Social Reading in the Classroom

There are lots of different types of reading, from reading aloud to independent to social reading. As the name suggests, social reading encourages pupils to talk about books and read them together.

Why social reading environments are important

The Teachers as Readers research by Teresa Cremin suggests that social reading environments were seen to be the key to creating richly reciprocal reading communities. Also that the most successful environments tempted children into texts and offered spaces to relax. They were very interactive and included considerable book talk, recommendations and informal book promotion.

Benefits to Social Reading Environments

1) It creates a great opportunity for booktalk.

2) You can use it to inform interactive reading displays that children contribute to.

3) You can learn more about the reading interests of your pupils.

4) It exposes pupils to reading materials they might not have come across otherwise.

5) It is an excellent opportunity for children to see reading as an enjoyable activity.

6) Pupils can make recommendations to their peers in an informal way.

7) There is a link between reading and positive wellbeing.

8) Increased engagement in reading particularly with less confident or reluctant readers.

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