Details a study that examined how attitudes toward reading varied among subgroups of the general population--the subgroups were composed of sixth-grade students; college students; adults, aged 18 through 22, who had never attended college; and adults, aged 60 and older. (FL)

Suggests that the acronym "SCIENCE" may be used as a guide to evaluating seven factors that should be promoted by a reading program: success, curiosity, interest, enthusiasm, nurture, challenge, and enjoyment. (MKM)

Discusses at-risk students' attitudes toward reading and their varying levels of response to literature. Finds that students' attitudes toward reading improved after one semester of discussion groups. Presents excerpts from classroom discussions. Discusses elements to encourage response. (RS)

Suggests that teachers of reading would do well to look at the books in use in their classrooms and ask if they really do help present the acts of reading and writing as being varied, important, and enjoyable. (HOD)

Reveals that first-grade students preferred to read silently, while third-grade students preferred oral reading. Third-grade readers' reasons for preferring oral reading indicated that they had been conditioned to view reading as a means of allowing teachers an opportunity to correct mistakes rather than as a communicative activity. (FL)

Provides selected quotations about reading from great writers of the past (MKM)

Reports that librarians in Nebraska find the Golden Sower Award program to be a positive force in influencing children's reading habits and awareness of literature. (FL)

Reviews research showing that children beginning to read are often confused by the task. Suggests that this confusion is the result of factors both in the home and at school and calls for research that would identify those factors. (FL)

Describes a recreational reading program implemented at the Diagnostic Learning Center in Houston to increase home involvement and improve reading attitudes and habits of disabled readers. (MKM)

Good and poor readers from grades 1-6 were asked to define what they meant by reading. Older children and above average readers were more likely to view reading as a meaning identification process as opposed to a general activity or word identification process. (MKM)

Finds a relationship between parents' perceptions of literacy learning and the perceptions of literacy learning which their children were developing but, within this group, finds an extremely weak relationship between parents' perceptions of literacy learning and their children's emerging literacy knowledge. Finds that children were developing…

Reports that regular participation by groups of fifth- and sixth- grade students in a program of uninterrupted sustained silent reading was accompanied by improved performance on a measure of reading achievement over groups who did not participate in the program. Whether the program affected reading attitudes is not clear. (FL)

Describes a school-home partnership for encouraging parents to read along with their children to promote reading as a part of children's everyday habits. Finds that using parents to model this behavior enhanced students' attitude toward reading. (MG)

Examines the effect of sustained silent reading (SSR) on reading attitudes of boys and girls. Finds that boys have a substantially poorer attitude toward reading than girls and that SSR has no demonstrable effect on either sex. (RS)

Lists four characteristics of strategic readers: establishing goals, selecting appropriate strategies, monitoring comprehension, and displaying a positive attitude toward reading. Discusses how these characteristics provide readers with the necessary skills to profit fully from the reading process. (MG)