Teachers face several challenges in their attempts to instill a reading culture among learners. The major one is finding or designing reading material that sparks the learner’s interests and covers curriculum requirements. This is even harder to attain when dealing with a large class with varying comprehension levels and interests.
Numerous studies have been conducted to establish why, compared to extrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation doesn't always make learners want to read. The most popular finding is that school-related reading is less incentivizing because the reader has a low level of autonomy.
On the other hand, reading for pleasure is more intrinsically motivating because the reader gets to choose what to read. Unfortunately, learners can’t design the curriculum or choose supporting texts. This is where text variety comes in handy.
You need to realize that what one learner or group of learners may enjoy reading might be boring to another. This realization, coupled with the knowledge of what motivates each learner to read, will help you cultivate and maintain a reading interest. Some readers view reading as a chance at immersion. These readers prefer fiction books over fact-based texts. So it would be counterproductive to make them read non-fiction.
Additionally, encourage learners to lean into their strengths. If a learner or group of learners enjoy reading a particular book or series of books by the same author, it’s because they have developed a sense of familiarity with such texts. These learners tend to have favorite books, genres, or authors. Once you have established a pattern, encourage them to try other similar but challenging texts.
New challenges push learners out of their comfort zone. It forces them to consider different perspectives, growing in the process. Even so, be careful not to push them too hard, lest they lose motivation.
There's a tendency for teachers to introduce new reading challenges too fast, too soon. Like forcing learners to read what they are not interested in, texts that are too challenging kill motivation. Therefore, track each learner’s reading comprehension progress and introduce the just-right level of reading challenge. It’s called the learner’s instructional level (neither too high nor too low).
When a particular reading is mandatory, teachers can spark reading interest by reading aloud and encouraging learners to do the same. Reading aloud makes reading more interesting by allowing the reader to concentrate only on the more enjoyable aspects of reading. These can be anything, from exciting characters, plot, major discoveries, interesting new facts to dramatic moments.
On the other hand, reading silently may seem overly serious to some readers, creating the perception that they have to concentrate all their energy on every word of a text. It’s not the best approach for children when understanding and retention is the goal. Reading aloud a book enthusiastically creates excitement and sparks reading interest in an otherwise boring text or topic.
Poor reading ability may affect the acquisition of other life skills. Still, most learners dislike reading despite it being a major requirement for learning, saying it’s boring. For most learners, disinterest stems from a lack of incentive. This is why teachers need to understand what and why learners choose to read, an insight that will help them spark reading interest.
