Southern Cross University Archives

Reading: How to prioritise reading for enjoyment in classrooms

You are probably aware of the current political and public furore surrounding children’s reading development and the decades-long reading wars. The reading skills and behaviours of young Australians are a cause of major concern for parents and carers, teachers and teacher educators, and future employers and education stakeholders. For 15 years, NAPLAN reading test results have been flatlining. As well, the Australian results for the international PISA reading test have been declining steadily for 22 years.

The mystifying magic bullet

Recent reports suggest that as many as 30% of young Australians are not reading at a proficient level. These reports often promote phonics instruction as the primary magic bullet solution. This emphasis is puzzling since standardised tests predominantly assess reading comprehension. If comprehension test results are lower than expected, shouldn’t greater attention be given to fostering comprehension and deep meaning-making?

Phonic knowledge is undoubtedly important for developing strong decoding skills. However, over-emphasising phonics may only improve phonics skills—not necessarily reading comprehension. As one professor astutely observed, “Teaching more phonics will only make children better at phonics.”

Problems of biblical proportion

Two well-known phenomena in the research literature, both drawn from biblical references, offer insights into classroom reading instruction challenges. In light of the current overemphasis on phonics, I propose a third.

Firstly, the notorious Matthew effect is based on a rich-get-richer and poor-get-poorer phenomenon. It draws on Matthew 25:29,. “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away”. In the contemporary classroom context, it describes how individual differences in early years reading abilities lead to widening gaps over time; struggling young readers falling further behind their peers.

Secondly, the lesser-known Peter Effect is based on the idea that people can’t give what they don’t have. It draws on Acts 3:6 “But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you”. In the contemporary classroom context, it refers to the problem of teachers who are not enthusiastic readers themselves struggling to instil a love of reading in their students. This difficult predicament has been alerted by UNESCO.

Here, I am proposing a third phenomenon─the Martha Effect. This problem is based on the lack of attention to the most important matters. It draws on Luke 10:41-42.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing”. In the contemporary classroom context, it refers to the prioritising of a narrow view of reading, and disregard of the vital matter of fostering students’ reading motivation and enthusiasm. The Martha effect highlights the potential pitfalls of an overly mechanistic approach to reading instruction, which neglects the richer, deeper, more meaning-full aspects of reading.

Evidence from research

In the midst of ongoing debates and government reports about improving children’s reading development, one crucial aspect is often overlooked; student engagement in reading for enjoyment. Around the world, this is referenced in interchangeable terms such as: reading for pleasure or volitional reading, or reading for aesthetic purpose.

Decades of international research demonstrate the significant bidirectional impact of students’ reading enjoyment on reading attainment, amongst a myriad of associated personal and social benefits. Its importance is acknowledged as positively associated with reading performance in the international PISA reading tests. Children’s right to read books for enjoyable purpose is endorsed in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 17. The International Literacy Association validates this vital prerogative in its Children’s Rights to Read advocacy document.

The really good news is that the Australian Curriculum: English endorses this evidence-based entitlement. Its Aims specify enjoyment and aesthetic appreciation of literature. Across all year level descriptions from Prep to 10 it clearly states: “Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment”.

The really bad news is that this significant student entitlement is sidelined and silenced. In fact, the term “aesthetic purpose” has been dropped from the previous version (v.8.4) year-level descriptions because… well no official explanation has been given. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding around its verified educative and transformative value?

Classroom reading for enjoyment entails evidence-informed, purposeful pedagogic approaches and practices. It needs, like all other aspects of reading instruction, to be well taught. Notably, teachers who have enacted a reading-for-pleasure pedagogy have found that reading for enjoyment actually enhances reading comprehension.

The “Martha Effect” in Practice

The recently released parliamentary report on The state education system in Victoria is a prime example of the Martha Effect in action. Across 330 pages, it references NAPLAN 110 times, phonics 96 times, and comprehension just six times. Its first recommendation sets a benchmark of 90% of students achieving strong or exceeding NAPLAN results. Not once does it reference the really important matter, which is consistently evidenced in global research, of reading for enjoyment.

Similarly, the recent Queensland Department of Education Reading position statement that commits the state to every student realising their reading potential, makes zero commitment to student engagement in reading for enjoyment. That is despite a restricted mention of a “love of reading”.

The recent Grattan Institute Reading guarantee also sets its first of many recommendations around 90% of students achieving strong or exceeding NAPLAN results. It also includes a limited acknowledgment of reading enjoyment related to the books Jane Eyre (Bell/Bronte, 1847) and A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens, 1859) as books carefully selected to be enjoyable to read. It fails, however, to make any specific recommendations around student engagement in reading for enjoyment as intentional pedagogic practice.

Martha, Martha…

Addressing the “Martha Effect”

The educative and transformative potential of reading for enjoyment needs to be prioritised. This involves embracing the “Super Seven” aspects of reading instruction, rather than the Big Six:

Comprehension
Fluency
Oral language
Phonic knowledge
Phonological awareness
Vocabulary
Reading for enjoyment – Literary appreciation/aesthetic engagement

A call to action: the super seven aspects of reading instruction

To combat the Martha Effect, all education stakeholders must act:

Members of parliament should safeguard policy and practice recommendations addressing all seven aspects of reading instruction and development.
School system directors should oversee implementation of policy and practice recommendations that address the super seven.
School principals and leadership teams should resource, implement and monitor enactment of the super seven.
Classroom teachers should ensure that students learn the super seven aspects of reading, and get adequate time to actually read and practice these.

Children need to learn to enjoy reading and, consequently, read more.

Perhaps then, reading test results will finally improve.

Mellie Green is a lecturer in English curriculum and pedagogy at Southern Cross University. She has been a primary school teacher for nearly 30 years, with most of those in the classroom and teacher-librarianship, and some in curriculum leadership. She completed her PhD in 2022. Her doctoral research explored student engagement in reading for enjoyment in the upper primary years. Her areas of research passion are: use of children’s literature in the primary classroom, reading instruction, English curriculum and pedagogy. Mellie is also an active member of the Departing Radically in Academic Writing (DRAW) group.

Honest history: we need both the lions and the hunters

Yaw Ofosu-Asare won the 2023 AARE Conference People’s Choice Award for his poster: Redefining design education boundaries in Africa.

In the lingering afterglow of the AARE 2023 Conference, I find myself adrift in a sea of half-remembered conversations, keynote speeches that echo faintly in my mind, and ideas that seemed so clear just days ago. This struggle to recollect, to weave coherent narratives from the scattered threads of memory, leads me to ponder a deeper, more profound question: how much of what we call history is truly accurate? There’s an old African proverb that says, “Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” This simple line unravels a complex truth about the stories we’ve been told. History, as it reaches us, is often a tale spun by the victors, the dominant, the ‘hunters.’ It makes me wonder, as I sift through my own cloudy memories of the conference, how many stories have we lost? How many lions have remained silent?

Our history, especially in the West, is a patchwork of narratives, stitched together from memories and records that have survived the test of time. We’ve built our understanding of the world on these narratives, drawing from the well of Greek philosophy, the Renaissance’s bloom, and the moral frameworks of Christianity. But in this grand design, where do the voices that were never heard fit in? What about the philosophies and wisdoms that didn’t find their way into our textbooks?

This reflection takes on greater significance in a country like Australia, steeped in the ethos of multiculturalism, where each culture contributes its unique history and heritage. How do we educate in such a society, acknowledging the full spectrum of human experience, not just the parts that have been traditionally highlighted? It’s a challenging thought, especially when considering that much of non-Western history is passed down orally, often dismissed by those who favour written records.

The stories we’ve leaned on, like those of Aristotle and Plato, were themselves cloaked in narrative and allegory, yet they’ve shaped our understanding of existence, our politics, our very way of life. Today, with social media, we’re witnessing a new chapter where previously unheard voices are finding a platform. African stories, Australian Indigenous narratives, and countless others are finally being shared, challenging our perceptions and inviting us to reconsider the foundations of our knowledge. In this realisation lies a profound question: what happens when we acknowledge that our view of history has been narrow, biased towards a certain type of memory, a particular way of recording events? What if we start valuing stories and oral histories as much as we do scientific evidence and written records?

As I reflect on my time at the conference, the murkiness of memory seems less like a hindrance and more like an invitation—an invitation to acknowledge the complexity and diversity of human experience. It’s an invitation to embrace a more holistic view of history, one that includes the voices of the lions as well as the hunters. In doing so, we might just find a richer, more inclusive narrative that resonates with the true spirit of a multicultural society like Australia. Perhaps then, we can start to redefine what it means to be Australian, not as a singular identity, but as a symphony of voices, each contributing its unique note to the melody of our shared history.

Now, let us turn the lens towards the realms of academia and education. In recent times, there’s been a surge in the use of buzzwords – ‘disruptive,’ ‘transformative,’ ‘inclusive,’ and the like. These terms, while signalling progressive intentions, often raise the question: are they merely a veneer, a fashionable cloak draped over the status quo to appease the ‘woke’ crowd? Or do they genuinely signal a shift in how we approach education and knowledge?

The world of educational research is not immune to trends and fads. The allure of catchy phrases can sometimes overshadow the need for deep, meaningful exploration of issues. It’s crucial to ask ourselves – when we speak of being ‘disruptive’ or ‘transformative,’ are we truly embodying these ideals, or are we just echoing hollow terms? This brings us back to the crux of our reflection on history and memory. If our understanding of the past is limited, skewed by dominant narratives, then how can we hope to build an educational system that is truly inclusive and representative of all voices? The challenge lies not just in acknowledging the gaps and silences in our historical narrative but in actively seeking to fill them.

We live in a world where diversity of thought and experience is richer than ever before. Our classrooms are microcosms of this world, brimming with stories and perspectives waiting to be heard. To educate in a way that honours this diversity means going beyond tokenistic inclusion. It involves a fundamental rethinking of what we teach, how we teach it, and whose voices are amplified in the process. In Australia, this task is particularly vital. As a nation grappling with its identity – torn between its colonial past and its multicultural present – the way we approach education can either reinforce old divides or bridge them. Teachers, educators, and policymakers have the power to shape a narrative of Australia that is inclusive, that celebrates its Indigenous heritage alongside its myriad immigrant stories, and that prepares its youth for a world where being ‘Australian’ is synonymous with being part of a global, interconnected community.

So, as I conclude these reflections – intentionally pushing beyond the 800-word limit to 994, as a small act of ‘disruption’ – I leave you with this thought: in our quest to make education truly transformative, let’s ensure that the change we seek is not just in words, but in actions. Let’s strive to make our classrooms places where history is not just taught, but questioned; where stories are not just heard, but honoured; and where learning is not just about acquiring knowledge, but about understanding the diversity of human experience. Only then can we hope to educate in a way that is truly reflective of the world we live in.

Yaw Ofosu-Asare has a PhD from Southern Cross University, where his research has been instrumental in exploring and challenging the biases and power dynamics within indigenous and decolonizing systems, focusing particularly on culture, knowledge creation, perception, and engagement. He is an associate research fellow at the Sustainability, Environment, and the Arts in Education section within the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University. He Apart from his research pursuits, Dr. Ofosu-Asare is also passionate about teaching, user interface and experience design, art, digital marketing, and creativity. He is dedicated to influencing individuals and communities positively through the transformative power of education.

Header image is neither from Africa nor from the West. It does, however, apparently have lions and hunters in it.