A study examined the extent to which adults engage in reading tasks to meet a variety of personal purposes and needs, asking when engaged reading is most likely to occur for types of text sources, reading purposes, reading settings, educational attainment groups, and occupational groups. Subjects included 159 adults who represented a wide range of…

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…

Promoted by effective advertising and disseminated by word of mouth, many schools have adopted Accelerated Reader[R] as a supplementary reading program or as their primary reading program. Accelerated Reader[R]'s philosophy is that by using the system, students are motivated to read more and better books. A study investigated whether seventh grade…

Aspects of reading motivation and the amount and breadth of reading done were studied with 105 fourth and fifth graders. Children's reading was found to be multidimensional, and their motivation predicted reading amount and breadth even when previous amount and breadth were controlled. Intrinsic motivation was a better predictor than extrinsic…

This study investigated during a 2-year period how middle school students spend their time when not in school. Nearly 75 middle school students participated in the study. The subjects' out-of-school activities were first investigated in April of 1997 when subjects were in the fifth grade. The same students were studied again in April 1998 when…

A study examined the reading behaviors of college students--in particular it asked why aliteracy occurs among college students. A survey designed to identify the aliterate population was administered to a psychology class of 40 students from a variety of majors, and included both genders, some ethnic variety (mostly Anglo), and a range of ages.…

This presentation describes how to use reading to improve second language acquisition. Part 1, "Building Awareness of Reading Habits and Attitudes," has students report their habits and attitudes about reading in English and their native language and recognize the importance of reading for improving English skills. Part 2, "Choosing a Book," has…

The purpose of this study was to compare children's acquisition and use of reading strategies and their evolving stance toward reading in two instructional settings, skills-based and whole language. The authors used test-score and descriptive data to select case study children who represented a range of reading development, e.g., from emergent…

The elementary school regards the development of reading skills and the cultivation of free reading among the students as one of its tasks. One of its ways of achieving this is to operate libraries in the school. Some schools provide only a central library. Some societies or locales, however, also believe in operating classroom collections in the…

A longitudinal study of student reading attitudes was conducted in 30 schools (20 elementary, 10 middle) using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey instrument (ERAS). The instrument tested attitudes toward both recreational reading and academic/school reading as part of the Reading Excitement and Paperbacks Project (REAP). REAP participant…