Twenty-six women and 26 men enrolled in a humanities course at Michigan Technological University wrote their initial impressions to short stories by James Joyce, James Baldwin, Doris Lessing, and Virginia Woolf. The names were removed and the journal entries were analyzed in light of these four questions: (1) Do women refer to their personal…

This paper outlines the first stage of a research project on the topic of boys (aged 11-17) and literacy and the mediating role that families play in building interpersonal relations around reading and guiding boys into a broad range of literacy practices in the home. Findings from this research will inform a comparative study of boys identified…

Main characters were portrayed in nontraditional roles in stories presented to 4th, 7th, and 11th grade students. A total of 172 students read a set of four stories, each of which had two versions, one with a male main character and one with a female main character. Thus, the same stories were used to depict traditional and nontraditional sex…

A study examined the relationship between reading interest and achievement of male disabled readers. Subjects, 30 males aged 8 to 12 years and identified as disabled readers, were selected from a metropolitan school district in central Oklahoma. Subjects completed a reading interest questionnaire and a standardized reading test. The five subjects…

Three aspects of sex differences in reading achievement were investigated, based on data from school records and test results for first through fourth grade students in two parochial schools. The three aspects that were studied included (1) the relationship between sex-typed perceptions of reading and reading achievement, (2) changes in students'…

The challenge that middle school age youngsters' rapidly changing sexual, emotional, and physical characteristics present to educators, has made these educators concerned with factors that have a bearing on instructional programs. A study was developed to assess the attitudes of middle school children toward reading and to determine whether there…

A study was conducted to explore the reading habits, interests, and attitudes of older readers. One hundred and twenty readers aged 60 to 64 years participated in the Adult Inventory of Reading Interests and Attitudes (AIRIA) and were classified as minimal, moderate, and avid book readers. Fifty-five of these subjects were then interviewed. Among…

A study attempted to determine how students in literature-based reading programs compare to students in basal-based, skill-oriented reading programs in terms of their interest in reading. The study was carried out on a sample of 215 pupils in 9 third and fifth grade classrooms from school districts in Eastern Kansas and Northeastern Oklahoma.…

Results of two studies that investigated the effects of guest readers on the reading attitudes of second- and fifth-grade children in the Meridian (Mississippi) schools are presented. Twenty-nine second graders and 29 fifth graders participated. Local television personalities, school personnel, former teachers, and parents were among the guests…

Investigating the reading habits of adults in Egypt, East Africa, a study examined 294 Egyptians (233 males and 61 females) in post-secondary education in Cairo, and in the industrial cities of Shopra El-Khema, and Impapa, El-Giza. Marital status, sex, and occupation were used to group the subjects. Subjects completed a 29-item questionnaire…