Developing Pleasure Reading among Secondary Students: Critical Analysis of Approaches and Challenges

Pleasure reading is defined as reading that is freely chosen by readers and that they enjoy reading (Rumbold 2006). According to Rumbold (ibid) pleasure reading has many benefits one of which is language acquisition. The world over, teachers of languages, whether first or second, are faced with the task of ensuring that students have a good mastery of the language they are learning. Research in language learning has shown that pleasure reading contributes immensely in mastering a language (Garside 1991, Barasa 2005 and Rumbold 2006). Therefore, language teachers should use pleasure reading as one of the approaches that should be used in the teaching and learning process. It is, therefore, important that a critical analysis of the development of pleasure reading is done. This article gives suggestions on the development of pleasure reading.