The survey by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that children are now less likely to enjoy going to the library and more likely to prefer watching television to reading than they were in 1998.
The NFER was prompted to re-run its reading survey questionnaire in the wake of findings from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 35 countries in April confirming that pupils in England read well but derived less enjoyment from it.
The NFER questionnaire was completed by Year 4 and Year 6 children, aged between eight and 11, at 74 schools, including 28 schools where pupils had also completed questionnaires in the summer of 1998, a term before the literacy hour was introduced. The survey showed the proportion of children who did not think reading was difficult rose by around 10 per cent, from 56 to 65 per cent for nine-year-olds and 62 to 73 per cent for 11-year-olds over the five years.
While there remained a substantial majority of children who liked to read stories, their enjoyment of the pastime declined from 77 to 71 per cent among the younger age group and from 77 to 65 per cent among the older one.
Boys had grown less enthusiastic about reading than girls, particularly in Year 6, where 15 per cent fewer 11-year-olds enjoyed reading stories than five years ago, while there was a 10 per cent decline among girls.
NFER principal researcher Marian Sainsbury, who conducted both surveys, said, 'The results may relate to broader shifts in children's interests over the past five years. But it is also possible that this is related to the drive to improve standards.
'Children are reading material that has usually been chosen by the teacher rather than the children themselves.'
Commenting on the results, a spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said, 'We are absolutely committed to ensuring pupils have a rich curriculum and are motivated to learn. But this is not at the expense of getting the basics right. The best schools do both, and we are keen to build on this.'