From Solitary to Social - how book talk fosters a love of reading in classrooms

At Roade English Hub I work with a team of incredibly passionate individuals who work hard and are driven because they know, and research tells them that being literate has the potential to be life changing. Incredibly research also clearly shows us that if you are a literate child who reads for pleasure then this has more impact on your future life chances than any other factor. At Roade English Hub we believe that it is every child’s right to be literate, and to be given the opportunity to develop a love and passion for reading. In our travels around our vast area, we have yet to find a teacher who doesn’t also want these things.

The schools we work with are determined that all children will learn to read quickly in EYFS, which is so important because early experiences of books and reading will be very varied.  We know that successful readers read widely and often.  And, what makes this successful, is that they practice reading frequently which supports the further development of the skill and also that reading widely, and for pleasure, has an impact on their knowledge, in turn impacting academic attainment. Reading itself, expands vocabulary, language, and ones knowledge of the world, giving such a head start on the curriculum.

Phonics schemes are so essential in teaching children to read quickly and systematically but, as we know as teachers, this doesn’t always lead to loving reading. In fact in a 2023 National Literacy Trust survey only 3 in 10 children said they would choose to read independently on a daily basis and the stats were much lower for disadvantaged pupils.  I really believe that if we want children to love reading we need to show them the pleasure reading can bring right from the beginning of their reading journey.  To have an impact on children, so they want to read regularly and choose to do so, I think we, as experienced readers need to connect this with a social or emotional experience, one that is positive, warm and relationship focussed.  So how can we make reading sociable? 

Research tells us that talking socially about books takes away the solitary aspect of reading and makes it a sociable and more desirable activity.  We form connections with others when we discuss books, characters, information and share our opinions.  These discussions will frequently lead to initial positive feelings around reading that can be developed and nurtured over time.  Talking with the children in your class about your own personal love of books, sharing stories, reading aloud, recommending books will all feed in to building a positive view of reading.

So alongside high quality phonics teaching, I highly recommend that you also consider these strategies to build that love of reading, that desire to read, because that’s what will really make the difference long term:

• Link books in your classroom to children’s experiences, interests and reading habits.
• As a teacher share and promote both your favourites and any new books.  Chat with your class about them.
• Talk passionately about books and reading with your class  
• Read aloud (with voices) every single day   
• Use real books as the basis for your English lessons and use a book for a good few weeks so the children become really familiar with it
• Re-read books over and over again – get the children to join in with you or retell it in their own words
• Plan opportunities for children to read and share books, with and alongside each other.  How about regular partner reading or book sharing with children from another class
• Show parents how they could share books at home – if we do this they are more likely to have a go
• Get children chatting about books, create a buzz in your classroom
• Start a class book club
• Invite other adults, teachers, teaching assistant, your headteacher, to pop along and read a chapter of their favourite book, or just talk about their favourite book then leave it for the class to borrow.  I bet those books will be really popular!

If you can create a desire to read amongst the children in your class then you have succeeded, because this, alongside great systematic phonics teaching has the power to change their lives for the better.