VOA教育报道2024--Do Students in American Schools Read Long Books Anymore?

Teachers in many English classes across America are having students read fewer full-length books.

Recently, the Associated Press explored the issue in education.

It reports that students instead are given only short parts of books. Educators said this is because they believe current students have shorter attention spans than those of the past. The teachers might feel pressure to prepare students for state and nationwide examinations know as standardized¹ tests. They also might believe that short pieces of writing will help students in the modern, digital world.

The National Council of Teachers of English is a professional organization for teachers based in Champaign, Illinois. In 2022, the group released a statement about reading. "The time has come to decenter book reading and essay-writing as the pinnacles³ of English language arts education," the group said.

Seth French helped write the statement. He said the idea was not to remove books but to teach media literacy and have students read things in which they are interested. French taught an English class before becoming a dean at Bentonville High School in the state of Arkansas. He had students read plays, poetry and articles but only one book as a class.

He said, "A lot of our students are not interested in some of these texts that they didn't have a choice in."Not everyone thinks English reading should involve only short, digital pieces of writing.

Maryanne Wolf studies the human brain at UCLA in Southern California. Wolf said deep reading is important to strengthen connections in the brain tied to critical thinking skills, background knowledge and empathy.

She said educators must give students a chance to learn through what she described as "immersion⁴ into the lives and thoughts of others."Less reading

There is not a lot of information on how many books American students are required to read in school. But in general, students are reading less.

Federal data from last year shows 14 percent of young people said they read for fun every day. In 2012, that percentage was 27 percent.

Some teachers say reduced reading has its roots in the COVID-19 crisis.

Kristy Acevedo teaches English at a vocational high school in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

"There was a trend, it happened when COVID hit, to stop reading full-length novels because students were in trauma⁵; we were in a pandemic. The problem is we haven't quite come back from that," she said.

Other teachers blame standardized testing and the influence of education technology.

Some students struggle to read. Only one third of fourth and eighth graders reached reading proficiency⁶ in the 2022 National Assessment⁷ of Educational Progress.

Leah van Belle⁸ is the director of the non-profit literacy coalition⁹ 313Reads in Detroit, Michigan. Van Belle said, when her son read the book Peter Pan in elementary school, it was too difficult for most children. She said her son's school does not have a library.

Still, she said it makes sense for English classes to use shorter reading material.

"As an adult, if I want to learn about a topic and research it, be it personal or professional, I'm using interactive¹⁰ digital text to do that," she said.

Too many things to do

Even in schools with many resources, time is always in short supply.

Terri White teaches at South Windsor High School in Connecticut. White no longer assigns the book To Kill a Mockingbird to her class.

She assigns about one third of the book and provides a synopsis¹¹, or a very short version, of the rest. White says the reason is that the class has to move quickly so she can teach all the required material.

White also assigns less homework because students have sports and other activities. She said she wanted her class to be "more about helping¹² student become stronger and more critical readers, writers and thinkers, while taking their social-emotional well-being¹³ into account."The synopses¹⁴ method alone, however, can harm student critical thinking skills says Alden Jones, a literature professor at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jones assigns fewer books than before but gives more small tests to make sure students are reading.

"We don't value the thinking time that we used to have. It's all time we could be on our phone accomplishing tasks," she said.

Will Higgins is an English teacher at Dartmouth High School in Massachusetts. Higgins said he still believes in teaching the classics. But he said students do not have enough time, so teachers have cut back on the number of books they teach.

"We haven't given up on Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. We haven't given up on Hamlet or The Great Gatsby," he said. But Higgins admitted giving up on assigning a long book like A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. And I'm Caty Weaver¹⁵.

Sharon Lurye reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Words in This Story

assign -v. to give someone a task to do

span -n. a length of something such as a time period or the extent of a bridge

standardized test -n. a test that is the same for all people taking it which is used to measure a person's abilities in a subject

essay -n. a short piece of writing about one topic

pinnacle² -n. the highest point of something

literacy -n. the ability to read

trend -n. the direction in which a happening is going

trauma -n. a difficult or painful experience

topic -n. subject

immersion -n. absorbing involvement

proficiency -n. the ability to do something skillfully and well

1 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

2 pinnacle   

n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰

参考例句：

• Now he is at the very pinnacle of his career.现在他正值事业中的顶峰时期。
• It represents the pinnacle of intellectual capability.它代表了智能的顶峰。

3 pinnacles   

顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔

参考例句：

• What would be the pinnacles of your acting and music? 对你而言什麽代表你的演技和音乐的巅峰？
• On Skye's Trotternish Peninsula, basalt pinnacles loom over the Sound of Raasay. 在斯开岛的特洛登尼许半岛，玄武岩尖塔俯瞰着拉塞海峡。

4 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

5 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

6 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

7 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

8 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

9 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

10 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

11 synopsis   

n.提要，梗概

参考例句：

• The synopsis of the book is very good.这本书的梗概非常好。
• I heard there wasn't a script.They only had a synopsis.我听说是没有剧本的。他们只有一个大纲。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

14 synopses   

摘要，梗概( synopsis的名词复数 )； 大纲

参考例句：

• Synopses can appear in the front of revisions as a summary of contents. 可把纲要放在修正本前面作为内容摘要。
• Synopses appear in the front of revisions or Flovas as a summary of contents. 把纲要放在订正或植物志前面作为内容摘要。

15 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。