24/01/03

Study says boys do read, they just don't read books

Julie Smyth 

National Post

Teachers should allow boys to bring Pokémon trading cards into the classroom, let them go on Internet chat rooms and encourage them to relate school texts to television shows such as the Simpsons, the author of a new study on boys and literacy says.

Boys have traditionally performed more poorly than girls in reading and writing tests, but researchers who tracked boys in six elementary classrooms in Alberta over two years say such tests may not reflect the level of literacy boys reach through non-traditional means.

The problem may be that they are simply bored with the conventional curriculum, says the study, titled Morphing Literacy: Boys Reshaping Their Literacy.

The study found it is a myth that boys do not read.

While they are less interested in fiction or traditional literature than girls are, they read more on the Internet and memorize vast amounts of detailed material from games or stories they read in the newspaper, the research showed.

"We have always been opposed to low culture. That is not what we put in the curriculum," said Kathy Sanford, assistant professor of education at the University of Victoria and co-author of the study, which tracked students in Grade 3 to Grade 6.

"We are trying to elevate students, raise them to a level of high culture. We are a bit snobbish, in some ways, about what kids should be learning," she said.

There has been extensive debate over how to improve boys' reading and writing levels, however boys may, in fact, be further ahead than girls because of their extensive use of the Internet and computer games, according to the study.

The researchers found boys are becoming literate "in spite of school instruction," and may end up better prepared for a career because their skills are more useful than being able to write a narrative or analyze a work of fiction.

Teachers should use class time talking about things boys relate to -- Pokémon characters, wrestling, sports, computer games -- as a way of getting them interested in the more traditional reading materials, Ms. Sanford said. They should also observe how boys use modern tools to learn.

Teachers should not drop the traditional reading materials but should allow students to be exposed to more popular culture, she said.

"Boys are learning different things because the things in school are not engaging them. Just because I love reading novels does not mean novels are for everyone. When we look at the adult population, many adults who are highly, highly successful don't read in those genres," she said.

The researchers followed 29 boys in urban and rural schools. They studied their behaviour and searched their backpacks and desks for clues as to how they learn.

They found boys spend large amounts of time on chat sites and Web sites to get tips on how to "cheat" or compete at video games, read books about animals, sports and fantasy, and will pick up magazines and newspapers to read hockey scores, entertainment stories or news about things relevant to their lives, such as the death of Napster. One boy told the researchers: "We have Napster on our computer, so that really got me."

Heather Blair, assistant professor of education at the University of Alberta and the second author of the report, said teachers need to have a better understanding of how boys learn. "Some school assignments are boring for boys."

Ms. Sanford said there is no reason why students should not be allowed to bring games and unconventional material into the class. "This is who they are. This is how they learn," she said. Even television should be used to relate to more traditional materials used in the class.

"There has been some research done on kids learning a lot about story structure from watching WWF [professional wrestling]. [Teachers should] draw on their interests and apply that to a print-based story [the students] should know about," she said.

David Booth, a professor of education at the University of Toronto and author of a new book on boys and literacy, said he agrees teachers need to bring more outside materials and experiences into the classroom to help boys improve, but he said he would not advocate using things such as Pokémon cards to improve literacy.

"Schools have to recognize materials that are of interest to boys. But I would not go as far as something like Pokémon. The world of childhood does not belong in school,"said Mr. Booth, author of Even Hockey Players Read.

Instead, he said, teachers should focus on making literature relevant and interesting to boys. For example, if they are reading a fictional story about hockey, the teachers could pull out the hockey section of the newspaper.

Also see AH's Well Done the Girls?