Evaluating Extra Curricular Reading Groups

APPROACHES TO IMPROVING READING PLEASURE AND READING COMPREHENSION IN YEAR 7 CHATTER BOOKS

Five hundred and eighty two Year 7 children were recruited and completed assessments of reading, spelling and attitudes to reading at the beginning and end of Summer Term 2013.  Between these assessment points, the children completed 10 weeks of intervention in the form of small (N=12) reading groups who engage in a range of book-related ‘fun’ activities and talk aimed as increasing interest in and engagement with books.  One of these groups will experience a more structured approach than the other, based around a series of prompts and activities which aim to enhance comprehension-related skills.  These two groups will be compared to a ‘business-as-usual’ control group who will receive the reading group activities early in Year 8, once a delayed post test has been completed. Delayed post tests will be administered at the beginning of Year 8, to determine whether participation in the reading groups can ‘inoculate’ children against the normal losses in literacy performance observed over the summer holidays.