The Gender Reading Gap: Are Teachers aware that a Gender Reading Gap exist...

The Gender Reading Gap: Are Teachers aware that a Gender Reading Gap exist...: "My name is Jennifer Lynch - Farrell. I am a teacher for the past fifteen (15) years.I spent the early years of my teaching career in the Inf..."

Are Teachers aware that a Gender Reading Gap exists?

My name is Jennifer Lynch - Farrell. I am a teacher for the past fifteen (15) years.I spent the early years of my teaching career in the Infant Department and I've always wondered how a child emerges into reading. At First Year, the pupils are exposed to a reading readiness programme, they are taught sight words and interest words. These words are brought together and they read sentences.If the classroom has a good library, pupils show interest in the books.The pupils read but real reading begins in Second Year, as the pupils are exposed to the right learning environment.

Some children will struggle in reading because of many factors, for example the home ( a low socio-economic background).However, from my experience in doing The Education Research Project, I have discovered that a Gender Reading Gap does exist. From a motivational reading chart in my Second Year Class, it was obvious that the girls were showing greater interest in reading than the boys and were reading more of the Jolly Phonics books.


From my research, I've found that the absence of the males to model reading, in the school and at home can prevent boys from having this natural urge to read.They see reading as a feminine activity.As a Reading Specialist,I am happy that I would be equipped with the knowledge to integrate educational technologies into instruction, to motivate the boys to read.I hope this can be done in addition to male modeling of reading.