Social Reading in the Classroom: Why it Matters

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

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 informal book chat.

2. You can use it to inform interactive reading displays that children contribute to. For example, ones with reading recommendations that can be added to or changed in line with pupil interests.

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, such as Manga texts for example.

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. It can increase engagement in reading particularly with less confident or reluctant readers.

There are lots of benefits to creating a social reading environment.

Pageticker is an online reading record, which will help teachers and parents develop a reading-for-pleasure culture in your school. If you would like to know more, take part in a trial or get access to an exclusive discount code, visit our sign up page to fill out a form with your details.