WHAT AND HOW KIDS ARE READING
This sub-section will investigate patterns of reading in Australia/New Zealand and Canada. After an overall summary, it will do this by examining the overall top 20 books in the Year or Grade groupings K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. First Australia and New Zealand will be examined, and then Canada.
Overall, Australia and New Zealand had 62,559 participating children in 440 schools (of which 98% were in Australia) (compared to 67,221 pupils last year, a decline of 4,662 or 7%) (Table 57). However, pupils read books and took 1,108,147 quizzes, slightly more than last year, so fewer students were reading more books. The total words read were 22,223,794,799, considerably larger than 17,271,156,025 last year, so students must have also been reading longer books. The average ATOS was 3.8 (just as last year and a little higher than the UK), but the average APC was only 75% (the same as the UK and the same as last year).
In Australia and New Zealand, the K-2 group shows few similarities to books read in the UK. Ahn Do was the most mentioned author with seven books (a big increase), while Aaron Blabey had four books (similar to last year). Dav Pilkey had three (see Table 58). Average ATOS was 2.7 (up slightly from last year) and Average APC was 0.80 (greatly down from last year). So Australian and New Zealand K-2 pupils read at about the same level of reading difficulty as the UK but showed levels of reading comprehension (APC) nearly as low as the UK. These pupils were reading at two and a half years above their chronological age but with low comprehension.
In the top 20 books in the Year 3-5 group in Australia/New Zealand, Jeff Kinney had 15 books. J.K. Rowling had two, and Roald Dahl had two. ATOS was much the same as last year (5.4), but APC had declined to 0.80, still slightly above the UK. These pupils were reading at two and a half years above their chronological age, but comprehension quality was suffering greatly.
In year groups 6-8 in Australia/New Zealand, J.K. Rowling had seven books, including the top two, while Jeff Kinney’s influence declined considerably (from 15 to five books) (see Table 60). The average ATOS was 5.5 (much as last year), but the Average APC was 0.77, greatly reduced from last year. These pupils were reading at six months below their chronological age. Thus, Australia/New Zealand tended to read books harder than the UK but with a somewhat higher level of reading comprehension. However, they showed the same plateau in reading difficulty as was evident in the UK, APC declining sharply on entry to secondary school.
In year group 9-12 in Australia/New Zealand, J K Rowling had seven books while Kinney had six lower down (see table 61). Average ATOS was 5.9, a sharp increase reverting to the levels of two years before, and a little higher than that for the 6–8-year group. Nonetheless, given the advancing age of the students, this represented a decline. However, APC had declined to 0.82 from 0.89 but was not as low as the UK. These pupils were reading three years or more below their chronological age.
Overall, Australia/New Zealand had higher book difficulty than the UK but reading comprehension (APC) had declined to be only a little better than the UK. They suffered the same decline in transfer to secondary as in the UK. Some chosen books were the same as the UK (e.g. Kinney, Rowling), but others were quite different.
This year, Canada had 21,769 students (2,160, 9% less) from 174 schools, a decline from the year before (see Table 62). The number of quizzes taken was 589,576 (down by 21,403, 3.5%). The total number of words read was 7,944,542,412 (down by 1,541,096,292, 16%). However, the average ATOS was 4.0, the same as last year, while the average APC was 0.80 (a small decline from last year).
Years K-2 in Canada are completely unlike those in the UK (see Table 63). Mo Willems had eight books, Alyssa Satin Capucilli had six highly placed books, and James Dean had three books. These three authors featured heavily last year also. Average ATOS was 1.0 (down slightly from last year), so these pupils were reading books about a year above their chronological age. The Average APC was 0.92, having declined slightly. Thus, Canadian K-2 pupils were reading easier books than UK students but managing a higher level of comprehension of these easier books.
For the Years 3-5 age group in Canada, the top 20 list was dominated by Dav Pilkey (nine books) and Jeff Kinney (eight books, including the top one) (see Table 64). Average ATOS was 3.9 (much as last year) but Average APC had declined drastically to 0.81. These pupils were reading books about a year above their chronological age. Thus, these Canadian pupils were reading books that were harder than pupils in the UK but showing only slightly better comprehension quality on them.
Years 6-8 were again dominated by Jeff Kinney (who had nine books overall but not in the top spots). J.K. Rowling had two books (see Table 65). Average ATOS was 5.4 (just as last year, and considerably higher than the UK) but Average APC had declined sharply to 0.81 (but not as low as the UK). These pupils were reading books six months below their chronological age. Thus, Canadian pupils were reading books of greater difficulty than pupils in the UK, but their rates of reading comprehension on these books had declined.
In Canada for Years 9-12, Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With US was top and she had one other book in the list. J K Rowling had five books on the list (see Table 66). Jeff Kinney had two books low down. Average ATOS was 5.4 (slightly higher than last year and better than the UK), and Average APC was 0.84 (greatly reduced from last year but still higher than the UK). These pupils were reading books three and a half years below their chronological age.
In K-2, Canadian pupils read easier books than UK pupils but understood them better, just as last year. In later years, Canadian pupils read books which were harder than UK pupils, but their comprehension showed a substantial decline, leaving them nearly as low as the UK. The decline in APC in Years 3-12 was startling.
In countries where English is not the first language, pupils are reading books in English in order to develop their English reading skills as a second or additional language. This clearly is not the same as for children in countries where English is spoken as the first language (like Australia and Canada), so it is much more difficult to make sensible comparisons. In these other countries, the number of pupils is quite low at the moment, so all year/grade groups have been combined. For comparison purposes, in the UK data, the average ATOS was 3.6, and the average APC was 0.75 (77% primary, 69% secondary).
In China, no data was available, and China had chosen to collect data on a different time scale. For comparison purposes, we repeat the data for China for 2022. There were 6,377 pupils. The average ATOS was 3.4, lower than the UK, and the average APC was also lower at 0.73 (see Table 67). Thus, in 2022 ESL pupils in China read easier books than UK school pupils but did not understand them as well. This might have been expected. ESL pupils in China read much the same books as pupils in the UK but with different priorities among them. Among the high-readability books, Roald Dahl had seven books (including the top book), Dav Pilkey had five and J. K. Rowling had three. Kinney was down to one book. However, one wonders about the cultural appropriateness of these books.
In Egypt, data were available on 3,847 pupils, a 7% increase from last year (see Table 68). The average ATOS was 3.7, a big increase from the previous year and now on par with the UK’s 3.6. The average APC had declined a little to 0.79, still a little above the UK. There had been a big change in books read, with Dav Pilkey having nine books including eight of the top nine. Roald Dahl had three books. A high-readability J.K. Rowling book also appeared.
In Hong Kong, data were available on 1,555 pupils, 23% less than last year (see Table 69). The average ATOS had declined substantially to 4.3, but this was still ahead of the UK. The average APC had, however, declined substantially to 0.69 from 0.77, now well below the UK. The Hong Kong top 20 had a number of difficult books, including six J.K. Rowling books. Top again was “White Bird: A Wonder Story” by R. J. Palacio, not noted in other countries. Jeff Kinney and Roald Dahl had three books each. Hong Kong’s performance might be due to having more very hard books than some other countries.
In Malaysia, data were available on 1,562 pupils, 33% fewer than last year (see Table 70). The average ATOS was 4.2, much lower than last year but still higher than the UK. The average APC was 0.77 (having declined a little and is now on par with the UK). Pupils in Malaysia choose books very similar to the UK. J.K. Rowling was top of the list and had four other books. Kinney had seven books lower down, and Roald Dahl had four lower down the order. This pattern was much like last year. There were no very easy books on this list.
In Mexico data were available on 1,136 students (a 19% reduction from the previous year) (Table 71). The average ATOS was 4.4 (a massive increase from the previous year and now higher than the UK). Nonetheless, APC had stayed the same at 0.73. Jeff Kinney had four books including the top one, and they were of high readability compared to others on the list. Dav Pilkey had four as did Jonathan London, while Eric Blair had two.
The Northern Mariana Islands are 14 islands in the northwest Pacific Ocean near Guam. The total population is about 53,000. In the Northern Mariana Islands data were available on 4,007 students (a 12% increase on the previous year). This is an extraordinarily high proportion of the school population (see Table 72). The average ATOS was 3.8 (much as last year and a little higher than the UK), but the average APC was 0.73 (further down from last year and now below the UK). Mélanie Watt had five books and Jeff Kinney two, but apart from this, all authors were diverse, with considerable differences from UK book choices.
In Qatar, data were available on 5,598 pupils (a 29% increase on last year) (see Table 73). Average ATOS had increased a little to 3.1 but was still lower than in the UK. Average APC had also increased a little to 0.69, but this was still well below recommended levels. Adria Klein had become very popular with nine books, while Shelley Sateren had six, generally in higher places. Michael Dahl had two books in the list.
In Spain, data were available on 3,626 pupils (9% more than last year) (see Table 74). However, the average ATOS had declined drastically to 3.8 (from 5.2 last year), now being more in line with the UK. Despite this, the average APC had declined (but only a little) to 0.78, still a little higher than the UK. Pupils in Spain chose books very much like the UK. Jeff Kinney had the top two books and 12 overall, while J.K. Rowling, Roald Dahl and David Walliams had two each.
In the UAE, data were available on 29,603 pupils (16% more than last year) (see Table 75). However, the average ATOS had sharply declined to 3.5 (from 5.2) and was now similar to the UK. Nonetheless, the average APC had also declined, from 0.74 to 0.70, and was now markedly lower than the UK. Pupils in the UAE again showed a similar pattern of choice to pupils in the UK. Jeff Kinney had 11 books (more than last year), including the top book. J.K. Rowling had four books, Dav Pilkey had three books, and Roald Dahl had two books.
There are relatively small numbers of pupils yielding data in some of these countries, and of course we cannot be sure that the pupils are in any way comparable, either with groups in other countries or with the UK. The small pupil numbers suggest pupils come from a small number of schools or tutorial centres, which may not of course be typical of schools in that country.
Excluding China, this year five countries had increased the number of pupils participating, while three had reduced (Mexico and Malaysia as last year, plus Hong Kong). Three countries showed an increased ATOS, and four showed a decline (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Spain, and the UAE), with one staying the same (compared to last year, where only two countries showed an increased ATOS and two countries stayed the same). However, in six countries APC had gone down, in one it had gone up and in one it had stayed the same. In five cases, APC was now below the level of native English readers in the UK. Qatar, Mexico, and Egypt had sustained or improved their position, but the other five countries showed problems with either ATOS or APC (last year, only Spain and the UAE did well on both ATOS and APC).
In some countries such as Spain, the UAE and Malaysia, the pattern of book choice was similar to the UK, with Kinney, J. K. Rowling and Dahl popular, just as last year. These books were generally of high readability (although one must question the cultural appropriateness of the books). Book choices in other countries were, however, quite far removed from the UK.
