Without proficiency in content reading skills, seventh grade students were at risk of not being able to achieve understanding of what they read in non-fiction texts, a skill that is absolutely necessary for college-bound students. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate whether an approach that involved specific and focused…

Using the Pizza Hut "Book It" Program which encouraged students to read a certain number of books per month, a study examined the effect of this program on standardized test scores. Subjects, 98 fifth grade students, were placed in high, middle, or low reading groups according to teacher assessment. Half of the students from each group…

This study's purpose was to determine if the amount of time spent reading independently at home and at school correlated with oral reading fluency and comprehension. Fifteen heterogeneously grouped second graders logged the amount of minutes they read independently over a 12-week period. The students were pre- and post-tested using the Woodcock…

This study assessed the effectiveness of two motivational techniques for promoting interest in reading by using two criteria: the number of books withdrawn from the classroom library and the scores obtained on the Primary Pupil Reading Attitude Inventory (PPRAI). Thirty second-grade classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between televiewing and the reading interests of seventh grade pupils using 300 television (TV) tie-ins comprised of 18 different titles. The subjects were 253 pupils representing four seventh grade classes from low, middle, and high socioeconomic backgrounds in a suburban setting. The…

The effects of modeling procedures on the reading selections of gifted and nongifted students were examined in a group of ten gifted sixth graders, eight gifted fifth graders, and eight nongifted fifth graders. Both adult and combined peer/adult modeling procedures were investigated. Data on selections from the 150 books available in the classroom…

In this study it was hypothesized that if a young reader repeatedly chooses a serial book for pleasure reading, then appreciation and ability to choose and recognize quality works will diminish. Four sixth-grade English classes recorded their independent reading choices for five months. Those who habitually read series books were chosen for the…

This thesis explores some difficulties associated with the use of the cloze procedure, particularly in relation to the interpretation of an individual's score on a cloze test. Cloze tests were administered to 112 grade-six children in four schools. The results indicated that for the children in this study the easiest words to replace were those…

The effect of individual teacher-student conferences on reading achievement, attitude toward reading, and amount of reading was investigated in separate samples of third and fourth graders, none of whom had previously had such teacher-student conferences. Results indicated significant differences between experimental and control groups at the…

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed by Advantage Learning Systems to assess students' reading comprehension levels and keep detailed and accurate reports of such findings. This research studied the Accelerated Reader program with a second grade class over a 6-week time frame. One class of 20 students read books picked from the…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to investigate the general interests and the reading interests of pupils in first grade through third grade and (2) to investigate teachers' skills in interpreting interest data and in choosing literature for children. The sample consisted of 521 pupils and 18 teachers. Reading interests of the children were…

This report describes a program for improving student independent reading skills through direct phonics instruction. Students were exhibiting inadequate reading skills, which interfered with academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of second and third grade students from a northwestern Illinois city of about twelve thousand.…

This report describes a program for improving students' attitudes toward reading. The targeted population consisted of second and third grade students in a growing middle class community. The problem of the lack of interest in reading and the poor quality of classroom work were evident in parent and student surveys, and teacher observations.…

This report describes a program designed to develop positive attitudes toward reading and to improve achievement in third and fourth grade students in two Midwestern communities. Teachers' observations and conversations with parents and students indicated students did not receive essential reading practice time to improve skills. Analysis of…

A study examined whether a group of eighth graders whose teacher read orally to them for 10 minutes daily would develop greater interest in reading for pleasure than similar students who did not experience the teacher reading orally to them. Subjects, 36 urban and suburban youngsters, were divided into an experimental and a control sample.…