Promoting reading 1
how reading groups help to increase knowledge and
a sense of community. Research on reading groups for the visually impaired has regarded reading groups from a social justice perspective and as a means of social inclusion. A research report from Scotland that directly addresses the issue of the reading promotion potential of book circles showed what impact literature circles have on reading skills, reading engagement and attitudes to reading, in particular with regard to gender. This report concluded that the literature circles increased enthusiasm for reading as well as improved attitudes to reading and reading behaviours. Both boys and girls who participated in the circles showed significantly more positive attitudes to reading in school and reading generally. According to the researchers, the literature circles functioned best when the teachers did preparatory work to facilitate the collaboration, when the students were involved in the choice of literature, and when the groups met at a predetermined time and on a regular basis. According to the report, belonging to a reading group led to the students becoming more deeply engaged with their reading. The literature circles offered the students a space to talk about books and define themselves as readers. This was particularly important for boys, whose social networks did not otherwise appear to offer any such opportunities. By participating in different types of literature circles, children can learn to become readers who read a lot and widely, and who regard reading as a social activity where they can make friends. Such observations are of great interest, in particular in light of the research hypothesis that men regard reading literature is a private pursuit to much higher degree than women. Norwegian library research has observed that literature serves a weak symbolic, social purpose for a number of adult men interested in literature, which means that they position themselves outside the form of social influence that is so important for women’s interest in literature. When the literature has a social purpose, according to this research, it is also likely that the reading of literature will increase. That reading is regarded as a private pursuit may contribute to many boys and men losing any motivation to read. If this is true, it provides a very strong argument for promoting social reading for boys and men in particular. An effective way might be literature circles for boys, based on the group’s identified interests and not restricted to fiction from the beginning. A number of digital book circles have started in Sweden in recent decades. As as is the case for book circles IRL, the members of digital book circles are largely women. However, it is interesting to note that in percentage terms, there are somewhat more participants of the male sex. Reading groups are only part of a larger online engagement with reading. Participation in digital book circles entails not only discussion about the reading experience after the book has been read, but also during the time it is being read; a result of the daily use of social media. Another type of Mass Reading Event is a reading promotion initiative that aims to bring together readers in a city, region or entire country around a book that all have read. The research uses the term OBOC for this type of MSE, an acronym for One Book One Community. As the name suggests, this type of MSE means that one – usually but not always fiction – book is selected to serve as the basis for many activities that people in a given geographical area are invited to take part in. These activities include everything from book conversations to evenings with authors, to community events where people gather for creative fun, and canoeing excursions. The OBOC event usually inclu109