Erkekler de Kızlar Kadar Okuyorlar Ama Daha Yalın Kitapları Tercih Ediyorlar - Boys Read As Much As Girls, But Prefer The Simpler Books

Boys ReadAs Much AsGirls, ButPreferThe Simpler Books

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

Monday, 1 March 2010

First the good news: boys are reading as much as girls. Now the bad: the books they choose are far lesschallengingand easier tocomprehendthan those selected by girls, and this gets worse as they grow older.

Thefindingsof amajorstudy of 100,000 children's readinghabitscoincidewith national curriculum test results which show that - at all ages - girls score more highly on reading tests. "Boys areclearlyreading nearly as much as girls, a finding that may surprise someonlookers," said Professor Keith Topping, of the University of Dundee's school of education, whoheadedthe study. "But boys aretendingto read easier books than girls. The general picture was of girls reading books of aconsistentlymore difficult level than boys in the same year."

Thegapin the standard of their reading habits becomes most marked between the ages of 13 and 16, the report says. The favourite girl's book in this age group is Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, the first in the vampire romance series that has sold 85 million copiesworldwide. This wasrankfar more difficult to read than the boys' favourite, The Dark Never Hides, from the British novelist Peter Lancett's Dark Man series,illustratedfantasy novels aimed atreluctantteens and young adultsstrugglingto read.

The study notes that both sexes tend to choose books that are easier to read once they reach the age of 11 and transfer to secondary school. Compared with a similar study two years ago, the Harry Potter author JK Rowling hastumbleddown the top 10 most popular children's authors, from second to ninth place.

Boys, in particular, chose not to read her books, which are considered more challenging than many other children's titles. "Perhaps the lapse in popularity of the Harry Potter books ... has left boys with few high difficulty books they have the urge to attack," Professor Topping added.

One author to shoot into the top 10 for the first time - at number two - is Roderick Hunt, whose 300 The Magic Key books, following the lives of three children and their dog, Floppy, are used in 80 per cent of British schools to teach people how to read. Roald Dahl still tops the chart.

The report, commissioned by Renaissance Learning, which pioneers online reading tests widely in use in US schools todeterminethe reading age of children,recommendsthat teachers should closelymonitorthe reading habits of theirpupils, particularly the boys. "As with adult reading, kids will not always read to the limit of their ability," Professor Topping said. "Even high-achieving readers do notchallengethemselves enough as they grow older."

The report recommends anexpansionof the school library service, with schools encouraged to stock every book which appears in the top 10 favourites for each age group. The children's reading habits were confirmed by taking online quizzes on the books they had read.

The findings reverse the conclusions of a similarsurveytwo years ago when boys were found to beoptingfor harder-to-read books than girls.