Book Ownership and Its Relation to Reading Enjoyment, Attitudes, Behaviour and Attainment: Some Findings from the National Literacy Trust First Annual Survey

A recent ground-breaking study from the University of Nevada (Evans et al., 2010) found that the number of books in the home has as great an impact on children's attainment as parental education levels. The 20 year study by Evans and her colleagues found that having as few as 20 books in the home still has a significant impact on propelling a child to a higher level of education, and the more books you add, the greater the benefit. Similarly, a German study (Schubert and Becker, 2010) found that the home print environment was a strong predictor of reading achievement, even when income, parental education, aspects of schooling, language used at home, and other aspects of the home environment were controlled. This was the case at age 15 and also at age 10. The home print environment was about as strong a predictor as socio-economic status. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of evidence from 108 relevant studies by Reading is Fundamental in the USA (Lindsay, 2010) found that access to print material improves children's reading performance, encourages children to read more and for longer lengths of time and produces improved attitudes toward reading and learning among children. In summary, evidence is accumulating to show that book ownership has a strong influence on educational attainment irrespective of other factors. This brief report outlines additional findings that show that book ownership is not only associated with attainment but is also related more broadly to literacy and education, from reading enjoyment and frequency to confidence, attitudes towards reading and reading opportunities. Appended are: (1) Background information on our Omnibus survey; and (2) Breakdown of ethnic background. (Contains 8 figures and 3 tables.)