Promoting reading 1
reading (the individual’s pleasurable reading exp
erience), and something about the conditions under which the reading occurs (voluntary). Unlike recreational reading, which by definition occurs outside of school and working hours, reading for pleasure is something that also occurs in the formal teaching and learning context. In Barn berättar. En studie av 10-åringars syn på läsning och bibliotek (What children say: A study of 10-year olds’ views on reading and libraries) (2011) researcher Åse Hedemark makes an important point: While it is appropriate to strengthen the link between reading and pleasure, when it comes to developing reading stimulation methods in the public library context, more support should be given to the child’s interest in reading to learn about things than currently occurs. Reading for pleasure is a more or less accepted term in the research that is of interest to this review. However, the alternative term voluntary reading should be used here as far as possible, meaning reading that is done of one’s own free will and in the pursuit of one’s own interests. This is important for primarily two reasons: (1) Even if pleasure is a common motivation for people to read in their spare time, there are many more motivations for reading voluntarily, and these need not necessarily – or at all – be concerned with pleasure. (2) It is questionable whether the most effective argument for reading is that it gives pleasure to the reader. In some instances, it may be downright counter-productive to promote “reading for pleasure”. In the anthology Literacy and Motivation: Reading Engagement in Individuals and Groups (2001), researcher Michael C. McKenna points out that the attitudes to reading developed during childhood and adolescence generally deteriorate over time. One attempt to explain this phenomenon is by the fact that more and more competing recreational activities are being offered to children and adolescents. It is likely that these activities, whether they are sports, computer games, films/movies, listening to music or something else, give as much or more pleasure than reading. If pleasure or enjoyment are perceived as the primary goals of reading, the consequence is that it may be difficult to argue for setting aside time specifically for reading. Effects of voluntary reading There are many good effects of voluntary reading. But before these effects are looked at, something needs to be said about the value of reading literature. Danish library researcher Beth Juncker (2010) is of the opinion that different concepts of culture apply to the cultural sector and the education sector, respectively. While the cultural sector with its aesthetic philosophy and theory is autotelic, the education sector, with its vocabulary of pedagogical and didactic concepts is instrumental. An autotelic activity is something that you do for its own sake – the word comes from the Greek autos (self), and telos (goal). In his book Varför läsa litteratur? (Why Read Literature?) (2007), Magnus Persson examined the legitimation foundations for reading literature in schools and in higher education, and expressed the view that school is dominated by an instrumental view of reading literature, in that it is often legitimised by reference to values other than literature itself. How then is reading literature perceived in the context of the public library’s activities? Since the public library belongs to the cultural sector, according to Juncker, it should of course be marked by an autotelic view of literature. But in that case, why are reading promotion activities at public libraries so often motivated by reference to 22