Leisure Reading Behaviour of Young Children in Singapore

Leisure reading is important for personality development and mental growth of children. Reading habits developed during early childhood are likely to continue rest of the life. The main purpose of this study was to investigate leisure reading habits and preferences of young children in Singapore. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reading horizons 2018, Vol.57 (2), p.56-81
Main Author: Majid, Shaheen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Attitudes
Audio Books
Barriers
Bilingual Students
Children
Children & youth
Electronic Publishing
Elementary School Students
Foreign Countries
Genre
Influences
Language Skills
Languages
Learning
Leisure
Libraries
Library Services
Literacy
Literary Genres
Literature reviews
Middle School Students
Parents & parenting
Personality
Preferences
Printed Materials
Reading Attitudes
Reading Habits
Reading Material Selection
Reading Motivation
Recreational Reading
Secondary School Students
Students
Studies
Thinking Skills
Young Children
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Summary:Leisure reading is important for personality development and mental growth of children. Reading habits developed during early childhood are likely to continue rest of the life. The main purpose of this study was to investigate leisure reading habits and preferences of young children in Singapore. A questionnaire was used for data collection and 254 children, aged between 6 to 12 years, participated in this study. It was found that reading was among the top five leisuretime activities of the surveyed children. Mostly mothers, followed by fathers, encouraged children to read books. The major reasons for leisure reading were to learn about new things, improve language skills, and to get better grades in tests and examinations. The majority of the children preferred reading print books and the most popular genres were adventure, mysteries, humour, and animal stories. This paper suggests that a multi-dimensional approach is required to promote leisure reading among young children.
ISSN:0034-0502
2642-8857