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What would make them read more?

Insights from Western Australian
adolescents
a
Margaret Kristin Merga
a
School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
Published online: 07 Oct 2014.

To cite this article: Margaret Kristin Merga (2014): What would make them read more?
Insights from Western Australian adolescents, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, DOI:
10.1080/02188791.2014.961898

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 Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2014.961898

What would make them read more? Insights from Western Australian
adolescents
Margaret Kristin Merga*

School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

(Received 13 July 2013; final version received 4 April 2014)

The link between recreational book reading and improved literacy performance is
consistently supported by educational research. Increasing engagement in recreational
book reading remains imperative for English teachers, though how to best facilitate this in
a secondary context is an object of contention, with limited research in this field. The West
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Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading explored attitudes and engagement in

recreational book reading. Student responses provide valuable insight directly from the
target group that can help to shape best practice for adolescent literacy educators. Findings
are presented around six key themes, and include strategies for choice, access to attractive
and diverse books, time availability, time allocation, concentration and encouragement.
Keywords: English education; adolescent literacy; recreational reading; literacy
engagement; qualitative research

Background
Aliteracy, the state in which an individual has acquired the skill to read, but chooses not to, is a
growing trend internationally (Maynard, Mackay, & Smyth, 2008; Nieuwenhuizen, 2001;
Nippold, Duthie, & Larsen, 2005; Stedman, 2009). This is of concern as establishing a reading
habit leads to reading skill development. Time spent reading is positively associated with
higher literacy scores and reading achievement (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988; Clark
& De Zoysa, 2011; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD],
2010; Samuels & Wu, 2001). Improved literacy outcomes, in turn, positively influence
academic performance at secondary school (Marks, McMillan, & Hillman, 2001) and
vocational outcomes post-school (Kirsch et al., 2002). Thus aliteracy can significantly affect
life prospects.
The contention of widespread aliteracy could be challenged, in that many students who
consider themselves non-readers are keenly engaged in daily textual interactions, such as
perusing text messages, reading and posting status updates, and scanning bus timetables.
However, research suggests that all text types do not offer equal benefit for literacy outcomes.
An international study found that while reading newspapers, magazines and non-fiction
books can offer some benefit, “the effect of these materials on reading performance is not
as much pronounced as the effect of fiction books” (OECD, 2011, p. 100). Reading for
information in non-fiction texts including Internet-based reading was also found to offer less
benefit than storybook and fiction reading in a US study (Baer, Baldi, Ayotte, & Green, 2007).
Reading comic books was associated with minimal improvement in reading proficiency and
in some countries lower overall reading performance (OECD, 2010, p. 12). The value of
Internet-based reading is also challenged on the basis that research suggests that the cognitive

*Email: mmerga@our.ecu.edu.au

q 2014 National Institute of Education, Singapore

 2 M.K. Merga

processes involved in reading Internet-based sources are significantly different (Liu, 2005;
Nicholas, Huntington, Williams, & Dobrowolski, 2003), and that regular engagement in
online reading processes may even impede subsequent efforts to maintain sustained
concentration on book reading (Carr, 2010).
Research suggests that attitude toward recreational book reading declines markedly
during the transition from primary school to high school (Nieuwenhuizen, 2001).
Australian teenagers do not rate recreational book reading as a preferred activity (Manuel,
2012), and they cannot be characterized as keen book readers (Merga, in press-b).
US students also exhibit a decline in attitude, and this is reflected in their practice, as they
read for a steadily decreasing amount of time after eight years of age (Scholastic, 2010).
The most commonly cited reason for adolescent disengagement in recreational
book reading is arguably preference for other recreational pursuits. In a US study,
Hughes-Hassel (2008) found that “those who did not enjoy reading seemed to prefer other
activities rather than simply rejecting the act of reading” (p. 6). Recent Australian research
also suggests that recreational book reading may be deemed to have comparatively low
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appeal, and not be the preferred manner of spending recreation time (Manuel, 2012).
Hofferth and Jankuniene (2001) found that time spent engaged in other recreational
pursuits, such as “playing video games and watching TV”, led to “less time spent reading
for pleasure” (p. 1608). In an Australian study, Rennie and Patterson (2008) found that
while more than 60% of adolescent respondents reported accessing the Internet daily, only
a quarter of the sample reported reading a novel in the previous month.
In addition to preference, other factors have also been found to potentially
influence adolescents’ frequency of engagement in recreational book reading. Gender is
thought to be a significant factor, as reading is deemed a passive, feminine recreational
practice (Alloway, Freebody, Gilbert, & Muspratt, 2002; Martino, 2001; Nichols, 2002),
though it should be noted that international research suggests that “the differences within
genders are far greater than those between the genders” (OECD, 2010, p. 12), and this
paper does not utilize gender as a lens for analysis. Time availability has also been found
to influence book reading frequency, with extracurricular demands detracting from the
volume of available reading time (Gordon, 2010; Hughes-Hassel, 2008). A literacy skill
deficit in reading can also foster a reluctance to engage in the practice with regularity,
compounding a Matthew Effect, through which those with lower literacy skills read less,
and subsequently fall further behind their peers (Stanovich, 1986). Clearly, if material
access to books in the home is limited, this would restrict opportunities to read
(Evans, Kelley, Sikora, & Treiman, 2010); in addition, the books that students have access
to must be of interest to them (Hopper, 2005). Concentration capacity can also influence
frequency of recreational book reading (Hughes-Hassel, 2008), however the effects of
concentration deficit have received limited consideration in the context of this recreational
pursuit.
When I asked Western Australian students “What would make you read more?” as part of
the West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading (WASABR), it became apparent that
a number of these factors influenced frequency of student engagement in recreational
book reading frequency. Strategies for choice, access to attractive and diverse books, time
availability, time allocation, concentration and encouragement all emerged as recurring issues
influencing the volume and frequency of engagement in the sample group. These factors are
avenues of potential educator influence to improve frequency of adolescent recreational book
reading. This paper provides educators access to student illustrated factors that enable and
constrain their recreational book reading, and thus this research is of relevance to all educators
involved in adolescent literacy promotion. Without a current understanding of these issues,
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 3

attempts to encourage recreational book reading and mitigate barriers to this practice are
unlikely to be successful.

The study
The WASABR was a mixed method study that sought to uncover how much Western
Australian adolescents are reading, how often, and the social influences that encourage
students to continue to read during the teen years. Twenty schools were involved
throughout Western Australia. The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data
across a broad range of dimensions affecting frequency and engagement of adolescents in
recreational book reading, and the social influences on these factors, with a survey and a
semi-structured interview schedule the research instruments of the study.
This paper focuses primarily on the qualitative data gathered in the semi-structured
interviews, where students answered the question “What would make you read more?”, in
the context of recreational book reading. In addition, the survey contained a qualitative
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field where students could contribute any extra thoughts or ideas that they wished to share.
This field was well utilized; n ¼ 182 responses were voluntarily given. While these
responses reflected the heterogeneous nature of the students, some students used this field
to spontaneously explain what would make them read more. This data was also included
where relevant.
These qualitative data extend the knowledge gained from the quantitative component
of this mixed-method study. Existing hypotheses about reading infrequency were initially
tested in the quantitative component of the study, the survey. Students who read books for
recreation infrequently (less than once a month) then were asked to indicate the reasons for
this infrequency by indicating which factors influenced them from a list in a survey item.
The factors listed were grouped around time availability, preference, skill deficit, access
and choice, and well as physical and cognitive factors such as concentration and the ability
to sit still for the period required for reading. By far the largest number of respondents
(78%) agreed that they “would rather do other things” in their free time, with preference
emerging as the most significant factor in determining frequency of student engagement in
recreational book reading (Merga, 2014c). This response is reflective of findings
previously described (e.g., Hughes-Hassel, 2008).
Qualitative data was also needed to interrogate reasons for infrequency of adolescent
recreational book reading. Merely providing students an opportunity to agree with a
researcher-defined list of potential factors that could influence their reading frequency
would be problematic for a number of reasons. Students also needed to be asked, “What
would make them read more?” without a ready supply of possible answers provided.
Personal construct theory dictates that rather than theorizing about a subject’s condition
from a distance, the subject herself should be a valuable a source of information, despite
the limitations of self-report (Barker, Pistrang, & Elliot, 2002). By keeping the focus
question relatively simple and open, the self-report responses in the WASBAR gave direct
access to the respondents’ views, in the form of phenomenological data that is illustrative
of respondents’ perceptions of their selves and their worlds (2002). As a consequence,
students had the opportunity to essentially analyse themselves, and reflect on their own
practices and motivations, leading to rich data and new possibilities emerging.
A quantitative item that is pre-defined and research-based, rather than generated by the
subjects themselves, invites students to identify with a limited sub-set of possibilities.
While this list was generated from current research (, 10 years old) both in Australia
and internationally, none of the research was specific to Western Australia, and none of the
 4 M.K. Merga

data collection was performed in 2012, and thus the factors listed may not necessarily be
legitimately extrapolated to different geographical contexts, and different times. Context
is important: we know that engagement in reading is the result of “readers’ individual
skills and dispositions, their interactions with the social environment, their physical
and economic resource, and their cultural legacy” (Coddington & Ellis, 2013, p. 228). For
the purposes of this research, I assumed that social influences that students come into
contact with could affect students’ attitudes towards, and engagement in, recreational book
reading. The approach is framed by a symbolic interactionist perspective, as defined by
George Herbert Mead, which situates individuals’ conduct and experiences as being the
products of their interactions with the social group (Mead, 1925; Mead & Morris, 1934).
In different geographical contexts these social influences may significantly differ, and
research that is based on previous research may exclude new or emerging factors.
The heterogeneous nature of the adolescent subjects, in addition to the ever-increasing
number of recreational possibilities open to them, suggests that a mixed-methods approach
is more appropriate than a solely quantitative approach. Gathering qualitative data, in
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addition to quantitative data, ensures that while previously identified factors are explored,
new issues can also be captured. Using solely quantitative data also fails to capture nuance,
and subtle differences; the importance of also adopting a qualitative approach to the issue
of adolescent recreational book reading frequency became apparent in the richness and
diversity of qualitative data captured.

Interviews
The interviews followed the semi-structured interview schedule to some extent, though
frequent departures were permitted to allow in-depth data collection. These departures
enabled the students to have some autonomy over the direction of inquiry, and when novel
or interesting points were raised which led the interviews in unanticipated directions,
the researcher pursued new lines of inquiry. For example, while the influence of media
multitasking was not envisaged to be a key area in the research, during the interviews the
effect of media multitasking on students’ ability to concentrate during reading became
apparent, and thus it warranted exploration.

Participants
At each of the participating schools, one Grade 8 and one Grade 10 class participated in the
surveys where possible. At one school two classes of Grade 8s participated as Grade10s
were not available. Students were all aged between 13 and 16. One student per class was
randomly selected for interview participation unless consent levels were too low, only
controlled for gender. Interviews were possible at 17 of the 20 schools.
Schools were selected to ensure that they originated from diverse geographic and
socio-economic contexts within Western Australia. The final data set included 20 schools.
This sample included government and non-government schools, public and private
schools, single-sex and co-educational schools, and schools in varying socio-economic
environments.
Final participation figures stood at N ¼ 520 surveys completed and N ¼ 34 interviews
recorded. Consenting high school students provided all of the information used. While the
majority of participants came from “unstreamed” or “General” classes, where students
were not grouped by ability, Gifted and Talented (GATE) and Academic Extension
Programme (AEP) students were represented in the sample.
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 5

Method
Schools were approached via email to participate in the study. School principals signed the
required permission forms for school participation. Students were given information
letters and consent forms for their parents and themselves to sign.
The interviews took place in a location provided by the school, and all interviews were
digitally recorded and later transcribed by the primary researcher. Interviews ranged
between 20 minutes and 40 minutes in length.
I was careful to avoid projecting my own expectations on respondents. I adopted a
neutral demeanour, making it clear at the outset that I was looking for the respondents’
opinions, and that these were valuable to me. I was also careful to avoid a judgemental
disposition, so that reluctant readers could feel comfortable disclosing the reasons for their
lack of engagement in recreational book reading.
Data collection was completed in December of 2012. I performed all of the data
collection, barring one instance where a participating school was beyond the distance of
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my travel capacity. In this instance, the cooperating teacher collected the data, and no
interviews were undertaken.
When I asked the question “What would make you read more?”, students were
explicitly instructed to view this question in terms of book reading, rather than reading in
general. Prior to participating in the semi-structured interviews, students were surveyed,
and the terms of reference for the study were explained. They included the following
statement:
This survey is about what you do in your free time at home. I am interested in how you feel
about reading books in your free time. For this study, free time is the time you have at home
when you can choose what you want to do. It does not include homework time. It is time you
spend doing any activities that you choose to do (e.g., playing sport, reading, gaming, relaxing
etc.). For this survey, “books” includes both fiction (story books) and non-fiction (information
books). It includes regular books as well as online books or eBooks (such as.pdf and.mobi
files). “Books” doesn’t include, comics, graphic novels, magazines, websites or newspapers.
This survey is about the books you read for fun, NOT the books you have to read.
Prior to the subsequent participation in the interviews, students were verbally
reminded of these terms of reference. This statement was constructed to prevent confusion
about the textual focus of the study, which was book reading rather than reading of other
text types. It also established the research as centrally concerned with reading for pleasure
rather than academic necessity. This limitation has also been imposed as evidence
of benefit of reading other text forms is not yet substantiated through multiple studies, as
previously explained.

Analysis
Survey data was stored in Qualtrics and interview data was coded using TAMS analyser.
Constant comparative analysis (Kolb, 2012) was used to determine emerging trends; the
data was repeatedly re-examined to ensure that refinement and categorization of data was
performed at an optimal level. The codes emerged from inductive process, by which
important categories in the data tended to be revisited by multiple interviewees. All codes
emerged from the data, rather than originating in the literature. Themes were identified
first, and then the literature and existing theories were subsequently consulted to reveal
existing contributions and trends.
This article focuses on data derived from both the interviews and the qualitative field
of the surveys. In the context of recreational book reading, students were specifically asked
 6 M.K. Merga

the question “What would make you read more?” in interviews, and while some were
unable to respond, the majority had a clear idea as to which factors could increase their
engagement in reading. Similarly, of the n ¼ 182 anonymous responses in the qualitative
field of the survey, some students chose to directly address the factors which would
increase their book reading, and thus this data has also been used.
Quotations are presented as edited verbatim; responses have been corrected to enhance
readability where possible without changing meaning or the authentic voice of the
participants.

What would make them read more?

Strategies for choice
Many students were not equipped with efficient strategies for selecting books and were
unaware of currently existing tools to help support their search, with students commenting
that “I wish there was site where you could find books and do a quiz to find a perfect book
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for you”, and “I find it hard to find a book that I like and I’m interested in”. One reluctant
reader explained that he feared “choosing and then getting stuck with the book that you
don’t really like”. This student no longer chose his own books, outsourcing the task to his
mother. Another student commented that “I barely ever find a book that I like” and that this
was the main reason that she read infrequently.
Time spent reading is an investment, and an attitude of reluctance to engage with
uncertainty of a favourable outcome was not limited to more reluctant readers. Students of
varying engagement levels expressed similar experiences of struggling to find books that
suited their tastes and expectations. This research suggests that it may not be uncommon
for students to reach high school without an effective working strategy for locating books.
Students who were avid readers also encountered issues with choice. They commonly
spoke of periods of reading drought, where their preferred genres, series or authors were
exhausted, and they needed to wait for new instalments to resume reading. A student stated
that this was the most significant limitation to her reading, in that “probably if I found one,
a new author that I really like their books from, I’d probably – probably start reading a lot
more than I would now”.
Much has been written about the importance of student choice and self-selection of
books to promote interest in recreational book reading (Fisher & Frey, 2012; Manuel,
2012; Thompson, 1987). Choice is important, as Ross (1998, p. 111) contends, “each
successful book choice makes it more likely that the beginning reader will want to repeat
the pleasurable experience by reading something further”. Conversely, an unsuccessful
choice, a mismatch between the book content and student interests, was found to increase
student anxiety.
In a UK study of secondary students, Hopper (2005) found that one of the most
common reasons for choosing books was prior knowledge of either the book or the author.
While some students in the study were heavily dependent on parent or friend
recommendations, many students had little opportunity to gain knowledge of books and
authors, as their closest social influences were not actively engaged in book reading,
underpinning the importance of effective strategies for choice and exposure to a broad
range of different authors and genres.
Notably, many students preferred the security of adhering to a series, perhaps reducing
the risk of choice. A student explained that series were a safe choice for him, “because then
you kind of know the books – you’re gonna like the next books, so you can just go straight
into them”. The relationship is already established with the key characters, and students
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 7

are invested in the plot, with another student explaining that she enjoys reading books
from a series as she “always want(s) to know what happens after, I don’t really like when a
book ends, then I don’t know what to do”. Research in the UK found that series books were
particularly appealing for adolescent boys (Maynard et al., 2008). This finding was
supported by the WASABR responses, with comments such as “if I found like a long series
that I like, then I’d probably read more”, though many girls in the WASABR study also
found series books highly appealing.
The introduction of series books in the English class was found to motivate students to
read the rest of the series externally in a number of cases, an example of potential internal
class practice influencing external recreational book reading. In one instance, exposure
to the first book of the series in class, in an interesting and engaging environment, led to a
reluctant reader becoming an avid reader. She said that “I never used to like reading
before, but since Year Seven, last year, we started reading Tomorrow When the War
Began, John Marsden, the first book, and since then I’ve kind of been really enjoying
reading”.
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Promotion of books is not comparable to the promotion of other media choices – book
readers are not exposed to materials advertising upcoming books while reading, whereas
TV choice is supported by numerous promotional advertisements and TV guides, both
physical and online. While there are book choosing guides widely available online, the
majority of readers interviewed were underutilizing these guides for choice, in most cases,
because they were unaware of their existence. They also generally underutilized social
networking opportunities around books, which could expose them to new works and
authors (Merga, in press-a). Ross (1999, p. 1) has created a systematic framework by
which students can identify what “mood” they are in (what they are looking for in a book),
sources for book recommendations, “clues” on the book “to determine the reading
experience offered” and an evaluation of the intellectual and physical costs of engaging
with the book. Though the framework is now somewhat dated, due to the massive increase
in online tools since it was written, it is a useful starting point. Ross has termed the
understandings that “practiced” readers have about choosing books that others do not have
as “behind the eyes knowledge” that the “reader can draw upon when considering for
selection or rejection any particular book that comes to hand” (Ross, 1998, p. 114).
Explicitly teaching choosing strategies may increase the number of positive matches
between students and books.

Access to attractive, relevant and diverse books

Once appropriate choosing strategies have been acquired, students need ready access to
interesting books that are both attractive and diverse. The findings of the WASABR study
also suggest that of the students who did have a “strategy” for choosing, many based their
choice on aesthetic considerations. The look of the book, encompassing book size,
colour and cover, and even the title font, influenced their choice. The appearance of the
book was found to be a key attraction in previous research (Hopper, 2005; Jones, 2007),
and findings from the WASABR suggest that this aesthetic appeal of traditional books may
be sufficient to counter the attractiveness of eBook reading for many students in this cohort
(Merga, 2014b).
Relevant, relatable characters were sought; one student felt he would read more if he
could find more books about “stuff what – that’s happening, like with boys my age,
and stuff- something that”, and another student commented that “I like reading books a
lot but there needs to be more books, teenage books, because I’m running out of books to
 8 M.K. Merga

read very quickly”. Students’ “desire to read books about issues relevant to their own
adolescent experiences and concerns” (Hopper, 2005, p. 118) has been noted in previous
research.
Currency was also of significance, with student comments such as “I do like reading
interesting books but libraries don’t have interesting books. I would read more if the
library had interesting and new books that we could borrow”. For another student, the
outdated material at the closest library made visiting it highly unappealing:
My closest library to my house is about 20 minutes away, and even then, the majority of the
books are sub-par, 90s informational books that are not worth reading. I would read a lot more
if I had access to a better library.
These qualitative findings were reflective of quantitative findings from the study.
In order to quantify frequency of library visitation, students were asked, “How often do
you visit a school or community library to choose books to read in your free time?”
The results can be seen in Figure 1.
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With more than one third of students claiming to never visit the library to choose books
for recreational reading, and 62% of students visiting the library less than once a month,
the adolescent students in this cohort could be characterized as infrequent library patrons.
As most students have access to a library at school, these low frequency rates are
apparently symptomatic of low levels of motivation to access the library.
The removal of outdated books in a “weeding” process allows for a higher
concentration of attractive and currently appealing books, enhancing the likelihood of
speedy student success when they search for books (Rogers, 2007; Tipton, 2011). Most
students seemed to know what kinds of books they preferred when interviewed, suggesting
that the students themselves would be a valuable resource for guidance when library
re-stocking is occurring.
The diversity of books read by study participants was noteworthy. In addition to
best-selling young adult texts The Hunger Games and the Harry Potter series, students
were reading from a wide range of genres, and with some enjoying non-fiction as well as
fiction. One student read extensive literature on psychology in addition to crime novels,

Answer Response %

Never 179 35%

Less than Once a Month 141 27%

Once a Month 64 12%

2–3 Times a Month 62 12%

Once a Week 45 9%

2–3 Times a Week 17 3%

Daily 8 2%

Total 516 100%

Figure 1. Library visitation frequency.

 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 9

while another spoke of his keen interest in reading from diverse genres, from fantasy to
non-fiction, stating, “I’ve read quite a few different types of books. I’ve read The Lord of
the Rings series and things like that; I’ve read a lot of fantasy. But I’m also a strange kid in
the way that I’ve read all of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series from Robert Kiyosaki.” Thus
the range of books available should ideally be wide to cater for this heterogeneous group.

Time availability
Some students were genuinely unable to read books for recreation due to heavy
non-recreational commitments, including paid work, sibling care and a substantial load
of schoolwork. One student commented that she was always “either working, or I’ve got
school, or school homework or exams or something like that. There’s always something,
so I hardly ever have time to do it”. She was balancing three casual jobs with widely
varying working hours, and found herself unable to immerse herself in a book for a
sustained period of time because of these distractions.
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Another student described how the bulk of homework, and the cognitive effort
required for its completion, made the comparatively cerebral recreation leisure activity of
book reading unappealing:
Due to the amount of homework given to us at the school it is very hard to try and fit reading
in, and even if you end up having a little bit of time you are generally so exhausted, you don’t
feel like sitting down and reading, you just want to stop thinking.
Students with a positive attitude toward reading, but who read relatively rarely, often
spoke of reading more on the holidays, sometimes engaging in reading gluts: days of
consecutive heavy reading.
Some students tended to give up reading if opportunities to read were not presented to
them, with comments such as “if I had set times in English to read, I’d probably keep
trying to read”, highlighting the importance of providing designated time for self-selected
Silent Reading at school, which is characterized by this student as supportive of external
recreational book reading. This student was a reluctant reader, but she had enjoyed Silent
Reading until it was discontinued in later high school. As was the case with a number of
reluctant participants, it was the only reading that she did, and as she was positively
disposed toward Silent Reading, it was perhaps her best chance of becoming an engaged
recreational reader (Merga, 2013). Opportunities for Silent Reading also enable educators
to see students’ strategies for choosing in action, and provide support as appropriate.

Time allocation
Many students did not read because they chose not to, making the decision to allocate their
allotted recreation time into more appealing pursuits. The ready availability of technology
within their immediate domestic sphere, and an apparent lack of restriction on their use of
technology, enabled many students to spend the majority of their recreation time as screen
time, whether on a computer, phone, tablet or TV. Students, particularly boys, who were
reluctant readers, often described reading as a last resort:
I’d read more if . . . there weren’t any TV’s anywhere, or anything other than that, and I could
like – if it was raining, no TVs, nothing else to do, then I would read, but, because of all the
technology nowadays with the internet and TVs and all that, there’s always something else
that you can be doing that is more fun.
Some students were comfortable to openly admit that while they had access to
technology, recreational reading would be of little interest to them.
 10 M.K. Merga

While television viewing is the most popular recreational habit in the US (National
Endowment for the Arts [NEA], 2007) and with Australian children and early adolescents
(Bittman & Sipthorp, 2011), the increased availability of other media such as mobile phones,
computer games and the Internet make them increasingly appealing outlets. Access to
technology is related to decreased book reading. Gaming and television viewing have been
found to negatively affect recreational reading time and reading scores (Anderson et al.,
1988; Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2012; Hofferth and Jankuniene, 2001; McKool,
2007).
Research also suggests that as children age, their recreational time is increasingly
consumed by Internet surfing for fun and mobile phone use to the detriment of recreational
book reading (Scholastic, 2010). In this research, social networking and mobile phone use
were also found to be time-consuming pastimes, often a comforting constant in students’
lives:
I: What other sorts of things do you do in your free time?
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S: Message my friends, go on Facebook, and stuff like that.

I: So how much time do you spend social networking?
S: Three to four hours every night.
I: Do you have it permanently on or do you just turn it on sometimes?
S: It’s permanently on in the background, but I’m not always on, because, yeah.
I: Okay, and what time do you turn it off?
S: I don’t turn it off. I just . . . sleep with it next to my bed.
This level of teen autonomy over personal screen time engagement is often not checked
by any parental control. Parents may not feel confident exercising restrictions over access
to newer mediums such as the Internet (Bittman & Sipthorp, 2011), with children
perceived to be more knowledgeable about the medium, resulting in parental ambivalence
and perceived inefficacy (Livingstone, 2007). Recent research in the US suggests that the
majority of parents would like their children to have a period of abstinence from electronic
devices (Scholastic, 2010). This could increase the likelihood that time would be allocated
to recreational book reading in the absence of screen-based alternatives.
Student choices about their recreational pursuits may have profound cognitive
consequences that may influence recreational book reading frequency. In his exploration
of the effect of the “digital revolution” on the adolescent brain, Giedd poses the following
question:
Will the availability of technologies that can persistently keep dopamine levels so high raise the
threshold for what our brains deem rewarding in terms of relationships, studying, or working
toward other long-term goals that may not have immediate reinforcements? (2012, p. 104)
Book reading is a comparatively low-sensation activity when juxtaposed with other
technology-based activities such as first-person shooter gaming. Books may suffer
through their comparative incompatibility with adolescents’ “increased sensation seeking”
(Giedd, 2012, p. 104).

Concentration
As the interviews progressed, it became increasingly apparent that issues with
concentration were significantly affecting some students’ inclinations not only to initially
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 11

engage in the book reading process, but to sustain reading for more than a short period of
time, with students volunteering that, “I do enjoy reading although it takes me a while, and
I usually don’t understand what I have just read if I do read”, and “I find it difficult to read
books, as my mind drifts as I read and I start thinking about something else, and I lose
track”. One student described how the cognitive cost of reading, in the form of effort,
was a key deterrent, in comparison to TV viewing:
But then like, sometimes reading is an effort because you’ve still got to use your brain, but if
you sat down and watched TV, you can like, you don’t really have to concentrate, but you
can’t sit down and read a book and not concentrate, because then you get halfway through the
book and you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’
Clearly, literate students may struggle with the cognitive demands of book reading,
and this may discourage them from regularly undertaking the practice.
The capacity of student attention for recreational book reading may be negatively
affected by their other leisure pursuits. It is possible that some of these attention issues
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arise from students’ commitment to what they often termed “multi-tasking” during
their recreation time, which is more commonly referred to as media multitasking
(Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). This involves engaging in more than one screen-based
activity simultaneously: for example, watching television and texting, or watching music
videos on a tablet while Instant Messaging. Media multitasking is problematic due to the
nature of human cognition, which is inefficient at “attending to multiple input streams”
and “simultaneously performing multiple tasks” (Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009,
p. 15583). We can media multitask, but not efficiently. It is possible that adolescents’
ability to concentrate on book reading is negatively affected by media multitasking.
Research suggests that media multitasking is on the increase in the adolescent
demographic. US research found that more than half of American teens are media
multitasking while reading (NEA, 2007). Media multitasking is extending beyond leisure
time into homework time, with nearly a third of US students aged 8– 10 claiming to media
multitask “most” of the time while completing homework (Rideout et al., 2010). Several
students who participated in the WASABR study were heavy media multitaskers. None of
these students would be characterized as avid readers, though the direction of causality
cannot be established. One student described how media multitasking had become a
necessity for him:
I: So when you’re on the – watching the TV, are you ever like texting at the same time?
S: Yeah, I’m on my iPad when I watch it, so.
I: Right – so you’re often multitasking?
S: Yeah. A lot.
I: All the time, or . . . ?
S: Whenever I watch TV. Just ’cos I can’t stay still and stare at a TV either, same as a book, so.
It’s kind of a – I’ve gotta do more than one thing. I can’t do [the] same thing. Gotta try and do
more, so.
In this instance, this adolescent’s need to “do more than one thing”, that appears to be
fostered by media multitasking, may prevent him from reading books, as this is a sustained
activity requiring deep concentration (Carr, 2010), making doing “more than one thing”
very difficult. Research suggests that students who may be characterized as heavy
media multitaskers, may have “greater difficulty filtering out irrelevant stimuli from their
environment” when compared with light media multitaskers (Ophir et al., 2009, p. 15585),
 12 M.K. Merga

sacrificing control over their attention. This sacrifice became apparent in discussion with a
heavy media multitasker:
I: And do you have trouble just concentrating on just one thing, ’cos you’re used to multi-
tasking?
S: Nah, I think I find it easier, ’cos I’m kind of used to doing it. But obviously I’d have to be
sitting down, I would be able to walk around and do stuff like . . . whenever I make something
to eat, or something, if I was making . . . eggs on toast, I’d start cooking the eggs, and then I’d
forget to put on the toast, so my eggs would be done, and then, my toast, I’d have to put the
toast in, and my eggs would be cold by the time the toast is done.
I: And so why do you forget?
S: I don’t know; I do it every time though. And then I’d say, ‘Ner, just do the toast first!’ But
yeah, I just do it every time.
This student also noted that the lack of time he spent reading was affecting his reading
comprehension. When asked if he thought he would need to read more as he moved into
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the upper years of high school, he stated “definitely, ’cos whenever we have tests
as well, I . . . quite often read a question wrong in a test. And then I’m losing easy marks.
And I tell – I always tell that to my mum, and she’s just like, ‘Yeah, you do tend to do that’”.
Despite this understanding, the student was honest, contending that he was unlikely to read
more, despite the self-perceived increased necessity for it.
Any recreational practice that has a potentially deleterious influence on attention
is likely to inhibit engagement in recreational book reading, as one previously cited
student attests, to read books “you’ve still got to use your brain”. For students who lack
“attentional control” (Ophir et al., 2009, p. 15585), perhaps due to heavy media
multitasking, book reading becomes a difficult feat. More research is needed to examine
the influence of this pastime on adolescent cognition.

Encouragement
Parents, teachers, friends and peers potentially influence students to engage in
recreational book reading more regularly. Quantitative analysis from this study suggests
that both boys and girls may be influenced by their friends’ attitudes toward recreational
book reading (Merga, 2014a). The cohort of participants from the WASABR study
reported encouragement from a wide range of sources. These included, but were not
limited to, friends, parents, English teachers, siblings, society, the media, grandparents,
Internet communities, uncles, aunties, tutors, librarians and teachers outside the
English area.
Still, many students felt that they were not being encouraged to read; of the n ¼ 517
students who responded to the WASABR survey question: “Who encourages you to read?
You may choose as many as you like”, 29% of respondents reported receiving
encouragement from “no one”. This is noteworthy, as in the interviews some students
indicated that “probably a bit more encouragement” was the stimulus that would make
them read more.
One student took her desire for more encouragement further, imagining an in-class
context where the social capital of book reading could be raised through open discussion
around reading for pleasure. This was another instance of students’ making connections
between educator practice and recreational book reading:
. . . maybe if we could discuss books in class, maybe if . . . yeah, if, for even five minutes of the
lesson, our teacher could be like, ‘Who’s got an interesting book that they’ve read recently?’
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 13

and someone could bring it up, and obviously we’d all be like interested, if they described it
well, we’d obviously go have a look at it, so yeah, even like five minutes of someone saying,
‘Oh, I read this book on the weekend’, or ‘I saw that book’, or ‘I find this interesting, I saw it was
in the newspaper, I saw it was online’, I think that’d be really helpful . . . (Merga, 2013, p. 240)
The current generation of adolescents is characterized by a social nature and a
subsequent craving for interactivity (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). Now, more than ever,
students need the chance to talk about books in a supportive environment. Educators can
create platforms for peer encouragement on a broader scale. However, some students
noted a reduced teacher interest in encouraging book reading in high school, as compared
to primary school:
Primary school’s teachers would have . . . they would have said more, they would have
encouraged me more than high school teachers, ’cos I guess they just want . . . high school
teachers want you to do your work, they want you to read, but they just want you to do your
work over all . . .
The majority of students who participated in this study declared that their primary
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school teachers were significantly more encouraging than their high school English
teachers (Merga, in press-c).

Conclusions
This article seeks to provide a detailed examination of student identified barriers to
recreational book reading, in order to enable educators to connect these student responses
with their own practices within the classroom as a means to increase participation in
recreational book reading. The breadth of the areas explored by the students suggests that
there is much that can be done by educators to support adolescent recreational book
reading.
It is clear that some areas are more amenable to educator intervention than others.
For example, improving strategies for choice entails familiarizing students with the
variety of available support tools; to do this, teachers must themselves be familiar with
them. In order to get students “hooked” on new books and series, educators must remain
abreast of the new material that is continuously released. In order to ensure access to
attractive, relevant and diverse books, English teachers and library staff should work in
partnership to enable ready access to the library, teach new students how to use the library,
make sure the library is responsive to student interests and push to ensure that it has a
sufficient budget to keep well stocked and weeded. Schools can provide in-class time for
Silent Reading to support time availability, which may increase the likelihood of students
continuing to read externally, for recreation.
In contrast, time allocation and concentration are very much in the parental domain,
though educators can still provide information to students and parents to increase the
priority of book reading. All stakeholders need to understand the effect of their choices,
particularly in regards to students’ time allocation decisions, which should be mediated by
positive parental expectations and not autonomously made based on sensation seeking.
Parents could be encouraged by schools to institute an offline night even once a week so
that students can read and also cope without the constant stimulation of technology.
Parents and students need to know about how the emerging findings around media
multitasking may directly affect future cognitive prospects. This information does not
need to be unduly alarmist; obviously, technology offers many social and informational
benefits. However, if students are already struggling to disconnect, or focus on one task at
a time, a review of levels of engagement in media multitasking is advisable.
 14 M.K. Merga

It is clear that for educators to address any of these areas, there will be a cost.
For example, maintaining an attractive and diverse library has financial and time costs.
These costs must be weighed against the significant benefits research suggests recreational
book reading offers.
While all of the suggestions contained in this paper are aimed at educators, this does
not suggest that influencing the recreational book reading habits of adolescents is a task for
teachers alone. Parents and schools may hold contrasting views relating to school and
home roles for encouraging reading (Warren & Young, 2010), undermining the potential
efficacy of school and home partnerships. Recent research into the opinions of Australian
parents of primary school aged children found that less than half of parents liked reading
(Thomson et al., 2012). Some parents may not see the intergenerational transmission of
reading as a priority or indeed, as their responsibility, whereas past research suggests that
Australian teachers may view recreational book reading as a parental responsibility
(Bunbury, 1995). This leaves recreational book reading at risk of becoming an orphaned
responsibility.
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Educators may not be able to affect miraculous change due to the excessive pressures
placed upon them in the current climate, especially when parent “partners” are either
neutral or negative toward reading. However, this paper highlights many opportunities
for augmenting and adapting educational strategies to support greater recreational book
reading, for the consideration of literacy educators.

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