The Problems of Forming the Reader Culture of Modern Schoolchildren

About the authors:

Maria V. Batyreva, Cand. Sci. (Soc.), Associate Professor, Department of General and Economic Sociology, University of Tyumen; m.v.batyreva@utmn.ru; ORCID: 0000-0001-6588-5469

Anastasia I. Popova, Master Student, University of Tyumen; popova.a.i.94@yandex.ru

Abstract:

This article studies the issues of the formation of the reading culture of modern schoolchildren, which is urgent in the context of increasing influence of audiovisual information sources on the youth socialization and the decreasing role of the book in this process. The article analyzes the experience of students’ reading culture research and presents the results of the authors’ research, which includes a questionnaire survey of schoolchildren and a survey of experts — teachers and staff of the city’s libraries.

The analysis of the results of Russian research shows that the younger generation’s reading culture is formed today rather spontaneously, its state does not meet the requirements of the present. Besides that, the control actions aimed at forming the schoolchildren reading culture do not lead to the desired results: the reading quality of schoolchildren decreases, the internet and computer games displace the book from their leisure.

The research has revealed that the main problems in managing the formation of the reading culture of schoolchildren lie in the library’s loss of its place in the life of schoolchildren; the replacement of the sources of information search with non-literary information; the uncontrolled influence of the reader’s fashion on the reading of students; the unwillingness of the majority of students to take part in the events held in schools and libraries; a lack of interest.

This study allowed to determine the reading culture level of modern schoolchildren, show the main problems that arise in the process of its formation, and develop recommendation for the further improvement of the current set of measures implemented in schools and libraries, taking into account the characteristics of schoolchildren’s socialization, informatization processes, and adherence to the Internet, as well as the phenomenon of the reading prestige in the youth society.

References:

1. Askarova V. Ya. 2012. “Chtenie molodezhi: ot mody — k zhiznennoy strategii” [Youth Reading: from Fashion to Life Strategy]. In: Kuzmin E. I. (ed.). Podderzhka i razvitie chteniya: tendentsii i problemy (po itogam pyati let realizatsii Natsional’noy programmy podderzhki i razvitiya chteniya v Rossii), pp. 56-66. Moscow: Mezhregional’nyy tsentr bibliotechnogo sotrudnichestva. 
2. Galaktionova T. G. 2007. “Podderzhka chteniya — natsional’nyy prioritet v oblasti razvitiya kul’tury” [Support of Reading Is a National Priority in the Field of Cultural Development]. Universum: Vestnik Gertsenovskogo universiteta, no 6. Accessed 13 August 2018. http://galaktionova_6_07_57_61.pdf 
3. Golubeva N. L. 2011. “Institut semeynogo chteniya: istoricheskie predposylki i perspektivy razvitiya” [Institute of Family Reading: Historical Preconditions and Prospects for Development]. In: Shkol’naya biblioteka — territoriya detstva: sbornik materialov, pp. 48-61. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Russkoy shkol’noy bibliotechnoy assotsiatsii. 
4. Dubin B. V., Zorkaya N. A. 2008. Chtenie v Rossii — 2008. Tendentsii i problemy [Reading in Russia — 2008. Trends and Problems]. Moscow: Mezhregional’nyy tsentr bibliotechnogo sotrudnichestva, pp. 80. Accessed 12 August 2018. http://www.levada.ru/sites/default/files/chtenie_v_rossii–2008.pdf
5. Melentyeva Yu. P. 2009. “Nekotorye sovremennye tendentsii v chtenii molodykh rossiyan: po materialam novogo issledovaniya” [Some Modern Tendencies in Reading of Young Russians: Based on the Materials of a New Study]. Guide for managers of programs promoting reading. “Chtenie s lista, s ekrana i ‘na slukh’: opyt Rossii i drugikh stran”, pp. 218-238. Moscow: Rossiyskaya shkol’naya bibliotechnaya assotsiatsiya. 
6. Melentyeva Yu. P. 2013. Chtenie: yavlenie, protsess, deyatel’nost’: nauchnoe izdanie [Reading: The Phenomenon, the Process, the Activity]. Moscow: RAS, Nauka. 
7. Mukhametshina R. F., Aleksandrova E. V. 2017. “‘Ekrannoe chtenie’ kak odno iz napravleniy formirovaniya chitatel’skoy kul’tury shkol’nikov” [“Screen Reading” as One of the Directions in the Formation of the Readers’ Culture of Schoolchildren]. In: Chitatel’skaya kul’tura v sovremennom obshchestve: formirovaniya i sotsial’no-pedagogicheskaya podderzhka, pp. 111-115. Moscow: Sovpadenie.
8. Osnovnye rezul’taty mezhdunarodnogo issledovaniya PISA–2012 [The Main Results of the International Research PISA–2012]. Accessed 5 August 2018. http://www.rtc–edu.ru/sites/default/files/files/news/PISA%202012_results.pdf 
9. Osnovnye rezul’taty mezhdunarodnogo issledovaniya PISA–2015 [The Main Results of the International Research PISA-2012]. Accessed 5 August 2018. http://36edu.ru/DocLib3/Docs/PISA2015.pdf 
10. Otkidach E. V. 2001. “Razvitie chitatel’skoy kul’tury studentov v usloviyakh universitetskogo kompleksa” [The Development of Students’ Reading Culture in a University Complex]. Cand. Sci. (Ped.) diss., Velikiy Novgorod: Novgorodskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet im. Yaroslava Mudrogo. 
11. Plotnikov S. N. 1999. Chitatel’skaya kul’tura v Rossii [The Reading Culture in Russia]. Moscow: Homo legens. 
12. Ponomareva N. V. 1984. “Formirovanie chitatel’skoy kul’tury liderov chteniya yunoshestva” [Formation of the Reading Culture of Youth Reading Leaders]. Cand. Sci. (Ped.) diss. Leningrad: Leningradskiy gosudarstvennyy institut kul’tury imeni N. K. Krupskoy. Accessed 26 August 2018. http://www.dissland.com/catalog/formirovanie_chitatelskoy_kulturi_liderov_chteniya_yunoshestva.html
13. Samokhina M. M. 2008. Sotsiolog v biblioteke, ili bibliotekar’ kak sotsiolog: prakticheskoe posobie dlya tekh, kto khochet i lyubit issledovat’ [Sociologist in the Library, or Librarian as a Sociologist: A Practical Guide for Those Who Want and Enjoy Exploring]. Moscow: Rossiyskaya gosudarstvennaya yunosheskaya biblioteka. 
14. Samokhina M. A. 2011. “Chtenie molodezhi: XXI vek (po rezul’tatam issledovaniy 2001-2011 gg.)” [Reading of the Youth: 21st Century (According to the Results of the Research in 2001-2011)]. Accessed 7 August 2018. http://www.library.ru/1/sociolog/text/article.php?a_uid=338 
15. Samokhina M. M. 2012. “Nekotorye chitatel’skie i bibliotechnye kharakteristiki respondentov” [Some Readers’ and Library Characteristics of Respondents]. Sotsiolog i psikholog v biblioteke. RGBD, no 8, pp. 32-66.
16. Stefanovskaya N. A. 2014. “Chitatel’skaya auditoriya XXI veka: parametry stratifikatsii (opyt regional’nogo issledovaniya)” [The Readership of the 21st Century: Parameters of Stratification (Experience of Regional Research)]. In: Askarova V. Ya. Chtenie. XXI vek: kollektivnaya monografiya, pp. 95-108. Chelyabinsk: Izdatel’stvo Chelyabinskoy gosudarstvennoy akademii kul’tury i iskusstv. 
17. Chitat’ ili ne chitat’: rezul’taty vserossiyskogo oprosa VTsIOM-Sputnik, 2017 [To Read or Not to Read: the Results of the All–Russian Poll of VCIOM-Sputnik, 2017]. Accessed 10 August 2018. https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116580 
18. Chudinova V. P. 2014. Tendentsii i soderzhanie chteniya podrostkov: vozmozhnosti korrektsii [Trends and Content of Adolescent Reading: Correction Options]. In: Askarova V. Ya. Chtenie. XXI vek: kollektivnaya monografiya, pp. 108-124. Chelyabinsk: Izdatel’stvo Chelyabinskoy gosudarstvennoy akademii kul’tury i iskusstv. 
19. Chushkina S. E. 2015. “O podkhodakh k opredeleniyu ponyatiya ‘Chitatel’skaya kul’tura’” [On Approaches to the Definition of the Concept of “Reading Culture”]. Vestnik Bashkirskogo universiteta, vol. 20, no 2, pp. 600-604.