Literacy & Learning Centre Blog

Literacy ‘Outside the Box’….

Usually pairing the term ‘Outside the Box’ with discussion of remedial support of children’s literacy difficulties would be enough to raise concerns about programmes that offer little in terms of substance.  However, sometimes children can be difficult to engage in any task involving literacy and a creative approach may be needed.  However, this does not have to be at the expense of what guides good literacy teaching practices, evidence based approaches, and links to the curriculum.

“My child just doesn’t want to read!” 

When a child is reluctant to read, it is of upmost importance to firstly identify the underlying reason why.  Reluctance is commonly a sign that there is a problem with reading.  A comprehensive assessment will help to identify if a child has a specific learning difficulty that is making reading a task they want to avoid and what the nature of the problem is.  For the children with specific learning difficulties, a systematic evidence based programme targeted at areas in which a child has weaknesses is crucial for improving skills.  With skills comes confidence and with confidence often comes greater engagement and willingness to read.

Sometimes children with improved skills or even children with competent reading skills may still avoid reading.  The motivation to read may be low or a negative attitude towards reading may have developed for other reasons.  Confidence in reading skills may be low.  There may be poor role models in the child’s life, particularly if parents had similar reading difficulties and are not big readers.  Also the issue of the ‘reluctant male reader’ has been well studied.  Research has also highlighted the different reading interests of boys and girls, and the view of reading as being an activity for “girls” has been well documented. Of course, children also commonly complain that texts are simply ‘boring’. 

High Interest Texts

The difficulty of finding high interest books suitable for children of low reading ability is a constant battle for the parents and teachers of struggling readers.  Hi Lo Fiction series are popular in the resources of Learning Support Teams and often include graphic novels, comic books, books with non-fiction and science fiction themes, or sports themed reading materials.

An example of an ‘Outside the Box’ series of books is the Goal! Reading Series.  These soccer themed readers leverage on children’s love of soccer and have been linked to follow the UK’s Letter’s and Sound’s Programme.  This is a systematic phonics based literacy programme used in early years in UK schools.  The Goal! Readers are colourful and full of soccer themed pictures featuring local soccer stars.  They include fiction and non-fiction titles and have also been found to be popular with struggling readers up to the age of 14. 

More Soccer and Reading

The UK is the home of many great ‘Outside the Box’ approaches to encouraging literacy.  For the past 11 years, the UK Literacy Trust has run the ‘Premier League Reading Stars’ programme.  This football themed literacy project is a reading intervention programme that uses football to inspire children to read more and is linked to the national curriculum.  The programme builds on evidence that footballers can influence the way children, particularly boys, view reading.  It contains reading journals, badges and certificates.  ‘The Tactics Book’ provides 10 curriculum-supported literacy sessions, written by literacy experts and there are also a range of online challenges to be completed. 

Rugby League Reads

In Australia, the Rugby League Reads programme was developed by Suzan Hirsch, who is a lecturer at the ACU in boys’ education. The programme was developed in conjunction with the NRL to increase the engagement of students in reading by using their interest in Ruby League.  This school-based programme provides teachers with a practical syllabus with links to literacy resources with a Rugby League theme.  Both literary and factual texts are available and these can be used by teachers as samples for reading or writing that are linked to the syllabus.  Reading materials include the Rugby League Reads Magazine and Rugby League home readers.  The programme also aims to use sports starts as role models for reading.  Importantly, the programme incorporates important Boy’s Education strategies and research.

Focused Footy

Recently at the Literacy and Learning Centre we ran a school holiday programme that aims to utilise children’s love of sport to encourage the development of important skills.  While the majority of remedial work takes place at school or in after school tutoring programmes, the Focused Footy programme was run in the school holidays and much of the activities took place at a football ground in a local park.  The programme was developed in response to parents’ requests to provide something different to engage children’s interests in literacy. 

The programme was run by a teacher with Special Education background and a PE teacher who is also a professional rugby union player.  The aim was to leverage off children’s interests in taking part in a holiday sports camp to reinforce and teach important literacy concepts.  Topics covered included knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and discussion with children the important roles these play in literacy.  A range of skill based sports games was developed mixing popular footy games such as Oztag and ‘Bullrush’ to include literacy activities.  The programme also provided practical and supported opportunities for writing practice on sports based themes (eg, creating a personal footy card, making a fitness plan etc) and support in creating an exposition or narrative.  Giving the opportunity for children to meet other children who are struggling with literacy is also a good way for children not to feel isolated and alone with their struggles and to develop self-esteem. 

Thinking “Outside the Box”

The creativity of those working with struggling readers shows that it is possible to motivate reluctant readers when a bit of "Outside the Box" thinking is applied.  It is the responsibility of those involved in supporting children with literacy difficulties or who are reluctant to read to keep up to date with research about best practices and programmes.  However, when children are reluctant to read, questions need to be asked about how we can modify our approaches to make the learning experience a more engaging experience for the child.  The examples discussed above show that there are creative ways to work with children and that this does not have to be at the expense of best practice and evidence based approaches.