- Research from Dr Sabine Little at the University of Sheffield will form one of the core activities for children in schools across the UK this World Book Day
- Dr Little's work has found that multilingual children are more likely to read for pleasure than children where only one language is spoken at home
- Only 20.5 per cent of children and young people aged eight to 18 said they read daily for pleasure, a significant drop from 28 per cent in 2023
- The World Book Day activity will help all children chart their reading journey and encourage them to develop their love for reading
- Around 20 per cent of school pupils are multilingual
World Book Day® has teamed up with the University of Sheffield to celebrate the importance of reading and help children chart their personal reading journey for this year's event on 6 March 2025.
World Book day aims to encourage children to read for fun, because reading seriously improves lives. This year, research from Dr Sabine Little from the University of Sheffield's School of Education, will form a core activity in the World Book Day packs sent to all schools in the UK.
'Rivers of (Multilingual) Reading' works to inspire all children to discover why reading is important to them, and encourages a diverse reading environment for all - including multilingual children - where schools, libraries and children's families can support their reading and development.
Dr Little's previous research with the National Literacy Trust - which has recently declared a reading for pleasure crisis - found that multilingual children are more likely to read for pleasure than monolingual ones, and that multilingual children have far more complex reasons to declare reading important, than those who grow up speaking just one language in the home.
She said: "Multilingual children are much more likely to focus on what a book or story represents, rather than simply thinking about the plot. For example, children focused on who gave them the book, whether it introduced them to a new hobby or activity, who the book was read with, and whether it marked an achievement milestone, such as being the first book read in a specific language, or the first book read independently.
"What we are learning from multilingual children is that they are thinking about their reading from a very complex viewpoint. They think of reading as representing a whole variety of things - such as access to a hobby, access to different groups of people, memories of places and family members, and also a sense of achievement."
Dr Little believes that what multilingual children can teach us about reading for pleasure, can be used to encourage all children to develop their love of, and enjoy the benefits of reading.
The research supports the 'River Reading' activity in this year's national World Book Day packs. It sets out steps for schools, libraries and families to help children chart their own reading achievements in any language, and identify what reading in their lives has been most important to them, and why.
