Why+is+it+important?


 * Why is nonfiction important?**

Barbara Moss is an author for the International Reading Association. According to Moss there are three main reasons why nonfiction should be used in primary grades:
 * 1) early exposure can "lay the foundation for student understanding the expository text that dominates later grades
 * 2) informational texts motivate students--students are naturally curious
 * 3) informational texts increase new knowledge domains

She also states that there is more of a change towards standards based education, with an emphasis on standardized-test performance and technology. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, by eighth grade over 70% of testing involves reading informational text to gain information or perform a task (Moss 46). Therefore, students are not only expected to read, write and extract information in text, they are also digital. Furthermore, student literacy with informational text more closely aligns with the skills required to navigate through the Internet. "The ability to use the Internet to access information quickly, sift through volumes of text, evaluate content, and synthesize information from a variety of sources is central to success at school and in the workplace (Schmar-Dobler, 2003).

This is why early exposure to nonfiction texts is important. In order to instill deep, meaningful connections within students, scaffolding, long term exposure, and immersion in nonfiction texts should start in the elementary grades.

In Moss, referencing Duke (2000), "students spend an average of only 3.6 minutes on informational text per day." From //Reading Research Quarterly//, 35, 202-224.

Palmer and Stewart (2003) discuss why nonfiction is important, stating that students learn new vocabulary and new content by reading nonfiction

Students need to be exposed to nonfiction at an early age so they have time to develop the ability to read it. Although most of what students read in the primary grades is in the form of nonfiction, by the time they reach 6th grade, 75% of the reading material students will use in school will be informational (Moss, 2004 in Hall and Sabey). Not only will their educational reading be informational, but other reading in their lives will primarily be nonfiction. Examples include anything on the internet, newspapers and magazines, and any reading they may need to do in their future jobs (Hall and Sabey)