The book as a space of images and meanings: The range of young students' reading preferences

Abstract

The article presents the results of surveys and socio-linguistic experiments carried out by the author in 2015-2017 among Russian and Taiwanese students as well as among Chinese and Mongolian school children. The article aims to identify the attitude of modern youth towards the linguo-cultural concept 'book', to determine the range of significant fiction books for young people and types of readers' perception, assessment of the book's role in the formation of students' youth personal sphere. A book is generated by the epoch, literary plots and characters are engendered within the inmost recesses of their time and open up to the reader within the context of certain socio-cultural circumstances; therefore, the popularity of a book is often determined by the nature of those circumstances and by the fact to what extent the book's content responds to spiritual needs of its readers. Despite the fact that nowadays books have been sidelined by other leisure activities - TV and Internet in the first place - they still retain high significance and immediacy: 94% of respondents consider reading as a necessity for the people of today. The book in the consciousness of the Russian students is closely connected with the field of knowledge, educational space where they exist. For the Taiwanese students and high schoolers of China and Mongolia the book is also an authoritative source of knowledge, the attitude towards it is shaped up by the historical tradition and present-day circumstances of the teaching and learning process. The way a literary work is interpreted depends on both the common practice of the attitude toward the book and the way it is perceived. The national tradition of the literary text understanding as a life lesson is reflected in modern students' questionnaires - many respondents note the 'instructive' nature of the book. Students' questionnaires analysis shows the ultimate majority of problem-oriented readers who above all expect broadening their life experience from literature. Ethical orientation is based on the interest in the moral values and reference models of behav-iour behind a literary work. Aesthetic appreciation of the text that requires profound acquaintance with the literary language and expressive means on part of the reader is quite rare and is manifested in the ability to identify literary components in the text. The group with a hedonistic approach expects pleasure, relaxation, nice and easy pastime not burdened with intellectual and spiritual efforts from the process of reading. It is time to speak about the formation of a new reader's type - a pragmatic reader aimed at obtaining specific knowledge and far from artistic reflection. Analysis of students' questionnaires shows that the list of books read lacks pieces of modern Russian writers: very little attention is paid to them at schools, and readers have no access to other sources concerning novelties of national literature. Reading is still a prestigious activity in the eyes of most young people who study at universities, and they pften perceive the book as a kind of a moral guide in their life journey. Secondary school plays an important role in developing reading competencies of the youth. It keeps on performing the function of building up the set of authoritative literary texts, which are essential for public conscience and define the semantic content of the national culture code.