards full of F's, just as he did in the lower grades. She said he was irresponsible and lazy at home; he refused to help around the house, and was constantly bickering with his older sister. The mother's plan was to get him through the ninth grade so that he could enter the auto mechanics course in a nearby senior high school, but she was afraid he was "too dumb to make it."

Since we tend to believe what we hear others say about us, it is no wonder that this boy thought of himself as stupid, dumb, lazy, irresponsible. If he were given suitable tasks in which he could succeed, if people expected him to do his best, and consistently made reasonable demands upon him, the chances are that he would put forth the effort to learn to read. His efforts would be fruitful if he received instruction from a skillful teacher or clinician.

Parents may not be aware of certain home conditions that are contributing to a child's reading difficulty. For example, the mother of a thirteen-year-old boy mentioned the following:

His father has very little use for him and seldom associates with him. The boy has to go elsewhere for adult male companionship.

His older brother is an excellent student and very ambitious. He goes to high school and holds down two jobs besides. The mother is very proud of him. This brother has always called the boy stupid because he has not been able to do his schoolwork. The mother has put a stop to this.

The mother is very much concerned about the boy's reading, and is anxious to get help from a reading clinic.

All these conditions conspire to build up feelings of inferiority in the boy: he lacks a normal relationship with his father; his mother is anxious and overconcerned; and he cannot possibly compete with his brother who is so much more able, and so very superior.

Somewhat similar family conditions account, in part, for the reading difficulties of a thirteen-year-old girl:

She has a twin brother who is capable and enthusiastic and reads well; he gives her much competition. She was retained in the first grade while the brother was promoted. The mother has always given the brother more opportunities for doing things.

The girl doesn't want to do a thing unless she can do it perfectly.
School conditions are also unfavorable. In the primary grades, her school was overcrowded, and operated on a part-time schedule. Consequently she missed out on basic reading instruction. Since she has not acquired word-recognition skills, she cannot do independent reading. She fears tests; her usual poor performance intensifies her feeling of inadequacy. If she were given the instruction that she missed during the primary grades, so that she could recognize words readily, her confidence would increase. She would then be able to do the wide voluntary reading that she needs to increase her information, vocabulary, and fluency.

Many school conditions may contribute to an adolescent's reading difficulties. Parents frequently mention the hazards of overcrowded classrooms, schools on part-time sessions, and a curriculum in which, as one mother said, "children were not supposed to do anything unless they wanted to. They just weren't challenged." Certainly such conditions create reading problems that are likely to accumulate as the child goes through elementary school and enters high school. Then the child who was not much concerned about his reading in elementary school begins to see its personal importance, and wants to improve.

Each reading problem is unique. There is no blanket rule that can be applied to all children, except one: Parents and teachers must maintain a sensitivity to the individual child—his capacity for learning, his present stage of development, his self-concept, his relationships with the important people in his life, his feelings, and the meaning that a given situation has for him.

Questions And Answers

1. How can a parent encourage an adolescent's love of reading?

The surest method is by setting a good example. Love of reading is caught from persons who genuinely enjoy reading, who care deeply about it, and who are convinced of its importance. Such persons talk about the books they read, argue about them, read excerpts from them, and recommend suitable books to their children.

If the child is resistant to reading, or passing through a peak of resentment toward adult authority, it may be better just to leave the book lying around.

A sound selection is tremendously important. Nothing is worse than to arouse a child's interest in a book that turns out to be boring or disgusting to him. Such an experience confirms his opinion that "reading is for the birds."

2. If a child is interested in nothing but sports or mechanical things, how can a parent or teacher interest him in reading?

Though interest in sports is not always related to interest in reading about sports, sports stories and biographies of sports heroes may be an entering wedge.

A group of boys interested in auto mechanics developed their language skills in connection with the renovation of old cars. Each boy did the job first, and then described the procedure in his own words, down to the last step in cleaning a carburetor. A careless write-up was no more acceptable than a careless job; it had to be technically accurate, correct as to spelling and grammar, and clearly expressed. Weekly spelling quizzes tested their ability to spell and define words like centrifugal, chassis, and differential. Reading became interesting and meaningful to these boys when it dealt with experiences that were familiar to them and began with descriptions that employed their own vocabulary and sentence structure. This principle can be applied to any kind of experience reading.

3. Is failure in reading related to behavior problems and juvenile delinquency?

It would be absurd to claim that all poor readers become juvenile delinquents. Some cope with their sense of failure in nonaggressive ways: by becoming indifferent or apathetic, by daydreaming that they are successful, by getting satisfaction from sports, music, or something else that they can do well.

But judges in juvenile courts have found that about three-fourths of those who were brought before them were two or more years retarded in reading. Some were practically nonreaders. The child who fails to learn to read and thus gets little satisfaction from school is likely to play truant. In his hours out of school, he may join gangs of older boys and thus get into trouble.

Improvement in reading often produces improvement in behavior. For example, Dave's bad behavior made his mother sick with worry. He was by far the worst reader in his tenth grade. After six weeks in a special reading class Dave "caught on"—he discovered that he could learn to read. He calmed down in class because he was too busy reading to think of ways of causing trouble.

With some children, emotional problems underlie both reading and delinquency. They may need counseling or psychotherapy. However, individual help in reading often has a beneficial effect. It changes children's attitudes toward themselves, and improves their relationships with parents and teachers.

4. How may reading help adolescents with their personal problems?

We can give them access to books and other reading materials that deal with adolescent problems and thus aid them in achieving their developmental tasks. Studies have shown that young people do read about the problems that are of concern to them.

As they read novels, short stories, and biographies that describe numerous incidents in which the central characters experience some of the conflicts, uncertainties, and anxieties that beset most adolescents, they can attain insight into their own behavior and build up their self-confidence and self-assurance. Such books will also aid them in their efforts to achieve personal and social adjustment. For example, broken families are common today, and the adolescent suffers from this painful situation. Divided Heart, by Mina Lewiton, has a wholesome approach to this problem that may help some young persons understand and accept a situation of this kind in their own lives. In Going on Sixteen, by Betty Cavanna, Julie was not accepted socially by her high-school peers until she had won a school-wide poster contest. Your High School Days, by M. F. Detjen, helps students to understand some common school problems. Teen Days, by Frances Strain, discusses hygiene, sex, entertainment, jobs, love, and marriage. In Senior Year, by Anne Emery, the problem of going steady crops up. Each book of Teen-Age Tales, published by D. C. Heath, contains many short stories in which adolescents achieve satisfactory solutions of their problems. By supplying books like these that deal with choosing one's vocation and way of life, dating, courtship, marriage, family life, broken homes, manners, and good grooming, we can help adolescents in achieving their developmental tasks.

5. What advice about reading have teen-agers given to teachers?

Take more time with individual students and gain more understanding of them; find out why they make mistakes and help them. One youngster said, "The teacher never helps you. She just says, 'You ought to know that.'"

Divide the class into subgroups. This makes it possible for the teacher to help the students who have special difficulties; the student has more confidence when he is in a small group.

Give more instruction in creative and critical reading.

Give practice in writing as well as reading—for example, writing book reviews or making radio script out of a story.

"Teach us, don't just test us."

Don't embarrass students about their reading before other people.

Stimulate them to read better books; don't let them keep reading the same type of book too long.

Give them a list of recommended books from which they may choose.
Set a good example; children imitate adults who display enthusiasm for reading and appreciation of literature.

Have conferences with the parents; working together, teachers and parents can help a child improve his reading.

6. What are some of the common reading difficulties and dissatisfactions that teen-agers recognize?

They wish to read faster, but have not learned the art of skimming.

They have a meager vocabulary. "My worst reading difficulty," one boy said, "is not understanding words. Now I am reading the newspaper for a half-hour every night."

They wish that they had learned more words and read more worth-while books when they were younger. As one said: "When I was little I used to have lots of time to sit around and read a book. But now there are movies to go to, TV to watch, comic books to read. You just don't seem to have the time to sit down and read a good book."

They do not have time to read what they want; they cannot enjoy a book because they have to rush through it.

They are bored with the books they are given to read.

They resent being deprived of activities they do well, such as sports, because their reading is poor.

They are embarrassed when they have to read before the class; one boy said, "When I begin to read in front of a group, I get embarrassed and then begin to stutter and fumble around with words."

Emotional problems may interfere with their reading: "The thing that is most difficult for me, I think, is when I have something on my mind that is bothering me. Then I can't seem to get my mind on what I am reading."

7. How do parental values affect adolescents' reading?

Your children's reading ability and reading interests are strongly affected by the value you and your neighbors place upon reading and other intellectual interests in the home. Are your values showing? Which is prominent in your home—the up-to-the-minute kitchen, the colorful tile bathroom, the two-car garage, the television set, or the library with its book-strewn tables? Reading is fostered in an atmosphere of ideas, and ideas grow out of values and interests.

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