iferi.org

What comes first reading ability or reading pleasure?

It can be the subject of some heated debates, but what is the causal direction between reading ability and reading pleasure? A 2018 study Wouter Duyck shared on Twitter sheds some light on this and it seems that the better you’re able to read, the bigger chance that you will be enjoying reading.

The study by Elsje van Bergen and colleagues used data of 11,559 twins, born between 1994 and 2004, and 262 siblings. And what did they find?

We found evidence for a causal influence of reading ability on print exposure, consistent with previous findings from behavioural studies (Aarnoutse & van Leeuwe, 1998; Harlaar et al., 2011; Leppänen et al., 2005). Our findings refute the common belief that there is an influence of print exposure on reading ability, or that there are reciprocal influences between them.