PhD Student: Melanie Dillon; Partner: National Literacy Trust; Supervisors: Prof. Helen Beardmore and Dr. Sanne van der Kleij; Department of Education
In our highly literate society, reading is essential for thriving in education and employment and provides access to a wealth of social benefits throughout adulthood. As a result, developing ‘a love of reading’ has become a focus of England’s National Curriculum. The time we spend reading voluntarily, for pleasure, is associated with subsequent reading and language development. However evidence from the 2025 National Literacy Trust survey shows that young people’s engagement with reading is in crisis, with just 1 in 3 (32.7%) 8 to 18-year-olds reporting that they enjoy reading in their free time.
Previous research has mostly focused on why children and young people may not choose to read outside of school, yet we know surprisingly little about the positive underlying mechanisms that motivate people to read. The aim of this project is to better understand the interactions between personal characteristics and environmental influences, barriers and motivators for reading at the transition into adulthood (16-21-year-olds).
Key research questions:
- What reading activities do young adults engage with and value?
- How can we measure variation in reading behaviours and motivations at the transition to adulthood?
- What individual, social and environmental factors influence these reading behaviours and motivations?
The project will characterise adolescents’ and young adults’ reading behaviours and motivations to consider how individual differences in person and social characteristics (e.g. gender, ethnicity, SEN, reading ability, social motivations and preferences) and environmental factors (e.g. socioeconomic circumstances, access to reading resources, availability of support and encouragement to read) interact, to better understand the factors that associate with reading.
The project will be carried out in partnership with the National Literacy Trust and build on the 2026 National Year of Reading.