The Leisure Reading in Two Languages Research revealed:

1. The power of reading enjoyment

   • Reading remains an important leisure activity for children

   • Reading enjoyment in school days helps sustain reading in school holidays/HBL

2. Children’s reading in English and Mother Tongue are related

   • Promoting English and Mother Tongue reading face similar and distinct challenges

3. Children prefer print books over digital materials

   • Devices are generally underutilised for reading

4. Access to high quality reading materials

   • School libraries have the potential to serve as an important resource

For more on key findings, scroll to ‘Evidence from Leisure Reading in Two Languages’ below.

Read on to find out the implications for you as an educator, school leader or parent!

Click here for poster OR scroll to ‘Classroom Resources’ for posters in 4 languages on ‘How to create a bilingual reading culture in school and at home’ [PDF]

Despite the well-established benefits of leisure reading, little research has examined bilingual children’s leisure reading in their two languages concurrently. This represents an important research oversight, especially when more children worldwide grow up to become bi/multilingual rather than monolingual.

Being bilingual is a way of life in a multilingual and multicultural country like Singapore. Children are required to learn English as the first language and their Mother Tongue, based on ethnicity, as their second school language. However, learning to speak and read proficiently in two languages during childhood is not automatic, and raising a bilingual child requires considerable effort from parents as well as educators.

To better understand how to develop reading curricula, programmes and instructional methods to promote reading in different languages, Leisure Reading in Two Languages answers these questions:

1. What do bilingual children in Singapore read for leisure?
2. How does reading in one language influence their reading in another language?
3. How do we nurture a bilingual reading culture?

 Related Links

• A reading guide for emergent readers/让宝宝爱上阅读：0至4岁启蒙阅读指南
• SingTeach Issue 58 Sep 2016 “Reading Engagement”

 Further Readings

• Sun, B., Loh, C. E., O’Brien, B., & Silver, R. (2021). The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Bilingual Singaporean Children’s Leisure Reading. AERA Open.
• Sun, B., Loh, C. E. & Nie, Y. (2021). The COVID-19 School Closure Effect on Students’ Print and Digital Leisure Reading. Computers and Education Open. 2
• Sun, B., Loh, C. E., & O’Brien, B. A. (2021). Report on the reading habits of bilingual children in Singapore 2021. National Institute of Education (Singapore), Office of Education Research.
• Loh, C. E., & Sun, B. (2018). Report on the reading habits of Singapore teenagers 2017. National Institute of Education (Singapore), Office of Education Research (An infographic based on a sister project (OER 05/16 LCE) on teenagers’ reading habits)

 Research Projects

The following projects are associated with Leisure Reading in Two Languages:

Leisure Reading in Two Languages: Reading Habits and Preferences of Bilingual Children in Singapore

Related projects

• Reading in Two Languages: Reading Habits and Reading Attitudes of Singaporean Bilingual Students
• Building a Reading Culture: a Nation-wide Study of Reading and School Libraries in Singapore Secondary Schools

Research Team

Acknowledgements

Leisure Reading in Two Languages was funded by the Education Research Funding Programme, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (project no. OER 03/19 SBQ). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singapore MOE and NIE.

This knowledge resource was written by Dr Sun Baoqi, Ms Monica Lim and Mr Jared Martens Wong on 7 February 2022.