Abstract
This article reports findings from a small-scale focus group study funded by the British Academy which examines children’s literacy practices in relation to the seven Harry Potter novels. Drawing on Marsh and Shavelson’s (1985) notion of Academic Self-concept, and Barton and Hamilton’s (1998) view of literacy as context-specific social practices, we examine what young British Potter ‘enthusiasts’ perceive as the influence of the novels on their subsequent reading behaviours and academic development. Specifically, we consider whether these children feel that Harry Potter has helped improve their reading, whether they think the books have changed their attitudes to reading, the role of the films, and whether there are any gender tendencies. We conclude that these Potter enthusiasts view the series as formative in terms of their literacy, but regarding gender, intra-group variation is far greater than inter-group variation.
Highlights
Steve Dempster is a Lecturer in Higher Education at the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University
They consider whether these children feel that Harry Potter has helped improve their literacy skills and whether they think the books have changed their attitudes to reading
We are interested instead in what readers say about the series’ impact on their reading, both in terms of chosen texts and genres, and in relation to their ‘‘Literacy Self-Concept.’’ The findings reported here draw on a wider study in which pupils from four British schools were asked about their Potter experience
Summary
Discussions of literacy and achievement tend to focus on school and marginalise home and other out-of-school literacy practices. The potential benefits of Harry Potter for developing children’s literacy lie, in the act of reading the text, and in related discussions and other (shared) activities, such as reading and writing fan fiction, watching the films, and playing Potter playground and computer games. We are interested instead in what readers say about the series’ impact on their reading, both in terms of chosen texts and genres, and in relation to their ‘‘Literacy Self-Concept.’’ The findings reported here draw on a wider study in which pupils from four British schools were asked about their Potter experience. Our study seeks to ascertain whether and how Harry Potter contributes to children’s development of a Literacy Self-Concept, which may be beneficial in developing a positive self-view as a reader and in improving children’s achievement in English and other school subjects
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