Adolescents and Reading: Reasons Why they Dislike Reading

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV

Adolescents and Reading: Reasons Why they Dislike Reading During school years, adolescents should develop their reading habits, which will certainly last for the rest of their lives. It is at school where teenagers develop their own interests in reading and where they learn to read different types of texts. However, many people assume that Argentinian adolescents do not like reading.

“I get bored when reading”.

“I don’t understand what I read”.

“The texts are very long” The previous statements seem to be the most common adolescents‟ reasons for avoiding reading. Not only do teenagers dislike reading in their mother tongue, but they also dislike reading in the foreign language they have to learn, which is English. But, why is this happening? The purpose of this paper is to identify Argentinian students‟ feelings about reading in English. An analysis of the answers, which students gave in a survey, will be the basis for recommendations for changes in teachers‟ techniques when dealing with reading in English.

Common sense dictates that reading is important. However, there is a tendency to believe that adolescents prefer doing other activities rather than reading. According to a survey carried out by GFK group (2012), one of the leading market research companies in the world, Argentinean adolescents are more interested in leisure activities, entertainment and fun than in reading activities.

The results of a survey which was carried out in Ituzaingo, Buenos Aires, Argentina suggest that Argentinian adolescents face certain difficulties when reading in English, such as misunderstanding most of the words in a text, boredom and frustration.

All this suggests that teachers of English must put into practice different ways of presenting pieces of writing, resulting as significant the following: 

The need of transparent words in the texts students deal with.



The need of motivating students when reading.



The importance of topics appealing to adolescents.

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV Background and methodology: According to the teachers„comments on the D.G.C.yE. forum, many educators today might tend to believe that teenagers avoid reading just because they do not like reading.

In this paper, the emphasis is on the relationship between Argentinian students from secondary school and literature. The survey carried out in Ituzaingo involved 58 students aged from 12 to 17. They were asked about their feelings towards reading both in English and in Spanish, through a multiple choice questionnaire. The students attended public schools in working class areas. Each of the surveyed adolescents had the necessary time to answer the questions. The resulting information was coded in terms of graphics. In this process the following aspects emerged as important: 

The impossibility of understanding the texts because of the lexis used.



The frustration students face when reading texts in English.



The disconnection between what students like reading about and what they have to read.(Appendix, figure 5)

“I don’t understand what I read” When asked about the reasons for their dislikes about reading, “I don’t understand what I read” was the most chosen answer. 50% of the 58 students answered they did not like reading in English because they do not understand what they read1. This reflects the limitations most of Argentinean adolescents have when facing a text in English. A good example that reflects the lack of vocabulary is what one 15- year- old boy wrote the survey: “No me gusta leer en inglés porque tengo que buscar todas las palabras en el diccionario” 2

Another student; in this case, a 13- year-old girl wrote: “No entiendo ninguna palabra” 3

1

Appendix, figure 5.

I don‟t like reading in English because I have to look up every word in the dictionary 3 I don‟t understand any word.

2

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV These students accept the fact that they fail reading in English due to their lack of necessary lexical knowledge. Nevertheless, more than 27 % of the participants admitted they do not read in Spanish due to the same reason; they do not understand the texts.

Frustration “I feel frustrated when facing a text” was the most chosen response in the survey. Among those participants who came to terms with the fact that they do not read in English, there is a 53 % that admitted getting frustrated when facing a text in English4. If we add the fact that they suffer from lack of vocabulary, it might be coherent that they get frustrated when reading a text in English.

Boredom More than 24 % of the students answered that they do not read in English because they get bored5. The same happened with reading in Spanish. More than 44 % of the students admitted they get bored while reading in their own language6. So, why do Argentinian adolescents get bored when reading? According to the survey, they might get bored because they do not like the texts in English they are given. More than 22 % chose this answer7. The reason for this dislike might be the topics the texts are about since the length is not seemed to be an obstacle for the students. Being asked about reading in English, nearly 7 % of the participants chose “the texts are very long”8.

These percentages show that adolescents do not like reading because of the topics the texts are about. As a result, boredom was an obvious aspect that came up. If the texts are not appealing to teenagers because of the uninteresting topics they deal with, adolescents will certainly get bored.9 For a better understanding, the graphics, which were useful for the explanation of this aspect, are presented below and are also presented in the appendix section.

4

Appendix, figure 7.

Appendix, figure 5.

6 Appendix, figure 3.

7 Appendix, figure 5.

8 Appendix, figure5.

5

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & GonzĂĄlez Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV Figure 3

Figure 5 Why don't adolescents read in English?

Why don't adolescents read in Spanish?

58 48 38 28 18 8 -2

58 48 38

26 I get bored while reading

28

16 I don't understand what I read

13 The text are very long

14

18

2

29

0

8

I don't like the The texts are Another reason texts we are not appealing to given us

14 4

-2 I don't I get bored while understand what reading I read

The texts are very long

13 0 I don't like the texts we are given

Another reason

Figure 7 How do you feel about reading in English? other challenged 0% 15% Interested 24%

indifferent 8%

frustrated 53%

Suggestions for changes in teaching reading techniques in EFL lessons As it has been mentioned at the beginning of this paper, the analysis of the answers, which students gave in the survey, can be taken as the basis for recommendations for changes in teachersâ€&#x; techniques when dealing with reading in English. Although a list of changes cannot be represented in an easy way, there are some recommendations that are clear enough to be listed.

Texts should include transparent words.

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV The main cause for Argentinian adolescents‟ dislikes about reading in English, which was chosen by the 50% of the participants, is “I don‟t understand what I read”.

The limitations adolescents have when dealing with texts in English must be due to their lack of the lexical knowledge they need when trying to comprehend a text. An example of this is what an adolescent aged 15 expressed. She explains she did not like reading in English because she had to look up every word in the dictionary.

Taking into account this fact, teachers should choose different types of texts. At least, they should choose appropriate for adolescents according to their lexical knowledge. A good way of doing so could be the incorporation of transparent words, that is to say, words with similar spelling and meaning in order to facilitate students reading.

Teachers should motivate students and encourage them to enjoy reading When adolescents are not able to decode and analyze a text, they get frustrated.

The survey give as a result that more than 38 out of 58 participants have this feeling when facing a text in English10. The causes for this situation were mentioned along this paper. However, it is worth reminding some of them: lack of the necessary lexical knowledge, the boredom students experience when reading and the types of texts teens are given.

As it has been reflected, frustration is the most common feeling that Argentinian students experience as regards reading in English. It is Argentinian teachers‟ duty to motivate students using different techniques and to encourage them to enjoy reading. A good way of achieving this could be giving students texts that are appealing to them.

Text s should be about interesting topics for adolescents

The fact that most of the students get bored and frustrated when reading obliges teachers to think about the texts they are choosing for their students. Educators should take into account students‟ interests. According to some comments teachers leave on the D.G.C y E. forum, there are many universal themes appealing to adolescents such as alienation 10

Appendix, figure 7.

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV from one‟s society group; survival or meeting a challenge; social concerns about AIDS , teenage pregnancy, family conflicts and substance abuse.

In this paper, attempts have been made to gather information of the relationship between Argentinian adolescents and reading. According to the results of the survey, we can assert that being aware of the students‟ problems when reading, which are misunderstanding, feeling of frustration and boredom, would be the first step to find different ways of helping them discover the pleasure of reading.

For an improvement on Argentinean students‟ reading skills there must be a change in teaching reading techniques. Therefore, some techniques, which may help students develop their reading skills, are listed below.  Chunking the text: Teachers could chunk the text. They could break the text into smaller parts. This can be made paragraph by paragraph, page by page, or even sentence by sentence.

Lines, marks, or numbers are useful to break down the text for students.  Marking the text: Students can benefit from certain marks they are allowed to do in the text.

Underline key terms, draw arrows to indicate connections, or write question marks in the margin next to the ideas they need to be explained, are useful activities that make students engage with the material.

And if they are more in connection with their texts by using different ways of approaching the material, students will have a high probability to lower the frustration they are used to dealing with.  Context Clues Chart: Another good way of making students approach a text in English properly could be by using context clues charts. This type of chart contains three columns. Words students might not know are included in the first column. In the second column students write what they predict those words mean. And finally, the teacher makes students write some clues about each word in the last column.

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV References  

Sarah Herz & Gallo, Donald (1996) From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Ypung Adult Literature and the classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1478336-los-jovenes-argentinos-leen-menos-libros-que-la-mediamundial

APPENDIX I Demographic information: who took this survey?

58 adolescents took this survey with an average age of 15, among females and males. Almost most of the students live in working areas. 90% of the adolescents live in suburban areas of Ituzaingo while the rest live nearer the centre of this town.

School information The adolescents who took the survey attend 5 schools in Ituzaingo. Most of the schools share the same characteristics. They receive “ruralidad”, which means that the teachers who work there receive an extra sum of money for delivering classes at these institutions. This makes us think that these schools are far away from the centre of Ituzaingo, which is true, and that the enrollment belongs to low or middle classes, which is also true. These students have the necessity of working to help their family afford their month expenses. It was an aspect considered when surveyed them. Another aspect that was present in the analysis of the surveys was the fact that most of the participants have their parents in prison, outside their houses the whole day or dead. The context is extremely important when trying to understand students‟ responses. The participants who took the survey attend the following schools.  ESB n° 4  ESS n° 1  ESS n° 8  EEM n° 6  EEM n° 2

Conditions when taking the survey

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & Gonzรกlez Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV The survey was carefully explained to the students, who later had their own time to answer all the questions. The surveyed adolescents did not have to write their names on the surveys, but they were asked to write down their ages and gender.

What were the students asked about?

Figure 1 Do you like reading?

Yes 47% No 53%

To begin with, the participants were asked if they liked reading in their mother tongue, which is Spanish. As it can be seen from the graphic, nearly half of them admitted that they like reading while the other half admitted not to like doing it.

And the reasons for reading in Spanish are shown in the following graphic.

Figure 2

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & Gonzรกlez Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV

Why do adolescents read in Spanish?

58 48 38 28 18 8

17

8

-2

2

7

3

4

I like I have fun I identify T he texts T he texts Another imaging while myself are short are easy to reason what I read reading with what read I read

In connection with the reasons for not reading in Spanish, they are possible to be seen through the next graphic.

Figure 3 Why don't adolescents read in Spanish?

58 48 38 28 18 8 -2

26 16 I get bored while reading

I don't understand what I read

13

14 2

The text are very long

I don't like the The texts are texts we are not appealing given to us

0 Another reason

As regards reading in English, the following graphic shows the responses.

Figure 4

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV

Do you like reading in English?

yes 28%

no 72%

42 students out of 58 admitted their dislike about reading in English. Nearly a 20 % of those participants who like reading in Spanish do not like reading in English. This situation obeys some reasons.

Figure 5 The three main reasons are “I don‟t understand what I read”, “I get bored while reading” and “I don‟t like the text we are given”. These aspects were discussed along the paper.

Why don't adolescents read in English?

58 48 38 28 18

29

8

14 4

-2 I don't understand what I read

I get bored while reading

T he texts are very long

13 0 I don't like the texts we are given

Another reason

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & Gonzรกlez Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV

However, there was a tiny minority of adolescents that admitted they like reading in English.

Figure 6 why do adolescents read in English?

58 48 38 28 18 8

4

-2

5

3

3

5

I like imaging I have fun I love what I The texts are what I read while reading the texts are read short easy to read

1 Another reason

And finally, the students were asked about their feeling when facing a text in English. Their responses are showed in the following graphic.

Figure 7 How do you f eel about reading in English? other 0% challenged 15%

Interested 24%

indifferent 8%

frustrated 53%

Sample of the survey

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & González Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV

Encuesta Lee las siguientes preguntas y elegí tus respuestas 1. ¿Te gusta leer?

SI

NO 2. ¿Por qué?

a. Me gusta leer porque...

b.

No me gusta leer por que...

□ Me gusta imaginar lo que leo.

□ Me aburro.

□ Me divierto cuando leo.

□ No entiendo lo que leo.

□ Me identifico con lo que leo.

□ Los textos son muy largos.

□ Los textos son cortos.

□ No me gusta la clase de textos que nos dan para

□ Por que los textos son fáciles de

leer. □ Por que los textos son para chicos y nosotros

leer. □ Otro motivo: ----------------------

somos grandes.

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□ Otro motivo: ------------------------------------------

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3. ¿Te gusta leer en ingles?

SI

NO 4. ¿Por qué?

a. Me gusta leer en ingles porque... □ Me gusta imaginar lo que leo.

b. No me gusta leer en ingles porque...

□ Me divierto cuando leo.

□ Me aburro.

□ Me encanta lo que leo.

□ No entiendo lo que

□ Los textos son cortos. □ Por que los textos son fáciles de leer. □ Otro motivo: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

leo. □ Los textos son muy largos. □ No me gusta la clase de textos que nos dan para leer. □ Otro motivo: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESEARCH PAPER Gisela Mendez & Gonzรกlez Nomi, Nadina Written expression IV