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IASL Research Abstracts: 137
Findings: Children's reading interests in South Africa are not radically different from those of children in England. However, because many young people in South Africa are reading in a second language, information books need to be written with this in mind.
Abstract: Research on children's reading habits, preferences and information use provides useful insights for those working to motivate children and young people to read and use information. This study, conducted by The Children's Literature Research Unit (CLRU) in the Department of Information Science at the University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria, was modelled on a study of children's reading habits in England conducted by the Roehampton Institute in the 1990s. Findings reported in this article are related to the reading of informational material by children in South Africa between the ages of nine to 16 years of age. Although many learners in South Africa have limited access to school libraries or public libraries, the study participants had a positive attitude to reading and non-fiction texts. They were developing strategies to deal with information texts by using retrieval tools and they prepared to persevere with books even if there were words they did not understand. The study showed that what children are interested in reading in South Africa is not radically different from children in England. However, because many young people in South Africa are reading in a second language, information books need to be written with this in mind. See:
Machet, M. (2004). Reading and use of informational material by South African youth. School Libraries Worldwide, 10 (1-2)
Subject Categories: 15
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