There is worldwide concern about the decline in children and adolescent enjoyment of reading as documented by international and national surveys, with smartphones and other technologies often blamed for the decline. Yet, with recent rapid improvements in technologies for reading, the accelerated adoption of devices for learning during the pandemic…

Reading, even when silent and individual, is a social phenomenon and has often been studied as such. Complementary to this view, research has begun to explore how reading is embodied beyond simply being 'wired' in the brain. This article brings the social and embodied perspectives together in a very literal sense. Reporting a qualitative study of…

This paper re-considers the concept of aliteracy by arguing that it is less about not reading than it is about choice, agency and context. By analysing findings from a study that examined undergraduates' reading experiences in a Malaysian university, this paper explores the complexities around how the undergraduates grappled with conflicting…

This paper presents an ethnographic study of the out of school literacy practices of children living in residential care in Malaysia. Although residential homes generate much publicity, especially during the festive seasons, not much is known about the children living within the confines of these homes. Even more lacking is research on their…

This paper analyses initial findings of a qualitative pilot study of the reading-aloud practices of 17 adults in the London Borough of Lewisham. Although the dominant contemporary image of reading is that of a silent activity and within literacy provision it is frequently assumed that reading aloud is not a "natural" "real…

In this paper I will argue that while young adult readers may often be represented through "othering" discourses that see them as "passive," "uncritical" consumers of "low-brow," "throw-away" texts, the realities of their reading lives are in fact more subtle, complex and dynamic. The paper…

Different research on literacy demonstrates that the family has an important impact on literacy in general and it seems that there may be an inter-generational transfer of literacy level and reading habits within families. In order to compensate for lack of encouragement of reading at home, different initiatives have been developed involving work…

What are adolescents choosing to read? This is an important question because of potential divergence between school students' reading interests and reading expectations in school. This article considers the findings from a study of the reading over one week in May 2002 of 707 school students aged between 11 and 15, undertaken in 30 schools in the…

The reading experiences of six young successful boy readers were studied over a two-year period. In this article, their non-fiction reading is analysed and ways in which the boys make positive connections between masculinity and reading are identified. The boys' non-fiction reading centres on typical boy interest areas and hobbies (for example,…

How far do bilingual readers identify with the "implied readers" of the texts they read? This article explores this question through a quantitative analysis of the reading habits of a sample of 100 English secondary-school students, mainly from southern Asian backgrounds. Particular focus is given to the way a bilingual reader may or may not be…