How Swedish teachers can encourage reading to target English language development

This paper examines free voluntary reading (FVR) as a possible tool that can be used to increase interest in reading and foster language development.Studies show a decline in reading skills amongst Swedish teenagers which highlights the importance of encouraging reading through school.FVR has been suggested by some as the only practice that could make a reader proficient in a language, while others argue that FVR is not enough.This article has examined multiple research studies that present different methods to encourage reading and facilitate language development.The study was conducted through systematic searching on the databases ERIC and ERC using Boolean search strings.Sources were chosen based on exclusion and inclusion criteria that were created by a list of search terms.Results suggest that communities, such as BookTok or in-school reading groups, have a positive effect on teenagers' motivation to read.While it has been proposed that FVR is a better method for facilitating language development than intensive reading (IR), it did not increase reading motivation to a greater extent.Studies show that aspects that increase reader motivation could be community and accountability.Forming connections with other readers may result in more active engagement.Self-selection and group discussions have shown to increase reader motivation separately.A combination of these could provide students with both connection and accountability.This means that FVR needs to be modified in order to engage students in reading that will enhance their language development.