Study contests age to start reading

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

SPELLBOUND: Ralph Robins, 5, is a keen reader. His father believes the more Ralph reads, the better for him.

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Teaching children to read from the age of five is not likely to make them any better at reading than a child who learns from seven, according to a study.

After three years of research, Sebastian Suggate of Otago University said the view that children should learn to read from the age of five now appeared to be "contestable".

"It may give heart to parents whose children have initial difficulty learning to read. The picture is more complicated than simply early mastery of reading skills," he said.

"This research emphasises to me the importance of early language and learning, while de-emphasising the importance of early reading."

But the Education Ministry said teaching children to read from when they started school built a strong foundation.

"Literacy in English gives children access to the understanding, knowledge and skills they need to participate fully in the wider world," ministry spokesman Colin McGregor said.

Dr Suggate said the research for his doctorate in psychology, involving about 400 pupils, did not find evidence of an advantage in teaching reading from the age of five.

He compared children who started learning to read from age seven to children who started at five. The later readers caught up by the time they were 11.

"Because later starters at reading are still learning through play, language and interactions with adults, their long-term learning is not disadvantaged. Instead, these activities prepare the soil well for later development of reading.

"If there aren't advantages to learning to read from the age of five, could there be disadvantages to starting teaching children to read earlier? In other words, we could be putting them off."

He conducted one international and two New Zealand studies. Each backed the conclusions of the other.

Broadmeadows father Thomas Robins said his son Ralph, 5, loved reading. He doubted whether he would have been able to stop Ralph from picking up a book until he was seven. "He loves it and surely the more he reads, the better it is for him. We did some reading with him before he started at Khandallah School, but when he did start he really ripped into it."

The research follows an Education Review Office report last week about reading and writing for year 1 and 2 pupils. The report said the first two years at primary school were crucial.

It also showed that only one in five principals set expectations that promoted high reading and writing achievement in the first two years.

About two-thirds of principals used limited or poor processes to monitor pupils' progress.

Dr Suggate's research has been placed on Otago University's "distinguished list" of doctoral theses for 2009.

- © Fairfax NZ News