Teachers of digikids: do they navigate the divide?

Introduction

Research literature and motivation theory on reading suggest that when teachers make links with the out-of-school interests of students their motivation and reading success are increased. International research suggests that digital technologies play an important role in student out-of-school reading experiences and that while exploring them, students demonstrate a broad spectrum of literacy skills (Alvermann, Moon, & Hagood, 1999; Gee, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003). Taking into consideration interest and motivation theories alone, these digital forms of reading could be useful in classrooms for purposes of engagement. Also, transferring the literacy skills students have out-of-school to school literacy learning can lead to improved student outcomes (Guthrie, 2002; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Love & Hamston, 2003). However, there is evidence of a mismatch between school literacy practices and student out-of-school literacy experiences. Reasons posited for this include narrow teacher definitions of text (Ivey & Broaddus, 2001; Manuel & Robinson, 2002; Worthy, Moorman, & Turner, 1999) and the aging teacher population (Albright & Walsh, 2003; Giroux, 1994; McKenna, Labbo, & Reinking, 2003).

A consideration of the above raised questions for this New Zealand study. The questions explored were: Do teacher definitions of text incorporate digital text? If so, is this evidenced in their textual choices and frequency of use? What are teacher aims when choosing text and do they include linking to students' out-of-school experiences? What are teacher-perceived constraints to choosing digital text for the classroom?

Current research

The mismatch between school literacy practices and student out-of-school literacy experiences

A number of researchers indicate a mismatch between school practice and out-of-school literacy experiences of students and have made calls to reconceptualise adolescent literacy in order to use students' expanded notions of text in their out-of-school page and screen reading experiences (Cairney & Ruge, 1998; Honan, 2008; Labbo, 2006; Unsworth, 2006; Veen & Ben, 2006; Young & Bush, 2004). Some posit that this will increase classroom reading engagement (Brozo, Shiel, & Topping, 2008; Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Labbo, 2006).

A reading motivation study (Ivey & Broaddus, 2001) criticised the narrow range of student material and advised that 'structures and curricula in schools that are not responsive to students may foster both negative attitudes and school failure' (p. 353). Similar criticisms are made in other studies (Gallik, 1999; Worthy et al., 1999). Manuel and Robinson (2002) concluded that 'selection of reading material in class needs more consistently to recognize and value more highly the taste and reading practices of adolescents beyond the classroom' (p. 76). Guthrie (2002) noted that 'when teachers used a wide range of trade books, internet resources, reference books, and other media-centred materials, reading-comprehension scores improved' (p. 152).

The mismatch is also highlighted in an Australian project (Cairney & Ruge, 1998). Findings were that 'there was only minimal evidence of learning from the home contexts being acknowledged and incorporated into school learning activities' (p. 41) and that the students encountered 'a more restricted range of literacy practices at school than the literacy practices in which they engage at home' (p. 58). This study concluded that 'teachers need to ... broaden their conceptions of literacy' (p. 67). Ironically, the project schools were chosen because of their identification as innovative in acknowledging diverse literacy practices.

Another study (Mallord, 2003) confirmed that students' at-home reading was not reflected in school reading, and that teachers were at risk of disengaging students. Similarly, Alford and Snell (2003) stressed the importance of teachers being 'willing to release ownership of text selection and learning to the students, allowing them to bring their world into the classroom' (p. 29).

The link between motivation and reading competence

Intrinsic motivation, that is, 'the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise one's capacity to explore, and to learn' (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 70), influences what students choose and read in leisure time. Guthrie (2002) has argued that 'more pervasive than lack of competence as a source of non-reading is lack of motivation' (p. 137). Therefore, if the text interests that students are intrinsically motivated to pursue out-of-school, (and the accompanying feelings of agency), can be replicated in classrooms by using similar texts for engagement, there may be gains to be made in reading achievement.

Two Australian studies, similar in their focus on the electronic reading experiences of adolescent boys, illustrate the impact of agency. The first (Love & Hamston, 2003), conducted with boys who could read on-the-page text but chose not to, recommended that teachers find ways to incorporate digital experiences into school practices. Importantly, the competence and agency of the boys was apparent. The authors claim that 'a powerful sense of their agency emerges in their decisions to pursue specific types of print and electronic-based leisure reading' (p. 176). The second study (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003), in which 'new' literacies were used as a basis for literacy education with four boys, showed that they 'oriented themselves toward being capable' (p. 194) when engaged via their out-of-school experiences. These boys exhibited ability 'that belied their reputations as poor literacy and English students' (p. 193). The preferred textual choices of the participants in these studies, combined with the increase in motivation and reading competence that the participants enjoyed when using digital text, suggest that teachers should take into account out-of-school text choices when choosing classroom text. This would seem to be imperative if students are to make reading gains.

Teachers and digital text

While Giroux (1994) has suggested that teachers have to be 'border crossers' so that student experiences are put 'inside' the curriculum, teachers seem hesitant in using popular culture and digital technologies in the classroom (Albright & Walsh, 2003; Alvermann et al., 1999; McKenna et al., 2003). This teacher hesitancy is aligned with teacher age (Albright & Walsh, 2003; McKenna et al., 2003; Young & Bush, 2004). The majority of those currently teaching did not grow up with these 'new' technologies thus adolescent digital forms of reading challenge the aging teaching population. Giroux (1994) also posits that because teachers lack skill in some literacy practices with which their students are adept, they have to become 'immigrants' into these, and, if we extend the metaphor, to experience cultural alienation until familiarity and comfort is achieved. It could be argued that support is necessary for this to occur successfully.

Research into the New Zealand school ICT strategy (Fink-Jensen, Johnson, & Lau, 2003) supports the notion of teacher hesitancy. The ICT strategy document (Ministry of Education, 2003) states that 'we need a learning culture that recognises the enhanced breadth, richness and authenticity of learning that can be achieved through ICT' (p. 3). Yet the research report showed that only 5% of secondary teachers were able to use ICT as an instructional tool and integrate it into the curriculum. A year later the New Zealand schooling strategy document (Ministry of Education, 2004) states that the Government is committed, through its ICT Strategy, to supporting teachers in realising the learning opportunities presented by new technologies. Arguably, teachers need to feel comfortable with the technology itself before they are able to integrate it into the curriculum and according to the research report of 2003 the majority of New Zealand secondary teachers were not at this stage.

The literature cited above was instrumental in motivating this study. The study sought to explore English teachers' definitions of text, their text choices for Year 10 students and whether digital text was evidenced in these choices. Also examined were teacher aims when selecting text for classroom use and if students' out-of-school experiences influenced these.

Study research design

The focus of the study was Year 10, the level preceding Year 11 where high stakes national assessment usually begins in New Zealand, and therefore it was assumed that teachers would be less constrained in their text choices. It is also the year level where many PISA (Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development (OECD), 2000) 15-year-old survey participants are located. The reading results from 2000 on the PISA cycle of subjects showed New Zealand ranking third for reading achievement out of the 32 participant countries (Ministry of Education, 2002). Disturbingly, however, there was a wide distribution for reading overall and this was evidenced within schools, (rather than between), showing the diverse range of on-page reading ability with which individual schools must contend.

The data gathering strategy for the study was a questionnaire (1). It was piloted with nine English teachers from a private girls' school. The school was chosen on the assumption that it would be well resourced in ICTs and teacher professional development initiatives, and therefore its teachers would be able to give valuable feedback on the instrumentation. As a result some layout and wording changes were made.

Four New Zealand co-educational secondary schools in the same city were chosen to represent a reasonable range of socio-economic areas. Data for comparison across school contexts might thus emerge, particularly in those questions relating to the usefulness of various texts for extending literacy practices and resourcing in terms of computer access and professional development. Issues of access and equity in schools populated by low-income students have been well acknowledged (Shoffner, 2007; Warschauer, Knobel, & Stone, 2004; Young & Bush, 2004). Socio-economic range was determined using the Ministry of Education school decile scale, on which decile 1 schools are the 10% of all schools which have the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities and decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools that have the lowest. The pilot school was decile 10 and the four research schools had deciles of 10, 6, 4 and 3. All had rolls of over 900 students. The decile 10 research school had students using their own laptops in classrooms. In the decile 6, 4 and 3 schools on-line access was through teacher-booked dedicated computer rooms. This is not surprising given the economic barriers lower decile schools and students face.

Forty-one English teachers completed the questionnaire. Thirteen teachers were from the decile 10 school, 6 from the decile 6, 9 from the decile 4 and 13 from the decile 3. Therefore, 19 respondents were from schools in the upper decile range and 22 from the lower decile range. This afforded the opportunity to analyse the data for differences between the two groups. Twenty-four of the respondents were in the 21-35 age range, nine were in the 36-45 range, five in the range 46-55 and three were over 55 years of age. With over half of the respondents in the youngest age range there was opportunity to examine responses to ascertain if young teachers were more willing than their older counterparts to use technologies for student reading.

The questionnaire contained both closed and open questions. Open questions were used to elicit teacher definitions of terminology and how text types were used in classrooms. Closed questions were in the form of yes/no responses and 6-point scales. Quantitative data was sought on the premise that it would appeal to policy makers and busy teachers. Qualitative data was sought to give depth to the quantitative. Questions were sequenced so that the later questions did not provide prompts for the earlier ones.

The coding procedure allowed for a variety of analyses and coded data was entered into a Statistics Package for the Social Sciences. Participants and their schools were given a code so as gender and decile trends might emerge. Responses to closed questions were given a categorical score or a continuous score depending on question type. Open questions, concerning definitions of text and why and how teachers used text they perceived as useful, were analysed manually by using key words, looking for contrasts and similarities between responses. One question asked respondents to list text-types they used, so every different text response was coded.

The participants were asked to rate nine 'aims' for choosing text for Year 10 students. Two of these aims were generated using two of the language processes in the English in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994)--exploring language and critical thinking. Because the study sought to elicit whether teachers were using text for engagement and for linking with student out-of-school interests, two aims on this were included. Two more aims, examination performance and English department policy, were included to ascertain whether there were perceived institutionalised constraints. After the pilot study had been completed three more aims were added: to share good literature, to foster positive attitudes to reading and to expose students to other cultures and experiences. There was also an opportunity for teachers to list any other aims they may have.

Twenty-one text types were listed for rating 'usefulness'. That nine items (nearly 50%) were digital was deliberate, so that teachers had opportunities to opinion-rate digital text. Pilot-school teachers offered no other texts for inclusion. 'Usefulness' was defined by the 'for extending Year 10 literacy practices in the classroom' instruction. Another list was generated for 'reasons to describe why teachers have not accessed hyperfiction.' This nine-item list explored teacher perceived constraints of professional development (two items), online access (two items), time (one item), teacher interest (two items) and personal opinions of pertinence and liking for screen reading (two items).

Hyperfiction was selected for special attention in the questionnaire, as it is the digital text form mentioned in the notes for two of the three Level 1 English Achievement Standards (2) for the in-class study of texts. The four research schools currently assess against Achievement Standards. The teachers were asked whether their classes studied the text type and to define the term hyperfiction. Teachers who did not use hyperfiction rated reasons for this lack of use.

Discussion of findings

Definition of text

There was a high level of agreement from respondents (n41) as to what text meant when planning for Year 10 English lessons. Subject English in English in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994) is structured into three strands (oral, written and visual language) and it was to these the majority of respondents referred when defining text for Year 10 work. They saw text as being a piece of oral, written and visual language communication.

Teachers' text type choices and frequency of use with Year 10

When teachers listed the types of text they actually chose and how often as a proportion of a year, a hierarchy emerged. Twenty-seven different text types were listed over all of the respondents. The texts most popular were the novel the only text listed by all respondents), short fiction, film, poetry and written non-fiction text. When frequency of use was analysed it was these same five text types that rated highest. Of the 27 types listed by teachers only four related to digital text: blogs, wikis, websites and hypertext (see Table 1). The three teachers who listed hypertext had also listed websites, which suggests that they saw each as a different category of text. Future research could ask teachers for examples and definitions of the text types they list, so as the basis for their distinctions can be ascertained.

The frequency of use of the digital texts teachers listed was analysed separately. The frequency scaled used was once, seldom, some of the time, a reasonable amount of the time, most of the time and nearly always. It could be argued that once should have read never. However, as the teachers had listed the text types they themselves used, and were rating their own list, using a scale beginning with never made little sense. The analysis showed a lack of classroom attention paid to digital text. Table 2 graphically illustrates this. One respondent listed blogs and said they were used a reasonable amount of the time. Another listed wikis but used them only some of the time. Both respondents were both from the decile 10 school and in the youngest age range of 21-35 years old.

Teacher aims when choosing text for Year 10

All 41 teachers rated all of the nine aims listed. Although there was opportunity for teachers to add other aims, the few who did repeated ideas in the aims listed for rating in the questionnaire. Using a scale ranging from 1 (not important) to 6 (extremely important), 40 respondents thought it was important, very important or extremely important to foster positive attitudes to reading and to choose text that would engage students and 32 thought it was important, very important or extremely important to link reading with out-of-school interests. Given that digital reading plays an important role in students' out-of-school literacy practices (Alvermann, 2008; Honan, 2008; Labbo, 2006; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Unsworth, 2006; Veen & Ben, 2006) and given that these teachers saw fostering positive attitudes to reading, engagement and linking to out-of-school interests of such importance when choosing text for classroom use, it was surprising that digital text featured so seldom in teachers' text choices in the previous question. The perceived constraints on using digital text in the classroom, discussed later in this paper, may go some way to explaining this.

The two aims listed connected to the English in the New Zealand Curriculum (1994) produced another surprising result. The important, very important or extremely important ratings for the aim of choosing text to increase critical thinking were chosen by 39 respondents and for the aim of exploring facets of language use (3) by 32. However, only four of these teachers had previously mentioned choosing digital text for classroom work. Three of them were at the decile 10 school where students used laptops. Again, the perceived constraints on using digital text in the classroom, discussed later, may have contributed to this finding. Correlating these same two aims linked to the curriculum produced a significant correlation, however it was very weak (r = .37, p = 0.017). Therefore, while these two aims were not unrelated, it might be assumed that there were more important aims for the teachers than fulfilling these curriculum goals. This study did not focus on the relationship between the curriculum and teachers' text choices, but this result suggests a subject for future research.

Correlating the aim of engagement and the aim of linking with students' out-of-school interests, of the 40 teachers who thought student engagement was an important, very important or extremely important aim, 31 thought it was important, very important or extremely important to link with students' out-of-school interests. Given the current theories on motivation, that nine of these 40 teachers, (nearly 25% of respondents), did not see links with out-of-school interest as at least important, raises questions for further studies. Table 3 shows the aims listed for rating and the number of teachers who rated each as important, very important or extremely important.

Teacher opinion on text type usefulness for extending Year 10 literacy practices

The reporting of responses to the 6-point rating scale is limited to the top 5 points, never useful, not very useful, somewhat useful and extremely useful. (4) Ratings of the usefulness of 21 page and screen texts for extending Year 10 literacy practices in the classroom were consistent with teacher text choices and frequency of use. Novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction books, film, graphic novels and newspapers were seen as helpful for extending literacy practices.

Only informational web pages and interactive web pages were seen by at least half of the respondents as useful or extremely useful. Informational web pages were only seen as extremely useful by eight of the 41 respondents. Of some note is that the least popular texts rated for usefulness were e-zines, games on screen and text messages. An explanation for this was sought by analysing the open question on why and how teachers used text they found useful. Four teachers had commented on their use of these text types: games on screen were used by two teachers for 'fun and incentive' and 'engagement'; text messages were used by two teachers for 'work on language register', 'poetry writing', 'ambiguity of language', 'rewriting for spelling work'; and e-zines were used by one teacher for 'research'. The low perception digital texts as useful for extending Y10 literacy showed no trend related to school decile, yet the absence of these texts in the laptop school could be a topic for future research.

The use of hyperfiction

When asked about their understanding of the term hyperfiction 14 of the 41 respondents gave no definition, 19 thought it was a story on the net, while 8 offered explanations that either included hyperlinks or reader interaction of some sort. None of these 8 respondents was from the decile 10 school. Three respondents said they had used hyperfiction in the classroom yet two of these three did not include the use of hyperlinks in their explanations of hyperfiction. Prompted by a further question as to what hyperfiction was used and how, these two teachers' answers showed that they had most likely used sequential online stories, rather than ones with hyperlinks. The third respondent commented on the engaging nature of the activity, on aspects of the video gaming in it, and its ability to relate 'to their [students'] environment /experience'.

A follow up question in the questionnaire was 'below are some reasons to describe why teachers have not accessed hyperfiction. How important is this reason to you?' Teachers were asked rate reasons from 1 (not important) to 6 (extremely important). When ratings of important, very important and extremely important were aggregated, some trends in teacher perceptions of constraints emerged. Thirty-five respondents (85.3%) said they needed more personal knowledge of the text type and 26 (63.4%) admitted they did not read hyperfiction themselves. It is noted however, that neither English in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994) nor the notes to the Achievement Standards give a definition of hyperfiction. This may provide some explanation for why teachers have not examined this text form. Twenty-three teachers commented they had difficulty with getting online access in the classroom and 19 said that it was difficult to move to another location to get access to computers. Not surprisingly, only one of these access responses came from the high decile school with students working with laptops. There appeared to be no great differences across the other schools and across all four schools there was no difference related to participant age ranges or gender.

The aggregation also showed that 20 of the 41 teachers gave 'not liking reading on screen' as a reason for not using hyperfiction. That nearly 50% of the participants did not like reading on screen could also be a reason why other forms of digital text were not used to a great extent (see Table 2). A Comparison of the age ranges of these 20 teachers showed that 12 (60%) were in the 21-35 age group. It cannot be assumed, therefore, that younger teachers are embracing digital technology via on-screen reading more than those in other age groups.

Another reason worth commenting on was 'I am not interested'. Six of the seven teachers who rated this as an extremely important reason for not using hyperfiction came from the decile 10 school and seven of the 12 teachers who featured in the aggregation of ratings (that is, over 50%) also came from this school. Further data is needed for any trend to be ascertained from this. Seven of the 12 teachers who featured in the aggregation of ratings (over 50%) were in the 21-35 age group, again suggesting that young teachers were not necessarily more interested in digital technology than older groups.

Conclusion

The size of the research population (n = 41) in this study and its reliance on self-report means that findings can only suggest trends and perhaps offer insights into the use of text, particularly digital text. Choosing a higher decile school than the decile 6 in this study may also have given some stronger patterns between high and low decile schools.

Written text on the page was favoured for use in the Year 10 classroom with the novel, short fiction and poetry being popular. Although teachers widely defined text, few departed from time-honoured text choices. Some teachers mentioned hypertext, websites, wikis and blogs as being used over a year but only one teacher in the study managed to define and elaborate the use of hyperfiction. This study suggests that teachers seldom use hyperfiction in classrooms despite its use being encouraged in some subject English Achievement Standards in New Zealand. International studies show that students' increased digital forms of leisure reading is seldom replicated in text choice or used to increase motivation and engagement in classrooms. This study suggests that the same may be true for New Zealand.

If teachers are to expand their classroom text choices to include digital text, there needs to be a concerted professional development effort so that they feel competent and comfortable with digital texts. This might also increase teacher interest in these text forms. In addition, site constraints related to computer access need to be addressed in lower decile schools. At the same time, as the results from the high decile school suggest, sufficient access to computers may not help reduce some teachers' reluctance to use digital text beyond informational web pages. It could be that perceived constraints of access are masking other barriers, such as lack of teacher knowledge and interest.

New Zealand research posits that the hesitancy in teacher engagement with digital technologies is their lack of knowledge about and access to them (Fink-Jensen et al., 2003). The trends in this study support the link between hesitancy and knowledge. However, the link between hesitancy and access is less convincing. Access does not seem to determine willingness. Informational web pages were seen as useful for literacy practice with Year 10, yet were only seen as extremely useful by one in five teachers. A majority of the teachers rated aims of increasing critical thinking, engaging students, linking with their out-of-school interests and fostering positive attitudes to reading as at least important aims when selecting text for Year 10. Yet teachers' text selection for classes did not indicate a high use of digital text. Either digital text is not perceived as being able to contribute to these aims or is ignored because of lack of teacher knowledge or interest. Further professional development with a focus on how to use digital text for critical thinking and research on what students access for reading out-of-school might go some way to enabling these teachers to further meet their selected aims. That age is a factor in teacher hesitancy in using digital text is not evidenced in this study, contrary to arguments of international theorists and researchers.

To include digital texts in school curricula is a challenge not just to the knowledge of many teachers, but also to their ideas about what constitutes useful text for literacy gains. If we believe in a social constructivist model of education and view texts as cultural tools, then cognisance needs to be taken of the out-of-school digital reading interests of students. Teachers will need to navigate the divide. Failure to do so will mean that our schools will continue to miss an opportunity to increase student reading motivation and success, persist in legitimating the predominance of page-based text for classroom practice and perpetuate support of particular forms of culture that will become increasingly irrelevant to our digikids.

Acknowledgement

I wish to acknowledge and express my appreciation to the teachers who so willingly participated in this project.

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Judine Ladbrook

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND 

(1) The questionnaire is available by emailing the writer.

(2) Achievement Standards are standards used for high stakes national assessment in New Zealand in Years 11, 12 and 13. There are nine English standards at Level One, usually used at Year 11. Of these, three are based on response to text (study of extended text, study of short text and study of visual or oral text). In the extended text standard 'extended hyperfiction' is one of four text types that can be chosen for study, in the short text standard 'short hyperfiction' is one of five text types that can be chosen for study and in the visual or oral text standard, electronic text is one of five text types that can be chosen for study.

(3) Exploring Language in English in the New Zealand curriculum (1994) has objectives relating to the identification of the conventions, structures and language features of visual, oral and written texts.

(4) The bottom scale point, although trying to ascertain teacher familiarity with some text types, was not opposite to the 6th scale point.

Table 1
Texts Chosen by Teachers for Y10 English Lessons and Frequency of Use

Text types teachers listed   Number        Percentage
                             of teachers   of teachers
                             using (n41)   using

Written text

Novels                           41            100%
Short fiction                    34            82.9%
Poetry                           28            68.3%
Non fiction books                12            29.3%
Drama scripts                    10            24.4%
Auto /Biographies                10            24.4%
Non fiction articles              7            17.1%
Students' personal novels         1             2.4%
Scholarly articles                1             2.4%

Oral Text

Speeches/oral texts               7            17.1%

Visual Text

Film                             34            82.9%
Static images                    11            26.8%
Television genre                 10            24.4%
Television news                   1             2.4%
Music videos                      1             2.4%
Picture books                     1             2.4%

Text spanning curriculum
strands

Newspapers and articles          17            41.5%
Websites                         10            24.4%
Magazines                         8            19.5%
Dictionaries                      7            17.1%
School Journals                   3             7.3%
Hypertext                         3             7.3%
Comics                            2             4.9%
Thesaurus                         2             4.8%
Blogs                             1             2.4%
Assessment resource bank          1             2.4%
material
Wikis                             1             2.4%

Text types teachers listed   Number        Percentage
                             of teachers   of teachers
                             using a       using a
                             reasonable    reasonable
                             amount        amount of
                             of time/      time/most
                             most of the   of the time/
                             time/nearly   nearly always
                             always

Written text

Novels                           36            87.8%
Short fiction                    26            63.4%
Poetry                           16             40%
Non fiction books                 7            17.1%
Drama scripts                     1             2.4%
Auto /Biographies                 1             2.4%
Non fiction articles              4             9.7%
Students' personal novels         0             0%
Scholarly articles                0             0%

Oral Text
Speeches/oral texts               1             2.4%

Visual Text

Film                             26            61.9%
Static images                     5            12.2%
Television genre                  5            12.1%
Television news                   0             0%
Music videos                      0             0%
Picture books                     0             0%

Text spanning curriculum
strands

Newspapers and articles           4             9.7%
Websites                          3             7.1%
Magazines                         2             4.9%
Dictionaries                      3             7.1%
School Journals                   1             2.4%
Hypertext                         1             2.4%
Comics                            1             2.4%
Thesaurus                         0             0%
Blogs                             1             2.4%
Assessment resource bank          0             0%
material
Wikis                             0             0%

Table 2
Frequency of Use of Teacher-listed Digital Texts, as a Proportion of a
Year

                         Hypertext   Website     Blogs       Wikis
                         Frequency   Frequency   Frequency   Frequency
Once
Seldom                       1           5
Some of the time             1           2                       1
A reasonable amount of
  the time                   1           3           1
Most of the time
Almost nearly always
No response                 38          31          40          40
(Total                      41          41          41          41

Table 3
Teacher Aims When Choosing Text for Year 10

Number of teachers rating listed aims as 'Important', 'Very
important', or 'Extremely important'. (n41)

To engage students                                         40
To foster positive attitudes to reading                    40
To increase critical thinking                              39
To share good literature                                   36
To expose students to other cultures and experiences       34
To raise performance for school or national examinations   33
To link with students' out-of-school interests             32
To explore facets of language use                          32
To follow departmental policy                              20