Science

Children struggle to understand what they read

Els is a historical literary scholar by profession. But she has been considering her field of study from a broader perspective for many years. She explains: The Dutch reading tradition is not intertwined with historical literary studies. Dutch students hardly ever read anything by Vondel. Other countries have a different approach: English students all read Shakespeare. It is what it is, but it is a shame. However, if people stop reading altogether, it becomes a problem for the country as a whole. I can’t justify only working with the type of students who do read Vondel. As a professor, my responsibilities include a social responsibility. The ability to read is a human right: I think this is a right we should make sure everyone has here in the Netherlands. You can’t send today’s generation of young people into the world if they can’t absorb information independently.

Digital laboratory

So, back in 2016, Els and her colleagues started to work with secondary school teachers to develop digital learning materials, such as LitLab.nl, a ‘digital laboratory’ for literature research in secondary schools. Teachers are still using this site a lot to this very day. This wasn’t something we just assumed would happen: We found it very difficult to get through to teachers. I also noticed that anything you do for the education sector has to be tried and tested. But Litlab. nl focuses mainly on developing teaching materials with and for teachers. Our initial research results will be published in a year’s time. 

These experiences led to LeesEvolutie. This project does not have its own problem analysis, but draws on existing studies, on insights gained from interdisciplinary collaboration within the project and by comparing the Dutch situation with the situation in other countries where reading education is more successful. Then, the switch is quickly made to developing and implementing teaching materials. Els: It’s impossible to explain why we’ve spent 10 years explaining why reading education isn’t up to scratch. It’s not necessary to explain either. We’ve already learnt a lot from research.

You can’t send today’s generation of young people into the world if they can’t absorb information independently

Specific cocktail

Why is the situation in the Netherlands so bad? It’s not solely because of the influence of digital media. It’s popular in other countries as well, but reading skills haven’t deteriorated there as much. It’s a very specific cocktail in the Netherlands. One important factor is the fact that some of the choices made when making changes to education in about 2000 (the Second Phase) are not having the desired effect. At the time, reading business texts and fiction were made two very separate things. Business texts focus too much on recognising structure, which students find boring. When reading literature, the emphasis is on identifying with a text. But literature can also have a huge impact on you and connect you with other people. We ought to bring both types of texts closer together again so that all reading is about (complex) content.

Teachers’ practical knowledge

Els also sees the importance of the knowledge and memory that the Dutch education sector has to offer: For me, the project is about emancipating practical knowledge too. Teachers know what to do to get students to read. But they haven’t always been able to teach the way they’ve wanted because the testing system here in the Netherlands is so prescriptive, focusing very much on structure recognition. That’s why we want to redesign the system. If we’re successful, university will no longer be an ivory tower: when you accept that what science has to offer is complementary to expertise elsewhere.

In this project, academics from different disciplines work with partners from the education sector: teachers, students and method, test and policy makers. That’s a real challenge. This is why everyone involved is investing in bringing each other’s work together in the first year of the project. Els: But straight after that we’ll start developing and implementing new teaching materials. When doing this, we will take the time to experiment on things that haven’t already been tried and tested in existing studies. For example, there are indications that you can help  children who find technical reading difficult (recognising letters) by getting them to listen a lot. We’ll do some tests to see if this is right. Another example: we know that children who are labelled ‘poor readers’ at an early age can feel the repercussions for years afterwards. So, we’re going to see what would happen if you didn’t label children from group 6 upwards like this.

What happens if you don’t label children 'poor readers'?

Subscription to the Donald Duck comic

When it was announced that the research had secured more than 5.3 million euros of NWA funding, the response wasn’t entirely positive. For example, Wilma de Rek (an alum of Utrecht University and head of Books at de Vodlkskrant) wrote a column in which she said that yet another new research project would lead to nothing and that the money would be better spent on banning mobile phones, getting students to read more at school and giving every student a free subscription to the Donald Duck comic. Els says she struck up a conversation with Wilma afterwards: It turned out that she’d assumed the project would result solely in a report. But we want to make a real change and then see how well it works. But she has a point and I share her concerns. Won’t something be developed that isn’t practicable or won’t work? She also adds: A free subscription to the Donald Duck comic would cost a lot more than our project, as pointed out by someone who sent in a letter to de Volkskrant. 

Finally: what can we — alumni and readers of Illuster; many of us also parents, grandparents and/or teachers — do? Els says: Make sure you actually read yourself. Read more; like you used to. It’s fun to read aloud and it works, but it’s even more effective if you are a good example for someone. If you then both chat about what you’re reading, the child will immediately realise that there’s a world beyond children’s books too.

Want to work on language yourself, with your students, children or grandchildren? Take a look at: Taalbaas.nu, LitLab.nl and SchrijfLab.nl

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