Students’ Perceptions of the Benefits of Literary Reading in School and Leisure Contexts

Literature education is often justified by its presumed cognitive, social, and developmental benefits. However, little research has explored how students themselves perceive the relevance of literary reading in both educational and leisurely settings. This study surveyed 1641 Dutch upper-secondary students (grades 10 to 12) across various academic tracks. A self-completion questionnaire was used to assess students’ justifications for mandatory literary reading and their evaluations of 20 benefits associated with reading literature. Most students supported the government mandate to read literature in school, primarily justifying it by functional benefits, such as improving language skills and general reading proficiency. Cultural, social, and psychological justifications (e.g., fostering empathy or enhancing political awareness) were deemed less persuasive. Significant group differences emerged, with girls, 12th-grade students, and frequent leisure readers finding the benefits of literary reading more compelling than boys, 10th-grade students, and non-readers. Teachers tended to underestimate the persuasiveness of certain justifications, particularly those related to concentration and complex interpretive skills. The study shows that students predominantly view literature education through a qualification-oriented lens, emphasizing its instrumental value. Hence, literature education could place greater emphasis on fostering ethical awareness and social understanding to counter students’ predominantly functional perceptions of literary reading. Moreover, this study confirms the divide students experience between school-based and leisure reading: even enthusiastic readers rarely attribute more personally oriented justifications, such as relaxation and escapism, to school-based literature reading.