Dear Samira,

Thanks for your question. These resources may interest you.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/jun/03/how-to-encourage-students-read-for-pleasure-teacher-top-tips

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/cultivating-love-reading-students-elena-aguilar

http://childhood101.com/2010/11/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-love-reading/

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/learning-read-and-write-what-research-reveals

Dear Samira,

Thanks for your question. These resources may interest you.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/jun/03/how-to-encourage-students-read-for-pleasure-teacher-top-tips

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/cultivating-love-reading-students-elena-aguilar

http://childhood101.com/2010/11/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-love-reading/

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/learning-read-and-write-what-research-reveals

Apart from teaching a love of reading, I think schools inadvertantly do the opposite. By choosing inappropriate uniteresting texts, by comparing and assessing reading, by treating reading as a chore, we degrade what love of reading a child may have. Avoid all of these (and maybe more) if we want to increase a love of reading. 

Hi Samira,

Both Stephen and Mark have provided good information to you. I think Mark is correct in his mentioning what some schools do to kill the love of learning. I would add to their comments by emphasizing that we should remember that reading and its value are social activities....(even with mature readers who are engaging in social interaction with the author) but this is especially true in young readers.  The process of reading is and should be presented as a social opportunity for the children to have some time to interact with significant others in their lives (mother, fathers, siblings, valued adults) and that they can do it with books.  This is a very powerful lesson for the children.  For this to happen, the people reading to the children should concentrate on the story and the joy of reading and not in focusing on accuracy of the material or trying to teach the young child explicitly to read (except by modeling and "apprenticeship" in implicit ways)...the social act and the joy of a good story is paramount.  Additionally, the child should have lots of experiences seeing their valued adults read themselves.  I think this is especially important to boys seeing their fathers or male models read....they learn a valuable lesson about the value of reading that way.

Get your child a rich picture to tell a story about, record the story, transcribe it with illustrations from parts of the picture, fix bad grammar, and print the booklet for your child, with the child's name on the cover as author, and laminate it!

The child will easily recognise the words, because they originally came out of the child's own mouth. 

Hello Samira,

To motivate young children to read and appreciate the value of reading can be also achieved by considering those fours approaches (And they are many more): 

1. To read about/based on child's interest - To observe and ask children about their interests, hobbies and choose a text based on that;

2. To use diverse resources for reading, e.g. books, tablets, read a presented text by the projector, read from the grocery pack, boxes;  

3. Play-based learning/reading - To use a drama play, e.g. to read the instructions and present that (I am a dancing flower);

4.  Internsubject approach - Children can read what they painted, drew (Art class), read instruction during a math class or physical education. 

 Best wishes, Monika

Dear Samira, I agree with all the suggestions above. From SDT point of view. You could try to find out how you can fulfill their basic needs. E.g. offer them choices in the subjects for reading, give the emotional support as a role model and give them optimal challenges in reading.

There is a lot of literature about research in motivation for children grounded in the Selfdetermonation Theory from Ryan and Deci.

Kind regards, 

Sharon

Reading interest depends on several factors, starting with oral language development in the home from birth and onwards, whether home and /or school provide literacy rich environments, whether a student is aware of his own identity as a reader, and whether a student has reading difficulties. As an example of the latter, lack of reading interest may be a red flag. If that is the case, reluctancy to reading would actually meain avoiding reading due to the big effort that is implied. In this sense, reading tests such as running records or DRA2 (Developmental Reading Assessment) will give you more insights into a student's reading profile. Regarding the other areas, I would recommend you find out about the student's literacy environment at home and also closely observe how literacy rich the school environment is. For more information you may go to http://www.readingrockets.org/search?cx=004997827699593338140%3Anptllrzhp78&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&as_q=literacy+environment+checklists.  If both environments are rich, then try and find out about the student's identity and help them find books related to it as we human beings read what we are. For more information on reading interest and identity, I hope you can read this book by Douglas R. Buehl http://www.literacyworldwide.org/get-resources/books/845, which is supposed to be mainly about literacy and content areas but it is actually an authoritative resource on motivating students of all ages to read. You will find the first chapter on reading and identity especially useful.  I hope this helps.

How can we motivate young children to read and appreciate the value of reading?

Agreed with the methods proposed / referred by other scholars.  From my personal experience, I find the following methods might be useful:

Hi Samira,  As an educator I am obviously of the belief that we should encourage students to read. However, I believe we should also respect that, for some students, although they are highly capable of reading, it is not something that they are highly interested in. They may have other equally valuable interests. For these students it can sometimes be counter-productive to insist that they read. A number of students I have taught fall into the latter category - teachers often reported that they did not want to read - one of them has recently graduated as a very successful teacher- who now reads regularly for pleasure and also as part of his professional practice. 

Thank you very much 

• Stephen Cheung
• Mark E Gould
• Jack S Damico
• Ian Kennedy
• Monika Krajcovicova
• Sharon Tjin A Tsoi
• Harshadray N Sanghrajka
• Sandra P Herrera
• Han Ping Fung
• Paweł Jankowski
• Kevin Larkin

I highly appreciate your contributions. You've come up with many interesting points.

Motivation most often comes from within, we need to know our students and try to find ways to make 'retaking' valuable. Something like leading a house to water and making them drink. We have to find the salt!

Dear Dr. Samira Al Hosni , it is an interesting issue.

It has to begin with from parents.

Here followed are some of the suggestions that can help to motivate young children to read and appreciate the value of reading.

Be an example. Read.

Let your children grow up seeing the joy and pleasure you get from reading.

Half of the big wall in our family room is a huge book-shelf, containing hundreds of my books. I have much more boxed in the garage, waiting for the day when I will make my dream of a little house library come true.

My children see me reading and hear me commenting on books with my friends. They are growing up with perception that reading is something that brings happiness and value to life.

Read to them

Make reading a special and treasured bed-time ritual. Put them in your lap or lie in bed with them, and let the warmth and magic of that moment take you both to wonderful worlds books open to you. Make moments like this parts of your days too.

When they are very little, and have just learned to sit and coo, or know only few words, hold simple little books in your hands and invent stories that are appropriate for your kids. Maybe it is a complex story about a bear who goes on adventures. Take this book, and as you look at the pictures, invent a story more appropriate for your little one. Perhaps the bear fell and had a boo-boo on his knee (like your baby did that day), and a little rabbit came and helped him.

As they grow, you can choose books according to their developmental stage and really read the texts. As you read, allow your child to be a part of the process, let her ask questions and imagine possible outcomes. After you complete the story, let it spill out of the book. Talk to your child. Wonder. Imagine.

My little girl loves to talk about the stories we read. For you as a parent, these moments are opportunities to teach your child something, and encourage her to use logic and reason or, on the other hand, make her imagination run wild with magic and wonder.

Reading should not be a task, but reward

Don’t make reading a requirement, but something wonderful that they enjoy and wish for. My children always beg for Just one more story, mom! every night before they go to sleep. And as many I read, they will wish for one more.

Don’t send your child into his room to read and be quiet, as some type of time-out. Rather make reading a reward. When you guys finish your meal and eat the salad, we will read some wonderful stories. Go on, hurry up, I can’t wait to see what Maja did when she was scared of ghosts!

Buy books for your children

Surround them with books, give them books as beautifully wrapped presents. Take them book-shopping, and let them wonder through the bookstore, looking through different books, finally choosing one (two, three) for themselves.

As time went on, I had to empty four shelves on my book-shelf, for their little books. Shelves are now full of their books (picture-books, story books, novels…), and they go to these shelves often to pick books to read, or bring to one of the grown ups to read to them. Other than this, each of my children has a little shelf in their rooms, where they keep their favorite books.

Take your children to the library

As I was growing up, I thought of the library as a magical place. I loved everything about it, the smell, the huge book-shelves filled with different books, the part for us children and that magical grown-up books part of the library.

I take my children to this same library, and they adore it. They can roam through books, as long as they wish. We have a rule that each one of them can pick a few books that I will read to them there. Then they have some time to look through and choose books that they want to take home.

Teach your children about books

Speak about the authors and how books come to be.

I always read to my children the name of the author, as well as the illustrator of the book. When I know a story about a certain author, I tell it to my children. I invite them to try create their own little stories using their imagination, and we make this into fun games.

Lately my daughter and I play a three words game. I give her three random words, and she creates a story out of them. Then she gives me three words, and I do the same.

One night I gave her the words:

Star

Cave

Stone

And she said:

There was a cave that was empty and sad. There was a star that was different from all the other stars in the sky, and so they teased her. There was a little stone who fell in love with that star, and looked at her each night, wishing they could play together.

The little star looked at the cave and wished she could come down and make it beautiful and fill her with her light. One night she wanted to come down so much that she started flying and fell down on the earth. She went into the cave, and gave her beautiful light. The little stone came into the cave and played with the star. The three of them became friends and weren’t lonely ever again.

The story warmed my heart. She invented this story as a five year old, and I found it so imaginative, warm and beautiful.

Give your children a base, not that of force or obligation, but of love and joy, teaching them, mostly by example, about the value of reading. Surround them with books, and soon you will see your children reach for the books on their own.

Many times I find them “reading” their books in silence. My heart fills with pride and happiness.

I agree totally with Prof Beemnet Kassahun. He has said it all.

i agree with all the RG members, child should be treated with love then only it is easy to mould them

The first way children are attracted to things is through their parents. When children see a very good reading habit in their parents they will do the same. LET THE PARENTS READ ALWAYS AND THE CHILDREN WILL CULTIVATE THE HABIT TOO.