Students’ Perceptions of the Benefits of Literary Reading in School and Leisure Contexts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22048069 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeroen Dera (0000-0001-7990-1642, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 580 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-07 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci15050580 |
| OpenAlex | W4410160139 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 48 |
Literature education is often justified by its presumed cognitive, social, and developmental benefits. However, little research has explored how students themselves perceive the relevance of literary reading in both educational and leisurely settings. This study surveyed 1641 Dutch upper-secondary students (grades 10 to 12) across various academic tracks. A self-completion questionnaire was used to assess students’ justifications for mandatory literary reading and their evaluations of 20 benefits associated with reading literature. Most students supported the government mandate to read literature in school, primarily justifying it by functional benefits, such as improving language skills and general reading proficiency. Cultural, social, and psychological justifications (e.g., fostering empathy or enhancing political awareness) were deemed less persuasive. Significant group differences emerged, with girls, 12th-grade students, and frequent leisure readers finding the benefits of literary reading more compelling than boys, 10th-grade students, and non-readers. Teachers tended to underestimate the persuasiveness of certain justifications, particularly those related to concentration and complex interpretive skills. The study shows that students predominantly view literature education through a qualification-oriented lens, emphasizing its instrumental value. Hence, literature education could place greater emphasis on fostering ethical awareness and social understanding to counter students’ predominantly functional perceptions of literary reading. Moreover, this study confirms the divide students experience between school-based and leisure reading: even enthusiastic readers rarely attribute more personally oriented justifications, such as relaxation and escapism, to school-based literature reading
Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Perception · Reading motivation · Sociology · Child Development and Digital Technology · Literacy, Media, and Education · Media Influence and Health · Psychology
Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind
Effects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflection
Good education in an age of measurement
Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design
The Function of Fiction is the Abstraction and Simulation of Social Experience
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective
Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics
Expectancy–Value Theory of Achievement Motivation
Reading for pleasure
Do teachers read against the text? Studying the prevalence of critical literature pedagogy through a vignette
Reading Literary Fiction Is Associated With a More Complex Worldview
What motivates students to read at school? Student views on reading practices in middle and lower‐secondary school
What is literature for? The role of transformative reading
Egos Inflating Over Time
Reading During Adolescence
Questioning the Separation of In‐School From Out‐of‐School Contexts for Literacy Learning
Critical Literature Pedagogy
Reading Motivation in High School
Meta-moral cognition
Students' voice on literature teacher excellence. Towards a teacher-organized model of continuing professional development
Just Plain Reading”
To read or not to read
Why Jane likes to read and John does not. How parents and schools stimulate girls' and boys' intrinsic reading motivation
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |