National Literacy Trust - Research

Research

The National Literacy Trust conducts research to improve and measure the effectiveness of services and support for people who need help with literacy. This includes examining issues such as the impact of social media on children’s writing, the impact of baby buggies on language development and the correlation between literacy skills and life outcomes.

(2009) Young People's Writing: Attitudes, behaviour and the role of technology. . The first significant study on young people's attitudes to writing, taking into account social demographic background, mobile telephone ownership and membership of a social networking website. Christina Clark & George Dugdale (2009).

2010 Boys, Girls and Communication: Christina Clark (2011) In June/July 2010 The National Literacy Trust conducted a large scale survey of young people's attitudes towards communication skills, how they felt about it, whether good communication skills mattered in the workplace, school or other environments to them. The research focused on girls' and boys' attitudes to communication skills, the emphasis they placed on them and the confidence they displayed when using them.

(2010) Young People Reading: The importance of the home environment and family support. . This paper explores the kind of support young people have at home to encourage them to read, for instance, who in the house is seen to be reading. It takes into account the different demographic backgrounds and how this affects enjoyment, attitudes and behaviour as well as reading attainment. Christina Clark & Lucy Hawkins (2010).

2011 Young People's Reading and Writing: Christina Clark & Jonathan Douglas (2011) In 2009 over 17,000 children took part in a study to ascertain children's attitudes to reading and writing. The study also contained summary on what type of texts young people read and why, as well as what they thought about reading and writing. Young people were asked if they thought of themselves as a good reader along with how reading, enjoyment and attainment was gauged in 2010 compared with that of 2005.

2010 Linking Schools, Libraries and Literacy: Christina Clark (2010) This study provides further evidence on young people's reading and writing based on the National Literacy Trust survey of 2009, for full information see the full report in Young People's Reading and Writing as outlined above. This brief paper provides information on young people's attitudes to school libraries. Emily McCoy & Emily Mottram (2010) This report follows a survey in 2009 of 13 local authorities in partnership with the Partners in Literacy programme. It provides local authorities with a snapshot of how to provide a literacy strategy, It also provides details of the potential barriers in implementing these strategies. The reasons why some partners do not signpost some families to literacy help is also highlighted.

(2011) Book ownership and its relation to enjoyment, attitudes, behaviours and attainment. Report showing that book ownership is not only key to attainment but is also broadly associated with literacy and education from reading frequency to enjoyment to increased confidence. Christina Clark & Lizzie Poulton (2011). The report was conducted with 17,000 young people aged between 8 and 17. Clark & Lizzie Poulton (2011).

(2011)Public Libraries and Literacy. Christina Clark & Lucy Hawkins (2011). This paper provides information on children's reading habits as outline in the 2009 research Young People's Reading and Writing as outlined above. It explores areas including: Young people's use of their libraries such as numbers and background demographics to ages and differences between the users. The paper also discusses what factors influence young people as to whether they do or do not use the library, the link between library use and young people's reading and the link between public library use and children's attainment. Christina Clark & Lucy Hawkins (2011).