Why Do Teenagers Dislike Reading Russian Classical Literature?

Based on the research in the field of psychology of reading, sociology of reading, psycholinguistics, literature studies and methodology of teaching literature from the beginning of the 19th century to present day, the article clarifies the mechanisms of how a school reader perceives a literary text, which then logically leads to an understanding as to why teens dislike Russian classical literature. The relevance of systematizing scientific theses on this subject is determined by the critical situation in terms of reading and understanding literature books from the school program both in Russia and abroad. A wide range of materials (materials of international conferences, research reports by PIRLS and PISA, FIPI (Federal Institute for Educational Measurements) reports based on the results of the EGE (Unified State Exam), Russian and foreign works) helped form a list of issues viewed as problematic by the scientific and pedagogical community: low motivation of school students towards reading school-program literature; forming “skimming” and “fragment” types of reading, and the like. The studies of sociology of reading are interpreted in the article from the point of view of psychology of reading and psycholinguistics that explain the mechanisms of perceiving and understanding a text. What is taken into consideration is the subjective experience and the proximity of the consciousness of the reader and the author of the text. The studies of personality psychology and developmental psychology, theory and history of literature also contributed to shifting the focus of the issue. Thus, visualization of culture, the influence of the Internet, the lack of popularity of reading in a society etc. that were previously referred to as reasons why teenagers do not like reading, are now regarded as merely consequences, as stated in the article. These are results of how certain cognitive mechanisms that in charge of a literary text perception work. Systematized scientific knowledge gives a deeper understanding of the problematic field over the period of time and in its current state, and of methods and approaches to treating the issue. It also helps define a number of mandatory conditions for the development of a school reader in the digital age.