Boys and Literacy
In order to become participatory citizens who can contribute to society, boys must develop literacy skills. Low levels of literacy contribute to increased chances of incarceration, compromised health, and often a sense of lifelong inadequacies.
How well do our boys fare with these vital skills?
The 2007 Canadian Council on Learning report,
State of Learning in Canada: No Time for Complacency, states that “The difference in the reading levels was more significant, with girls scoring an average of 32 points higher than boys,” and that “males have a higher rate of language and learning difficulties.”
Evidence in developed countries highlights an alarming trend
of boys’underachievement in literacy skills, especially in
reading and writing:
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• Boys take longer to learn to read than girls do
and typically score lower than girls
on standardized tests in the language arts.
• Significantly more boys than girls declare
themselves to be non-readers.
• Dropout rates are higher for boys than for
girls - 2 out of 3 dropouts are likely to be male. |
Of course, we should, as always, be wary of over-generalizing about the complex relationship between gender and literacy development. Academics point to the need for research about which subgroups of boys might be struggling with literacy.
Culture influences the ways in which boys perceive literacy. Often, there are few desirable gender role models for boys to emulate. For generations boys have been urged toward independence, toughness, and competitiveness; cultural messages today may equate being disrespectful with being cool.
Often these culturally coded behaviours interfere with boys’ literacy success. They can also distort our perceptions of boys' abilities and willingness to develop literacy skills. Finally, since we tend to see only what we expect to see, traditional definitions and measurements of literacy may fail to register boys’ real literacy achievements in the twenty-first century. |
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May the following brief excerpts from
Boy Smarts – Mentoring Boys for Success at School offer practical insight into helping your boy develop literacy skills (© 2005, Barry MacDonald).
The Achievement Gap is Driven Primarily by
Performance Differences in Literacy.
The achievement level of boys is lagging considerably behind that of girls in North America and elsewhere. Stats Canada, October 2004, reported that the gap in achievement between boys and girls is widening. Between the years 1993 and 2002 the male undergraduate enrolment dropped from 47% to 42%. Another study of British children,
Girls Rock, Boys Roll: An Analysis of the Age 14-16 Gender Gap in English Schools, which investigated data from over half a million students in over 3000 schools, echoed international concerns about the gender gap in educational attainment. This extensive study found that the achievement gap is driven primarily by performance differences in literacy.
Reach out to Reluctance
Significant numbers of boys experience difficulties with literacy at an early age.
The Early Development Instrument tells us that 20% of four and five year-olds do not have the language background for kindergarten success. Without intervention this problem becomes more pronounced as they proceed through schooling and along a path of more and more dismal results.
The John Howard Society of Canada reported that 68% of the people incarcerated in federal penitentiaries have limited literacy skills. Furthermore, 60% of Canadian social assistance recipients have not completed secondary school. Studies proclaim that poor early reading achievement leads to higher dropout rates, lower rates of advanced education, and ultimately, longer periods of unemployment and reduced earnings. I have noticed that if a boy becomes turned off school before Grade 4, this early disenchantment may set a pattern for his remaining school career. It can be tough to teach boys science, math, or social studies in the later years when they have a hard time reading the textbook.
Literacy is a Social Affair!
Social and family interaction requires the decoding of verbal and emotional cues and supports literacy development. Thus, even if they are a bit noisy and rambunctious, boys should be encouraged to play a role in family gatherings. They should not be shuttled off somewhere to play on the floor or outside, while their sisters are serving food, and interacting with family and friends, all the while honing their communication and interpersonal skills. Boys start school with a considerable verbal and psychosocial developmental lag (up to 18 months), behind girls. They often do not catch up until into their late teens—if then. Realize that dialogue and social interaction supports the development of literacy.
Deep Structures of Language
Recognize that boys, especially if they are reluctant readers, may enjoy listening to someone else read a book that they may not choose to read themselves. Reading a book is not the same as being read to. Some books a boy will enjoy reading by himself, while there are others he may enjoy when adults read to him. When someone else reads, the difficulty level and length does not deter a reluctant reader as long as it’s a great story that engages their imagination.
Young readers benefit through hearing new words and sophisticated sentence structures because they infer the meaning of words from context and the adult reader’s interpretation and inflections smooth the way for understanding. I also theorize that hearing complex sentences helps children internalize the deep structures of language, its rhythms, and cadences. Teachers and parents who can’t recall a time when reading was anything other than pleasurable especially need to understand this difference.
Promote Positive Reading Experiences
Many parents struggle with encouraging their sons to read. Deeply ingrained in our experience of schooling is the notion that reading a novel provides educational sustenance. But is it really that straightforward - especially in our rapidly changing, technologically complex and highly visual society?
It is often typical for boys to resist certain forms of literacy. Responsive education understands some boys lack of enthusiasm and promotes positive reading experiences through literacies they can enjoy.
Indeed, a love of reading has even been shown to be more important for children’s academic success than their family’s economic background. According to research carried out by the
Organization for Economic Co–operation and Development, school success is more determined by the extent children read for pleasure in their spare time than their degree of affluence; especially reading forms of literacy they enjoy - comics, magazines, websites, newspapers, games, etc. Encouraging all boys to read for pleasure is essential.
Get Boys Hooked on Books through Humour
Grown-ups may not always appreciate boys’ uproarious laughter at certain vulgarities related to body functions. Sometimes women are particularly dismayed at the gales of laughter caused by indelicacies that contravene socially acceptable norms that invite connection and closeness among females. Making farting sounds with the underarm or even the real thing can bring gales of laughter to boys that even the media can’t compete with. And a boy’s affection for certain genres of literacy is no different.
Some adults may recoil from books with titles such as
The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopie Pants,
The Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, and
Walter the Farting Dog, or magazines such as
MAD.
Captain Underpants, for another example, has endured as one of the biggest boons to child comedy since boys first learned that well-placed hand to the armpit trick. Sometimes boys can broaden their tastes in literacy through humour, moving from
Captain Underpants to higher quality humorous books by Roald Dahl, or the Australian writer Paul Jennings. I have found that with children and adults alike, humour during the introductory phases of learning, creates engagement, and sustains motivation.
Literacy and Spontaneous Laughter
Schools who prize quiet learners may have to alter their views if they are to tap into the power of humour in boys’ literacy. Besides, boys often fidget or fight during quiet learning time. When classroom literacy permits a social tone, boys loosen up and motivation increases.
Discover what a boy finds hilarious and capture its power to develop a love of literacy. Laughter and the ensuing social interactions, when channeled, provide valuable frontloading oral literacy preparing boys for reading and especially writing about their experiences. Reading is a social act. We all love to talk about what we read, whether
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| we are sharing our thoughts on the latest novel with a friend, reacting to an outrageous editorial with a colleague, or exploring a picture book with a child. Kids are no different – when they have opportunities to think and talk about their reading, they explode with thoughts, questions, and ideas. And sometimes with spontaneous laughter. |
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Multiple Literacies
The truth is that many boys read widely, just not the books they are sometimes asked to read. Because most lukewarm readers prefer nonfiction it is vitally important that we expand our notion of traditional literacy to include multiple literacies; visual and technological literacy, for example, as well as literacy with forms from the performing arts such as storytelling, music, and video.
In fact,
The United Nations recently declared, “…that a renewed and expanded vision of literacy is essential for success…that it embraces a wide range of dimensions of personal and social life and development – and that is a lifelong learning process.”
We can attract boys to reading for pleasure by tapping into their interests and by drawing on a diverse range of texts – for example, technological and media literacies such as text–messaging, decoding of online gaming rules and music lyrics, reading of cartoons, writing of graffiti, blogging, YouTube, drawing and even doodling.
Electronic Literacies Rule with Boys
Literacy has evolved from traditional print-based reading and writing to multiple literacies. Today varied electronic forms of communication rule with most boys – blogs, video editors, email, spreadsheets, presentation software, video podcasts, instant text messaging, listservs, electronic bulletin boards, avatars, and virtual gaming worlds. It’s not just that our future depends on it; youth of today are simply unstoppable with it.
With shocking headlines about internet addiction – especially internet pornography – worried parents and educators are asking whether these forms of literacy are doing more harm than good.
Embrace Technology
For most boys however, computer use and video game play is integrated into their lives in a balanced healthy manner. For others, time spent on the computer or video game is out of balance, and has displaced school, friends, and even family.
Clearly, when there are no household restrictions to the use of the Internet or electronic games your boy may be at risk of developing problem usage. Rather then blame electronic games and their multiple literacy counterparts, many parents and teachers report success when they embrace technology.
Let’s face it, technology offers boys unique and abundant ways of reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and representing communication that are complex and multidimensional. Besides being fun for boys, many of these games facilitate strategizing as well as analytic skills.
Video Games Teach Complex Problem-Solving
Boys
learn complex problem-solving skills, perseverance, pattern recognition, hypothesis testing, estimating skills, inductive skills, resource management, logistics, mapping, memory, quick thinking, as well as reasoned judgments.
In the gaming world boys are engaged in vivid three-dimensional worlds filled with moving images and musical soundscapes, demanding all encompassing attention and complex muscular movements. They are challenged to read reflect, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and communicate in a variety of textual environments.
Boys also tell me that they appreciate being able to reboot a game when the going gets tough and negativity sets in. Sometimes a fresh start is the best way to sustain motivation. |
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Engage in Your Son’s Electronic World
Video games and electronic media are also one of the few settings in which boys can be the teachers when adults take the time to participate.
Engaging in your son’s electronic world means taking the awkward steps to appreciate it rather than criticize it. Indeed, your son will likely be more cooperative when you speak from personal experience and take the time to understand his attraction to technology. Mostly, you will become informed and confident to discuss reasonable limits.
Despite the many benefits of this new and exciting world of literacy boys still need lots of physical activity and time away from the computer – to play outside and pursue more physical adventures.
Ten Literacy Guidelines for Boys
Boy Smarts – Mentoring Boys for Success at School offers parents and teachers 100 guidelines, 10 of which focus on practical suggestions to turn boys onto literacy:
Guideline 51 - Teach Multiple Literacies
Guideline 52 - Reach Out to Reluctance
Guideline 53 - Avoid Misreading Violence
Guideline 54 - Bring the Outside In
Guideline 55 - Get Boys Hooked on Books through Humour
Guideline 56 - Offer Show Time
Guideline 57 - Employ Writing Templates
Guideline 58 - Write Less to Get More
Guideline 59 - Value Quiet and Social Reading
Guideline 60 - Become Literate about Adversity
Brief excerpts from
Boy Smarts – Mentoring Boys for Success at School
Copyright 2005, Barry MacDonald
