FIRST GRADERS’ PREFERENCES FOR NARRATIVE AND/OR INFORMATION BOOKS AND PERCEPTIONS OF OTHER BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ BOOK PREFERENCES

Oct 15, 2026

Study examines grade-one children’s preferences for narrative and/or information books and how they perceive boys’ and girls’ reading interests. Using responses from 40 children across four schools, the research analyzes results from two book-preference tasks: a closed, forced-choice format and an open-ended explanation task. Findings show broadly similar interests, with both genres often chosen similarly, yet children assume gendered differences in preferred texts. Results are interpreted as reflecting gender stereotypes and their effects on reading motivation and engagement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Grade-one preferences and gender perceptions

Research design and book-preference tasks

Findings on genre interests

Discussion of gendered stereotypes and literacy context

FIRST GRADERS’ PREFERENCES FOR NARRATIVE AND/OR INFORMATION BOOKS AND PERCEPTIONS OF OTHER BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ BOOK PREFERENCES Marilyn Chapman, Margot Filipenko, Marianne McTavish, & Jon Shapiro University of British Columbia In this article, we report on grade‐one children’s preferences for narrative and/or information books, and their perceptions of what boys and girls like to read. Data include responses on two book preference tasks by 40 children in four schools. Children chose books and explained the reasons for their choices. One task was a closed, force‐choice task, the other, an open‐ended task. Boys and girls had similar interests, either preferring stories or liking information books and stories to the same degree. Yet boys and girls perceived that boys prefer information texts and girls prefer narratives. The children’s perceptions reflect gendered stereotypes. Key words: literacy, reading, motivation, genre, gender Dans cet article, les auteurs signalent que les élèves de 1re année préfèrent les livres qui racontent des histoires ou donnent de l’information et présentent ce que, selon deces élèves, les garçons et les filles aiment lire. Les données comprennent les réponses de 40 enfants dans quatre écoles à deux questionnaires, l’un à réponses libres et l’autre à choix multiples, sur les préférences en matière de livres. Les enfants ont choisi des livres et donné les raisons de leur choix. Les garçons et les filles avaient desintérêts similaires, préférant soit les histoires, soit les livres d’information et les histoires au même degré . Et pourtant, les garçons comme les filles avaientl’impression que les garçons aimaient mieux les livres d’information et les filles, les histoires. Les perceptions des enfants reflètent les stéréotypes marqués par le sexe. Mots clés : littératie, lecture, motivation, genre ________________________ CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 30, 2 (2007): 531‐553 In the current political climate, there is much concern about literacy achievement, especially for boys. A frequently offered recommendation to foster boys’ success in literacy has been to provide more opportunities to read nonfiction, especially in the critical early years. The argument has been that, although reading informational text is beneficial for all children, it is especially critical to boys’ motivation to read. Narrative genres have been dominant in primary classrooms because they were considered most appropriate for young children. More recently, researchers such as Pappas (1993) and Doiron (1994) have challenged the primacy of narrative in the early years, arguing that children’s difficulties reading informational genres are due to limited experience with them rather than innate developmental differences. Some scholars suggest that the dominance of narrative texts may be contributing to an “expository gap” at about grade four (Gee, 2001) and the persistent “fourth grade slump” in overall literacy achievement (Chall, Jacobs & Baldwin, 1990) . Hall (1998) argues that a consistent diet of personal and fictional stories rather the genres they will use in later schooling and in their adult lives “divorces school literacy from real‐life literacyʺ (p. 10) . Some scholars (Levine & Geldman‐Caspar, 1996; Worthy, Moorman & Turner, 1999) have considered informational reading to be important to motivate and engage readers, especially for boys. Millard (1997) suggests the focus on narrative in schools may promote “particular versions of literacy that have more appeal for girls than boys”(p. 22). Other researchers (McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth, 1995; Shapiro & White, 1991) indicate that children’s attitudes toward reading and writing become more negative as they progress through the elementary school grades, with boys declining even more than girls. Interest leads to increased engagement, which is important for its own sake but also because it improves achievement (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000) . From this research on reading

FAQs

How was children’s book preference measured in the study?

The study used two tasks: a closed forced-choice preference task and an open-ended task where children explained their reasons for choosing books.

What did boys and girls prefer according to the results?

Boys and girls showed similar interests overall, sometimes preferring stories and at other times liking information books and stories to a similar degree.

How did children perceive what boys and girls like to read?

Despite similar personal interests, children believed boys prefer information texts and girls prefer narratives, indicating gendered stereotypes in their perceptions.

Oct 15, 2026

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