"I believe in reading together"

Fifteen L1 teachers’ beliefs about reading engagement and ways to provide engaging literature instruction in the upper-secondary classroom

Abstract

The benefits of reading literature are well documented, and the L1 subject is a shared arena for adolescents to encounter literature. In upper-secondary school (grades 11–13), students meet high demands in terms of literature reading. However, their attitudes toward reading literature are growing more negative. In PISA 2018, Norwegian 15-year-olds ranked second-lowest among OECD countries in engagement in fiction reading. The digitalization of society is offered as one explanation for the decline in reading engagement. Our purpose was to provide, through focus-group interviews, deeper knowledge about 15 Norwegian upper-secondary L1 teachers’ beliefs about the engaged student reader of fiction and their ideas on how to engage students in fiction reading. We find that our participants believe in reading engagement as both a personal aptitude and a social event. Another finding is that they reported on various obstacles to student reading engagement. We also find that the L1 teachers believe student engagement in reading fiction will enhance when “reading together” as a shared and teachers guided experience in the L1 classroom. The data reflect optimism despite the dire signals from PISA. Based on the findings, we argue that L1 teachers can provide all students with an opportunity to gain access to the benefits of reading fiction with the L1 classroom as a decisive arena for doing so.