Importance Of Boys Underachievement In Reading And Writing

Underachievement in schools can be heavily linked to factors that are internalised within the school. Both internal and external factors can contribute to the underachievement of pupils who belong to a working class background, and they may be equally as effectual on the underachievement of the pupil.

Learning to read and write as a child is an experience that all can relate to. The average child learns to read and write at the early ages of three and four. Developing literacy at an early age is crucial to academic development as well as to performance in life. Early development can be just what a child needs to stimulate their minds, which in turn is assisting in the evolution of their future. The early and latter stages of development in a child’s literacy journey are the makings for their reading and writing skills. It also plays part in their analysis of obstacles as well as their developed or problematic literacy future. A child

Typically, in a household where both parents enjoy reading, one would assume the children would also enjoy reading. This is not the case with my brothers. For example, while Salvador is always seen behind a book, it is a miracle to see Sebastian picking up a book to look at. Likewise, Salvador insists reading is his way to block out the world, whereas Sebastian claims he can never get into a good book. Ultimately, Salvador’s room has a shelf dedicated to the books the loves to read, but in Sebastian’s room there is one or two books laying on the

The author begins his article by giving several paragraphs of broad background into his life as a child at home and in school; He first starts off describing where he picked up his love for reading which is from his

Reading lists that were given to the speaker’s sons in school were unrealistic in reading level and modern day relevancy

Gender differences in achievement can be explained best by changes that have occurred in factors outside of school, known as external factors. A DfES (2007) bar chart showed that throughout the years (1985 – 2007), there has been a higher percentage of females that achieved five or more A*-C grades at GCSE. The percentage has been constantly increasing at a faster rate than the male percentage. This proves that changes in wider society have affected both genders differently, but girl’s achievement has benefited from this more.

After thoroughly reading the first factor, ‘Changes at School,’ I completely agree with the author Leonard Sax for the reasons boys are showing a lack of motivation in school. An example he states which I was able to connect with is the lack of real-world experiences in our curriculums. I completely agree with this point and can relate as I know all about the mechanics of a telescope and how it works, however, if I were given a one I would have difficulties using it. Moreover, I do believe that boys are in trouble as women continue to create greater gender gap. This is evident in the statistics as 64.8 percentages of women between the ages of 24 and 35 have post-secondary degrees and this number has consistently increased over the years. Whereas, 63.4 percent

The evidence in Husband’s study provided is supportive because it points out how gender differences affect the achievement of reading based on the standards, expectations, reading selections, disciplinary actions and learning styles that emphasize resistance towards African American males (Husband 2-3). The author inserted maps within the article displaying the neurological differences (Husband 5) boys have with more testosterone on the brain and are less likely to sit still in a class. “Husband proclaims boys have to be taught to participate in reading verses most girls naturally do not. boys tend to be drawn toward reading newspapers, how-to manuals, and other short informational texts more often than girls” (Husband 4).Boys perhaps would be better off learning through story telling based on the feeling of disempowering in reading circles (Husband 5). This investigation presented the classroom text included is not male preference and because it doesn’t reflect their culture or life experiences males withdraw. Husband’s

Derry Koralek and Ray Collins (2013), English language researchers stated that: “Play is the work of children – through play and interaction; children learn how to talk, listen, read, and write. Read about typical behaviors of emergent and beginning readers, and how each of these behaviors relate to reading and writing”. According to them, as their language skills grow, young children tell stories, identify printed words such as their names, write their names on paintings and creations, and incorporate writing in their make-believe play. Reading and writing skills develop together. Children learn about writing by seeing how the print in their homes, classrooms, and communities provides information. They watch and learn as

Another idea I gathered from this article was we shouldn’t be so concerned that boys aren’t doing as well as boys because who are we to judge yes their test scores aren’t as good but that’s no reason to judge. Especially when some males are very intelligent and make more money than women do. I think we are all equal and everyone has the potential to be just as smart as the next one. I don’t think it’s right to say that boys aren’t where they should be I think people just want to have something to make people worry about. The authors conclusions are clearly presented because she tells was we can fix school boys being in a crisis. So that clearly shows that she believes they are in fact in a

Through this week learning resources, I have learned that there are evidences that demonstrate that when a child has limited experiences he or she is more likely to have difficult comprehending what is read. It is why early childhood professionals affirm that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Everything that children learn about speaking and listening they use for writing and reading and what they learn from writing and reading they use in listening and speaking. In other words, oral language and literacy develop simultaneously. When parents provide rich language and literacy reinforcement at home, children do better in school than those who do not. It is also known for early childhood professionals that for a child with limited experiences is more difficult comprehending what is read. For example, a child who has being exposed to many environments like a farm or like a museum will have more mentally engagement in classrooms activities about things he or she already know that children who have not had experience in those environments. Many researches showed that children that have not have a literacy development or an oral language development years before formal schooling, are less likely to be successful beginning readers, opening an achievement lag that might last through the primary grades. Some of the reasons why parents are not actively involved into their children’s educations are their socioeconomic or legal status. For example, in an immigrant family sometimes both parents have to work and sometimes they have to work two shifts. I have known families where children are the whole day in school and with nannies. Those children do not develop any skills that help them to succeed at the time of attending forming school.

However social class is not the only factor influencing educational achievement; Girls achieve higher grades than boys in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and GCSE’s (Mitsos and Browne, 1998), in 2010 to 2011 54.3 per cent of black pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE compared to 58 per cent of white pupils and 61.8 per cent of Asian pupils (Attew, 2012). Therefore educational achievement is also affected by gender and ethnicity.

Families are often encouraged to provide a variety of reading material for their children, especially at an early age, to give children plenty of options when learning how to read. When children are provided with a variety of reading material at home, they see that a high value is placed on reading. If parents value reading at home, children tend to value it also, and the more a child is encouraged to read at home, the more they will want to engage in reading in general. By being involved in their child’s reading development, parents can give their children a firm foundation to reading prior to entering grade school which will lead to a lifetime of reading enjoyment and

Reading is a skill often taken for granted but it is essential in order to progress in life. For a child being able to read well helps them learn new things, give ideas and enables use of imagination. National literacy trust (2015) suggests that children’s early language skills can have a major impact on a child’s development of literacy skills. Five-year olds with poor language and literacy have a higher risk of underachieving at age seven and beyond. Reading skills encourage more opportunities in life and it can affect a child’s wellbeing if they do not achieve this effectively (Finnegan,2015).

Reading – the ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has existed for approximately 4000 to 5000 years and is inarguably one of the most fundamental and wonderful technique humans have ever developed. However, despite much effort and funding dedicating to wide literacy development, even now in America for instance, 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level (National Center for Learning Disabilities). In order for the entire population of today’s society to have proper reading skills, scholars and educators around the world realize that literacy movements need to focus on much earlier stages of human development. Researchers in the education field have reached a consensus that reading is crucial in childhood by revealing supporting evidence from studies focused on children aged 0-6 years, 6-12, and young adolescents. Many interesting findings also include that reading proficiency of children is critical because it can reflect society’s criminal and economical status. Moreover, modern studies show that the importance of childhood reading cannot be fully explained without mentioning the environment where children are raised, as the environment greatly affects children’s reading proficiency.