Getting Students to Read

2.20.12
by Zuzana Urbanek, English/Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator

We’ve all heard the saying that “reading is fundamental.” Well, it truly is for me. I read daily, not just for work but for pleasure each night. In fact, it’s hard to go to sleep if I can’t read at least a few pages first! As an avid reader who knows how literature opens new worlds, I want others to experience the wonder; as one involved in education for many years, I am always looking for ways to interest students in reading more!

A few years ago, I taught introductory English classes at a local college. These were part of the core courses that students had to “get out of the way” before embarking on their chosen specialties. Each quarter, I would ask the new class, “What’s your favorite book? What kinds of writing do you most like to read? Horror? Romance? Poetry?” And each time, I would get blank stares. When prodded, students tossed out answers like these:

“They made us read some books in high school, but I don’t remember what they were.”

“I look at magazines sometimes.”

“I only read what they make me read at work.”

My heart sank.

What do you MEAN you don’t remember what you read? And how did you make it through high school without reading? For that matter, how did you even get AS FAR AS high school?

Ahem … rage gets us nowhere.

Unfortunately, it is scary, and it points out that many students just don’t read. But they need to, and long before they get to Composition and Rhetoric 101.

So I started asking the students: if they don’t read, what do they like to do for fun? They play games—online, on their phones and tablets—and they watch TV and movies.

All right; now we’re getting somewhere. “How’s that?” you say. “What do games, TV, and movies have to do with reading?” On the surface, not much. But the subjects they cover give teachers a massive array of topics to play on when suggesting what to read to students.

• Do you have students who like the Transformers movies, Star Wars or Star Trek, or other science fiction? There is an entire subgenre of spin-off sci-fi literature based on famous movies and series that might snare their interest.
• Do your students love movies? Watch an adaptation (preferably a good one) of a book or play. Then read part of the original text in class. We did this in my “non-readers” classes with Shakespeare (yes, William Shakespeare—he of the non-readable Middle English persuasion!), and these young people who did not recall reading anything worthwhile in high school actually dove into Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Do they love to play games? There are gazillions of games available that involve reading! They range from role-playing games to mysteries and more. Kids are going to play games. They might as well play intelligent ones.
• Do your students have big ideas about what they want to do in life? Build on that. For example, I had a student once who was sure that he was going to make a fortune with an idea for a new kind of air-cooling device (it’s hot here in Georgia—people are always thinking about ways to cool off). I pointed him toward some books about the history of cooling and heating. I know; it’s not great literature. But he started reading, as he already had an interest in the topic.

Of course, there are those students who just refuse to read. Naturally, they must do some reading to get through school. But how do you battle the problem of dislike and its usual sidekick, weak performance? Let’s face it: A student who does not like to read probably struggles with reading.

• How about audio books to start? If students get hooked on them, sooner or later, they will find some titles that are not available in audio format. They might just crack an actual book to keep up with a series.
• For those addicted to social networking, there are fun networks for readers and writers that feature interaction and constant chatting about what people have read—and many of these readers are quite young. This creates a positive kind of peer pressure to join in the fun.
• Interest them in comic books and graphic novels. Take a look at some of the comics available today. These are not the simple and cheap rags of our childhoods. They have sophisticated plots with all of the literary elements you will want to discuss in class. But they have pictures, and that’s a boon to for some students who cringe from type-filled pages.

I hope there are some seeds of new ideas here, and I would also love to hear your input. What are your tips and secrets for getting students to read?

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