1 Carrots Or Maltesers
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Carrots or Maltesers: does it matter? Context and quality: perspectives on reading and fiction for 11 – 16 year olds. Submitted by Rosemary Hopper to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education October 2013 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: 1 Dedication To my father who, taught me to love books: Frank Edward Bailey (1914 – 1966) 2 ABSTRACT This research was designed to investigate issues of quality in the reading of fiction of 11 – 16 year olds in school; this included the reading of fiction as part of the curriculum and private reading for pleasure. It is research which found its roots in the surveys of children’s reading habits carried out by Jenkinson (1946), Whitehead, Capey, and Maddren, (1977), Hall and Coles (1999) and Clark, Osborne and Akerman (2008). These surveys, over sixty years, show how attitudes to reading for 11 – 16 year olds, their reading habits and their preferred texts have changed. Judgements of quality in children’s chosen reading are implied in those studies but criteria for these judgments of quality are not defined. The National Curriculum (NC) for England (2008) explicitly refers to texts considered to be of high quality and lists prescribed texts and authors, but does not define what is meant by quality. The study was designed to investigate how teachers and students in secondary schools (11 – 16 year olds) in England conceptualised quality in the fiction used in class and for private reading. Individual teachers and groups of 11 – 16 year olds from four schools in the South-West of England were interviewed using semi- structured interviews. The interview data were analysed using a Cultural and Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework. The findings indicate that interpretations of quality are complex and often linked to examination syllabus requirements; the iterations of the NC for English in England; and discrete individual school and departmental needs. This can cause professional tension amongst teachers relating to the imposed rules, to external expectations and to the lack of teacher autonomy. The study offers new insights into how fiction for 11 – 16 year olds is used and conceptualised in school. This is represented theoretically through the framework of CHAT and in terms of the confusion at the intersection of boundary objects. The outcomes of the research will also contribute to clarifying how texts written for young adults may be judged and to the conceptualisation of a pedagogy to support the use of fiction with 11 – 16 year olds in school. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to start by thanking the schools, teachers and young people who contributed to this research project. To the schools who gave me access; to the teachers who gave me time and honest insights into challenging areas of practice; and to the students in school for their wholehearted and enthusiastic engagement in discussions about books. This work has been a long time in gestation; the labour and the birth an often painful process. I would like to thank all friends and colleagues at the Graduate School of Education in Exeter who have variously supported, cajoled and encouraged me as occasion necessitated. My thanks, too, to the relay team of supervisors, who have run with this enterprise alongside me, for their valuable and diverse perspectives. Above all huge, huge thanks to Ros Fisher who took on the baton with me for the final lap and whose belief, encouragement and tough love has made it possible for me to reach the finishing line. Thanks, too, to Sue Jones for being a vital, wise and much appreciated coach alongside Ros on the home straight. I offer this to my children Nick, Simon and Jonathan Hopper; to Jenny Hopper and to Jasmine Hemsley; and to my grandchildren, Finley and Daisy Hopper. This is my testament to you that anything is possible if you believe in yourself; have sufficient people believing in you; and work hard for your end goal. You too can follow your dreams. I would not be writing this without those friends who never let me give up and who never gave up on me. Who provided wine, chocolate and various shoulders to cry on as needed; who read things and who offered wise advice. To so many friends: thank you so much! Very particular thanks, in addition, to Anne-Flore Laloë and Annabel Watson for such wonderful support, advice and help when really needed! And above all I thank my aunt, Joan Hutchison. She has always been there. She has supported me through tough times. She has carried me at the hardest points. She has constantly and steadfastly believed in me and she has never let me give up. Thank you Joan. I could not have done this without any one of you! Thank you one and all! 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF TABLES / ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................... 13 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 15 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Personal ............................................................................................................ 15 1.3 Professional ...................................................................................................... 18 1.4 Context .............................................................................................................. 21 1.4.1 An overview ................................................................................................ 21 1.4.2 A context for this study ................................................................................ 22 1.4.3 Commonly held assumptions about 11 – 16 year olds’ reading of fiction ..... 23 1.4.4 The curriculum context for this study ........................................................... 24 1.4.5 Framing of this study ................................................................................... 25 1.5 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 26 1.6 Research question ............................................................................................ 27 1.7 Outline of the dissertation .................................................................................. 28 1.8 Summary ........................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE..................................................... 30 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 30 2.2 Theoretical perspectives informing this study .................................................... 32 2.2.1 Historical ..................................................................................................... 32 2.2.2 Sociocultural ............................................................................................... 34 2.2.2.1 Activity Theory ...................................................................................... 35 2.2.2.2 Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) ............................................ 36 2.2.3 Literary theory ............................................................................................. 37 2.3 The history of literature for the reader in the 11 – 16 year old age group ........... 38 2.3.1 Early history ................................................................................................ 38 2.3.2 Eighteenth and nineteenth century .............................................................. 39 2.3.3 Twentieth century ........................................................................................ 41 2.4 UK Government reports on children’s reading of literature................................. 42 2.5 Surveys of children’s reading habits .................................................................. 43 2.6 Gatekeepers ...................................................................................................... 46 2.6.1 The Curriculum as gatekeeper .................................................................... 51 2.6.2 Publishers as gatekeepers .......................................................................... 53 5 2.6.3 Librarians as gatekeepers ........................................................................... 54 2.6.4 Summary .................................................................................................... 55 2.7 Literature for the 11 – 16 year old reader ........................................................... 56 2.7.1 Developments in fiction for 11 – 16 year olds .............................................. 57 2.7.2 Accessibility of fiction for 11 – 16 year olds ................................................