Research topic/aim:
To analyse how young people read, how much they read and how they like to read and to relate this to their background, their well-being in school and what they think about their future.
Theoretical framework:
Literacy is a concept which takes into consideration not only reading skills, but tries to put these skills in a broader context where among other things reading habits, interests and purpose plays an important role (Street, 2001). In order to get an idea about literacy among young people today it is of interest to know more about how they read, what they read and what they think about reading. It can be assumed that different groups have different types of literacies (Heath, 1996). In order to find out more about different literacies among young people it is of interest to compare boys and girls, young persons from different social background and young persons with different cultural background.
Methodology / research design
In 2005 and 2006 surveys were organised in the municipality of Härnösand in Sweden. All students in 8th grade in the municipality participated in the surveys. In total participated 697 students. The surveys included a reading test and a student questionnaire. The students´ questionnaire contained a number of questions dealing with among other issues students’ gender, first language, parents education, books at home, reading habits, reading interest, well-being in school and plans about future education (Eklund, Fredriksson & Taube, 2005; 2006). The data collected in the test and in the questionnaire will be used to analyse the relations between different variables.