Nonfiction and adolescent reading interests

Abstract

Already popular with the general reading public, nonfiction can have a viable place in the English curriculum. However, in order to increase teacher as well as student enthusiasm for exploring this genre, nonfiction selections chosen for study in the English class must take into consideration student reading interests. Unfortunately research offers little guidance in delineating adolescent preferences in relation to nonfiction, although a considerable number of studies assess adolescent responses to fiction. Subsequently, whether the nonfiction chosen for study in the English program is compatible with adolescent reading interests is a question generally unanswered.

In an attempt to provide a basis for answering the question concerning how the nonfiction reading required of adolescents compares with their reading preferences, this study suggests a criteria checklist for assessing the content components of nonfiction selections. Derived primarily from reading interest research related to fiction, categories on the checklist are limited to those logically applicable to the content characteristics of nonfiction. Further, based on the assumption that most of the nonfiction read by adolescents in the English class is anthologized, this study analyzes the content components of twelve leading anthologies recommended for the eighth grade in terms of their correspondence to the suggested criteria. Since research indicates that reading interests of students typically span two grades in either direction, the choice of the eighth grade as the focal point of this study allows generation of implications relevant to the total junior high school experience.

Results contingent upon the assessment of the one hundred seven nonfiction selections in terms of reading interests are displayed in content analysis tables. Findings indicate that twenty of the thirty-two criteria upon which each selection was evaluated show compatibility with less than one-half of the nonfiction excerpts examined. Other data reveal little variety in the type of nonfiction sub-genres anthologized, with autobiography appearing most frequently, and in the sources--book, magazine, newspaper--from which the selections are extrapolated, with the book represented most often.

A number of implications are engendered by this study. Primarily the implications concern reading interest research related to nonfiction, criteria for assessing nonfiction in terms of reading preferences, reading interests of junior high school pupils, types of nonfiction recommended for junior high school students and the place of nonfiction in the English curriculum.