Switch-on is an intensive, targeted literacy intervention that aims to improve the reading skills of pupils who are struggling with literacy. There are two versions of the intervention: Switch-on Reading and Switch-on Reading and Writing. Both involve specially trained Teaching Assistants (TAs) delivering a tailored programme of literacy support…

Nisakorn Charumanee believes that a reading teacher has an active role in cultivating reading culture or reading habit and in activating students to "want" to read. One way to do this is to integrate extensive reading into the classroom (Day and Bamford, 1998; Bamford and Day, 2004) where extensive reading can be enhanced if the teacher…

A positive association between interest and learning from texts has been well noted in the literature. However, the cause of the positive association between interest and learning from text is uncertain. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to examine a potential cause, inference generation, of the positive association between interest and…

In recent decades, researchers have indicated that U.S. schools have underexposed elementary grade students to informational text. The increased exposure to this genre should be a top instructional priority. In the present study, we explored 46 third-grade students' attitudes toward and perceptions of informational text. Using three data sources…

There is an increasing interest in the way academic writers establish the presence of their readers over the past few years. Establishing the presence of readers or what Kroll (1984, p.181) calls imagining "a second voice" is accomplished when a writer refers "explicitly" to their readers using explicit linguistic resources…

News reports and well-publicized government studies have led to a popular perception that reading is an endangered activity, particularly among youth. In this study we surveyed college students, librarians, and college writing instructors about students' attitudes toward reading for pleasure, examine barriers to voluntary reading among college…

This reading attitude scale was designed to negate the tendency for students to indicate overly positive attitudes, a tendency which the authors feel is reflected in responses to other attitude scales. There are two forms of the scale: one for grades 1-3 and one for grades 4-6. The primary scale is read to the children and has a three choice…

A study examined how much time college students spend reading for pleasure, when they do the most pleasure reading, and whether or not parental encouragement plays a role in pleasure reading habits. Subjects, 219 female and 113 male college seniors at a small public liberal arts university, completed three questionnaires as part of the…

A questionnaire was completed by 110 individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 in a study conducted to determine the primary reason why adults read. The results showed that informational reading was the main purpose for adult reading, but did not indicate a relationship between purpose for reading and socioeconomic status and educational level.…

A survey of the reading choices made by academically gifted secondary school students was conducted in 1978 to determine if these choices differed from those revealed in a survey undertaken at the same school in 1973. It was hypothesized that there would be only minor changes in patterns of interest by grade. A total of 172 students completed the…

"In an age when browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, reading a book in a peaceful corner of a library has become an archaic idea for most people. While technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin…

Describes the development, validity, reliability, and selected uses of a high school reading attitudes scale. Provides a sample of the scale. (JT)

The purpose of this project was to increase grade four students' reading motivation by helping them to develop a broader awareness of literary genres, and through participation in literature-based discussion activities. Approximately 71 students and 33 teachers participated. The following interventions were used: creating a literature rich…

A study investigated the reading interests of sixth-grade students in a rural Virginia county. Twenty-three children (10 girls and 13 boys) participated. The instrument used was a four-page-long reading interest survey, which contained "yes/no," rating, and open-ended questions. Results of the survey indicated that this group of students…

To investigate the effects on students' reading attitudes and interests of sustained silent reading as opposed to reading aloud, a study divided 50 urban third graders into two groups, with 25 in each group. One group of students engaged in an 8-week period of sustained silent reading which was teacher directed before and after the reading…