Browsing by Author "Linnanmäki, Eveliina"

Aims. Previous research and tests of reading achievement have shown that literacy among children and adolescents has weakened and leisure time reading has decreased especially among boys. Girls have outscored boys on tests of reading achievement and boys read less than their female peers. There has been a public concern about boys when it comes to reading; however there have been few studies made from boys’ own point of view. The main objective of this study was to find out what kind of thoughts the boys, who don’t read much on their freetime, have about reading and literature assignments and how boys are portrayed as readers in Lukuklaani research project data. The aim was also to find out if there is reason to be concerned about the situation of boys. Methods. In this study eight boys from 5th and 6th grade were interviewed. These boys identified themselves as boys who don’t read much on their freetime. This study also used the data of Lukuklaani research project that executed a survey that was answered by 885 teachers. The data (in-terviews and Lukuklaani survey) was analyzed by theory-guided content analysis and categorized to themes. The results were compared to the theoretical framework. Results and conclusions. The boys had rather positive attitudes toward reading; however there seems to be some contradiction in their perceptions. The boys found reading boring even though everyone told they had red an interesting book sometimes. It is important that one can read an interesting book: the boys liked to read books that interest them but they don’t have motivation to read boring books. It is important to find appealing books and it is profitable to introduce boys to various books at school so that they would be able find books that interest them. Relatedness was also a significant factor in this study. Conversations about literature seemed to motivate the boys. Social reading would be a beneficial method to use at school, for example in the form of literature circles. It appears that the concern about the situation of boys is not completely groundless because they seem to prefer other activities such as video games over reading. Nevertheless it is optimistic that the boys have a rather positive attitude toward reading and they like to read books that interest them.