May 27, 2008
Childrens, Why reading?
No Comments
By reading a variety of books, magazines, and newspapers, students gain exposure to complex vocabulary, and reading becomes a prime opportunity for learning new words. … Given the importance of reading to lexical development in school-age children and adolescents, reading should be promoted as a leisure activity during these years. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2005]
Literacy is vital to language development. It seems pretty obvious, but it is something we may sometimes forget. Parents of kids who don’t like reading are passionate about getting them to read “good books.” A group of researchers at the University of Oregon recently investigated what older children and young adolescents actually like reading, and what else they like doing.
The results were not particularly surprising. Music and TV, sports and video games were the most popular pastimes, while reading feel somewhere in the middle. Magazines were preferred to novels, and comics were also popular. Most importantly, reading time dropped as children got older. This has vast implications for language development in teenagers. Sure, you can probably “talk real good” by age fifteen, but at that age, english writing tasks are becoming increasingly complex, job interviews are beginning and comprehension is becoming much more technically demanding as students are asked to assimilate technical science and maths data from multiple sources.
In the opinions of the authors, speech pathologists should use students preferences to enable them to continue leisure reading, in whatever form. Why is it that I have multiple magazine subscriptions as an adult, but I had to go out and buy my favourite comics at the newsagent as a kid? I hope I can keep all this in mind when my kids slow their reading habit.
“Literacy as a leisure activity: free-time preferences of older children and young adolescents.” - Nippold MA, Duthie JK, Larsen J.
May 20, 2008
Why reading?
No Comments
Are you ready to take on risks? Are you ready to change your life and the way others see you? Are you able to rejig your priorities, sacrifice things you hold dear for the potential of something better?
Books can change the way you live your life, even the person you are. I have been inspired by a book recently, and, along with other events, it made me do a complete U-turn in some aspects of my life. I received a book in a bookcrossing bookbag, not even directed at me personally. The book, Is there a book in you? has changed the way I live.
I have a normal job and a relatively normal life, but this book sparked the idea that I should try to write a novel - just because then I will know if I can do it. I can’t write, so I set up a blog to practice writing quality content, which led to this one. Then I ran into trouble with my work, and thought naturally about getting extra employment through blogging and freelance medical writing. So that led to another blog, to prove my medical writing credentials. What about my novel? Well. I have written less than 10% of what I am aiming for, and it is all jumbled, so that I can’t even give it to my husband to read. But if I don’t try now, I will never know if I can.
How has reading changed your life?
May 20, 2008
What to Read, Why reading?
No Comments
Books vs. Blogs « Marketing Integrity
I realized today that I have spent more time reading in the past 6-months than normal, concentrating on blogs rather than on books….Historically, I have consumed information on business and career topics from books. Now…not so much.
This is an interesting article about the change in the role of literature over time, especially as technology develops. The author contends that he reads blogs far more than books now. He is talking from the point of view of non-fiction, business type blogs (I suspect, given the title of his blog). However, I think it has sparked an interesting discussion in the comments.
For me, there are two types of reading. First, there is the type of reading that this blog focusses on - reading to expand who you are, and experience the world. That is much better done in books (or perhaps maybe E-book readers, although no good ones work in Australia, so I am not an expert on that).
There is also “work reading.” This includes marketing, business, current events and all that stuff. This sort of reading is much more applicable to blogs. Blogs form sort of radio programs, or television sound bites - you tune in for the segments you are interested in, and then tune out when something more important comes up. I think we need to remember that people who read posts like the one above, are likely to be much more immersed in the internet information sea, and the blogosphere than the rest of us.
What do you think: Will literature enter the blogosphere? Do you read your fiction in blogs? Do you read blogs to relax? What is the role of blogs vs printed books?
(Via Tweet from Darren Rowse (Problogger).)