Decreasing Teenage Readership Rates in Lithuania: Exploring Causes and Suggesting Solutions

Abstract

Over the past years, Lithuania has faced a dramatic decrease in teenage readership rates, urging a circumstantial investigation of the causes. Previous research has explored the issue only by interviewing teenagers themselves and has thus overlooked the potential of an objective evaluation of the situation from a professional vantage, for example, that of teachers. This thesis conducts both quantitative and qualitative research. It examines the main causes of such high lack of interest in reading amongst Lithuanian teenagers through a questionnaire distributed amongst students and a set of open-ended questions for teachers. In contrast to what has been assumed in the hypothesis, the stringent curriculum is not the main cause of the decline in readership numbers. The main causes of the decline in teenage readership rates, this thesis shows, depend on other factors, such as poor concentration, low text comprehension skills, and the severe impact of modern technologies.