Ludic Reading: what and why
A term I’ve come across in my studies of reading is Ludic (loo’-dik) Reading. When I first heard it I wondered what it could be, but I immediately loved the term simply for the sound of it. Try saying it out loud: “I prefer Ludic Reading”. It just sounds fun.
But what exactly is it, and why would we want to do it?
Ludic is defined as “ Of or relating to play or playfulness”. In a literary context, it refers to playfulness in the approach to a work, either by writer or reader. The term Ludic Reading appears to have originated with Victor Nell, in his 1988 work Lost in a Book: the psychology of reading for pleasure. Newsweek claims that Nell “coined a name for that trancelike state that heavy readers enter when consuming books for pleasure—’ludic reading’ “.
And why would we want to practice ludic reading, that intense absorption in a book that comes when we are reading for pleasure rather than from necessity, either to gain information or to have done with an assigned chore? There are various benefits, some of which are laid out in a lengthy study done for the National Literacy Trust in the UK, although the study focused on children’s reading:
- general knowledge
- a better understanding of other cultures
- community participation
- a greater insight into human nature and decision-making
- breadth of vocabulary
- positive reading attitudes
- greater self-confidence as a reader
- pleasure reading in later life
Ludic Reading is known by other, similar terms in other educational settings as well: voluntary reading, independent reading, leisure/recreational reading, or simply pleasure reading. Whichever it is, when we choose to read for pleasure rather than because we are forced to it, our minds engage with the text and the result is a fuller sensory experience of the story. This goes beyond literacy: now, not only are we able to read, but we want to.
And in developing that love of reading we understand the value of experiencing other lives and other viewpoints through literature. Books become windows as well as mirrors, providing lessons that we absorb effortlessly amidst our enjoyment.
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