Abstract
Over the past few decades, reading interest—the willingness or desire to engage in reading—has declined among elementary-aged students across the United States. Although this trend may initially seem harmless, it becomes concerning when considering both the academic and social benefits of reading and the historical inequities in access to literacy education. Seeking to prevent a future in which the development of reading interest, and its associated benefits, are limited by socioeconomic status, we examined existing research to identify potential causes of this decline. Our review found that, during the same period of time in which the decline has been occurring, the predominant methods of literacy instruction have been gradually shifting to align with the science of reading, a collection of research that informs how the human brain best learns reading. While we take no issue with this shift, agreeing that this is likely best for student reading ability, we hypothesized that it may simultaneously play a role in lowering student reading interest.
To assess the extent to which reading interest is associated with this shift towards science-based teaching methods, we administered a questionnaire to licensed teachers in grades K-5 across Massachusetts. We specifically quantified and measured participants' perceptions of their literacy curriculum (indicating alignment with the science of reading) and their student reading behaviors (indicating student reading interest) present in their classrooms through the use of two rating scales. We also asked teachers to describe both constructs in their classrooms in their own words.
Because our study relied on a small sample of fourteen participants and indirect measures, we were unable to draw definitive conclusions about whether the shift toward science-based instruction has negatively affected student reading interest. However, both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest that teachers are actively attempting to cultivate interest within their literacy lessons. Despite these efforts, we found no significant correlation between the presence of interest-building strategies and overall levels of student reading interest. We therefore conclude that the decline in reading interest may stem not from science-based instruction itself, but rather from a lack of standardized attention to and oversight of the development of reading interest within literacy education.