Working-class boys’ relationships with reading: Contextual systems that support working-class boys’ engagement with, and enjoyment of, reading

Journal article

Scholes, Laura. (2019). Working-class boys’ relationships with reading: Contextual systems that support working-class boys’ engagement with, and enjoyment of, reading. Gender and Education. 31(3), pp. 344 - 361. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1533921
AuthorsScholes, Laura
Abstract

Drawing on interviews with 15 boys attending schools in low socioeconomic communities in Australia, this paper examines the multiplicity of contextual influences on boys’ everyday reading experiences. Implementing an ecological metaphor, boys’ narratives about (i) their attitudes towards reading at school (microsystem); (ii) parental beliefs about reading (mesosystem); (iii) masculinities within low socioeconomic communities (exosystem), and; (iv) reading as socially valued knowledge (macrosystem) are explored. The paper illustrates the textured nature of immediate and broader influences on boys’ engagement with, and positioning of, reading. In particular, the paper challenges dominant discourses about working-class boys’ reading practices, contributing to research into literacy in-situ to make visible the immediate and broader contextual systems that influence the ways working-class boys engage with, and enjoy, reading.

KeywordsReading; masculinities; working-class boys; ecological metaphor; boys and schooling
Year2019
JournalGender and Education
Journal citation31 (3), pp. 344 - 361
PublisherRoutledge
ISSN0954-0253
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1533921
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85055489001
Page range344 - 361
Research GroupInstitute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE)
Publisher's version
File Access Level
Controlled
Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
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