“I don't think it's surprising or particularly worrying that mid-teenage boys report enjoying reading less than late-primary boys – they may think it's not a particularly 'cool' thing to admit to as a teenager, even privately. This is self-report data after all, not necessarily a picture of objective reality – and they may quite enjoy reading some things online but not associate that with reading: it's difficult to tell without seeing the questionnaire. And it is worth noting that the findings equally suggest that reading enjoyment in 2016 is 14% higher than in 2005, with nearly 6 in 10 children enjoying reading. “Certainly enjoyment of reading is very important to overall attainment and the National Literacy Trust's work is commendable in this area, but this shouldn't be limited to books or fiction as seems to be implied in the BBC report and – possibly, though this is difficult to tell – in the research itself.”

Dr Richard Smith, Reader, Centre for Applied Linguistics

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