News

Boys are choosing books that are too easy for them

English
Boys of all ages read less thoroughly than girls, two extensive new studies of children’s reading have found.

The reports discovered that boys aged five to 18 often skip parts of the books they are reading and choose reading material that is too easy for them.

The research was carried out by Keith Topping, professor of educational and social research at the University of Dundee. One study used data from 852,295 pupils in 3,243 schools while another examined the results of reading comprehension tests done by 150,220 students in 967 schools.

The studies, undertaken on behalf of education technology provider Renaissance, found that book genre has little bearing on children’s reading behaviour. Although boys are more likely to choose non-fiction titles, they still do not read these as thoroughly as girls.

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