Turn Off The Phone And Read
My first venture into helping tertiary students read better was a 2011–2013 cross-university government-funded project that set out to foster what we termed “reading resilience.” We found if students were persuaded to prioritize reading as they did a test or an essay, they would invest the time to get into the zone that is the other world of the text.
We complemented complex texts with a guide that encouraged students to think critically as they read and to keep going when the language seemed impenetrable, the narrative incomprehensible (or dull) and the length endless. Or when the siren call of the smartphone became irresistible.
They experimented with switching off their devices for blocks of two hours while they simply read. And they did read.
Students prioritized this difficult work because we rewarded pre-class reading with marks. Some classes uploaded one-page, carefully argued responses; others answered complex feedback-rich quizzes.
I surveyed a large first-year introduction to literary studies at the University of Queensland in 2013 before testing a version of the same “reading resilience” course in 2014. The rise in reading rates was exponential.
The number of students who completed all 10 primary texts (including the poem “Beowulf” and Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”) more than tripled, and the number who completed the 10 accompanying secondary texts (selected chapters from an introduction to literary theory and criticism) went up by more than six times.
Reported student satisfaction for this course from 2008 to 2012 had ranged between 64% and 75%. Once reading resilience was introduced, many complained about the reading load yet the level of overall satisfaction jumped to 86%.
We Can All Do It
It’s not just readers raised in a digital-age who have difficulty with long-form text. Have you have lost the skill of deep reading? Are you finding it increasingly difficult to stay with, say, a literary novel? You are not alone.
Wolf, who despite having two degrees in literature, confesses to the shocking discovery that recently she found herself struggling to stick with a beloved Herman Hesse novel.
We too can switch off our devices and set aside a space and time to revitalize the neural pathways that once made us immersive readers.
As Wolf argues, the skills of “deep reading” that involve “slower, more time-consuming cognitive processes […] are vital for contemplative life.” Deep readers are likely to be more thoughtful members of the community at a time when good citizenship may never have been more important.
This article from Judith Seaboyer of The University of Queensland was originally published at The Conversation.
More From Brain World
- Education for the Real World: 6 Great Ideas for Parents and Teachers
- How Your Brain Detects the Rhythms of Speech Into Syl-la-bles
- Helping Children’s Literacy Is Possible Anywhere
- I Can’t Decide! Why An Increase in Choices Decreases Our Happiness
- The Magic of Human Language
- Summer Study: Tips for Parents and Educators
