Research and reports

Literacy Changes Lives - An Advocacy Resource (PDF)
Dugdale, G, and Clark, C, National Literacy Trust, September 2008
This research presents overwhelming evidence that literacy has a significant relationship with a person’s happiness and success. It draws on a number of sources that make use of longitudinal studies that have tracked their subjects from birth, such as the British cohort study, which began in 1970.

Teaching and Learning Argumentative Non-fiction Writing for 7-14 Year Olds
Andrews, R, Torgerson, C, Low, G, McGuinn, N, and Robinson, A, EPPI-Centre Social Sciences Research Unit, London, 2006
This study carried out a review of research about teaching non-fiction writing. It found that a number of factors create a climate for successful practice and also identified successful strategies specific to argumentative writing.

The reviewer’s findings and examples of good practice should offer helpful insights to those teachers wanting to improve their pupils’ writing skills.

Interesting Choice: the (relative) importance of choice and interest in reader engagement
Clark, C, and Phythian–Sence, C, 2008
This paper looks at the impact of choice, interest and self-awareness on reading behaviour. In addition to outlining the research evidence it also suggests strategies for making meaningful choices and engaging interest in reading.

Young people’s self-perceptions as readers - An investigation including family, peer and school influences
Clark, C, Osborne, S, and Akerman,R, January 2008
This study carried out on behalf of the National Literacy Trust highlights the importance of young people’s perceptions of what it means to be a reader and how this appears to shape their reading habits.

This study of over 1600 young people explored key questions such as the extent to which young people see themselves as readers, what characteristics they typically assign to readers, what materials a reader enjoys and the extent to which these perceptions are shaped by their family, friends and school.

Amongst the conclusions drawn it suggests that policy makers and practitioners may wish to consider whether non-book reading materials are sufficiently valued as having a contribution to make to educational development and attainment.

Children researching links between poverty and literacy
Joseph Rowntree Foundation, September 2007 - Ref 2140
This study explores what can be learnt about education and poverty from children's own perspective when they are empowered as active researchers. It focuses on reading and writing proficiency as a potential route out of poverty and studies two schools in contrasting socio-economic areas. 

Attitudes to reading at ages 9 and 11
National Foundation for Educational Research, 2008
This survey of 4477 primary school pupils in 2007 investigated their attitudes to reading, in terms of both enjoyment and confidence. The report explains the background to the survey and sets out the findings in detail.

Literature circles, gender and reading for enjoyment
Allan, J, Ellis, S, and Pearson, C, University of Strathclyde, SEED Sponsored Research, 2005 
This research sought to trial and describe teachers' and children's experiences of setting up literature circles and working with them in Scottish schools. The research also investigates whether literature circles impact on attainment and attitudes across the P4-S1 stages. It is hoped that the paper will generate practical advice and techniques that will help teachers to introduce literacy circles in their classroom.

Children’s and young people’s reading habits and preferences: The who, what, why, where and when
National Literacy Trust, 2005
This extensive report is the result of an extensive survey of children's reading habits. Sections of interest include: a breakdown in reading by genre, free school meals and age.

Good school libraries: making a difference to learning
Ofsted, March 2006
This report identifies those factors which help to produce good libraries in primary and secondary schools. It emphasises the importance of:

• the commitment and support of headteachers
• the appointment of specialist library staff
• effective monitoring and evaluation
• coherent programmes for developing pupils’ information literacy.

The report draws on inspection data collected from visits to 32 schools between September 2004 and July 2005. It includes case studies from some of the schools.

Reading Online 
An online journal of practice and research, published by the International Reading Association: a range of articles covering international perspectives on practice and research, discussion of new literacies, book reviews and ideas about working in the electronic classroom.

Raising the standard of boys' achievement in literacy 
Simmons, J, Highland Council, SCRE Spotlight 81
Increasing concerns have been expressed about the differences between the achievements of boys and girls, especially in terms of literacy. This account of an action research project by Julie Simmons, a teacher-librarian in a Scottish secondary school, explores the reading habits of a sample of boys and girls in S1 and S2, and describes how the findings led to the establishment of an out-of-school support scheme.

Peer- and parent-assisted learning in reading, writing, spelling and thinking skills 
Topping, K, University of Dundee, SCRE Spotlight 82
The focus here is on learning by school-age children, assisted by the family and/or peers, and supported and managed by professional teachers. Keith Topping, who specialises in researching paired learning, provides an outline of the essential concepts of peer-assisted and parent-assisted learning, followed by discussion of some specific practical evidence of its use in reading, writing, spelling and thinking skills.

 Word file: Censorship Practices and Access to Information: Interviews with School and Children's Librarians
McNicol, S, 2005
A survey of school and children's librarians in the UK was carried out in 2004 to investigate attitudes towards freedom of information and its practical application. This survey raised a number of issues which it was felt should be the subject of greater research. To take this forward, it was decided to carry out in-depth interviews with 14 librarians, the majority of whom were based in school libraries. This document details this research and its implications for children's/school librarians.

Squeezing out the juice: perceptions of reading in the secondary school
Allan, J, and Bruton, A, SCRE Spotlight 61
This research was carried out with one first-year class in three secondary schools. The purpose was to help the authors, both actively engaged with teaching reading at this level, to prepare in-service materials.

Television and Early Language Development 
The National Literacy Trust held a conference on this theme on 15 March 2004 as part of its Talk to Your Baby campaign. The conference saw the launch of a review of published research evidence on the impact of television viewing on children's early language development. The full review and an executive summary are available online.

PDF file: HMIE report - Improving achievement in English language in primary and secondary schools
This is the first in a new series of reports from HMIE designed to promote improvement in Scottish education. The focus of this report is on improving pupils' overall achievement in English language. 

AAP Report of the Sixth Survey of English Language
This is the full report of the sixth national survey of English language, designed to assess the English language skills of pupils from all mainstream schools in Scotland. It was carried out as part of the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP).

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