Concludes that the amount of time spent viewing television is negatively related to the writing ability of children in grades five, seven, eight, and nine. (FL)

Reviews research on the average reading level in the United States, on how well the average American needs to read, and on what the average American can and does read. (MKM)

Reports on certain social and economic indicators that provide a "modestly comprehensive" view of literacy activities, in order to extract an account of the current state and trend of the value and volume of the nation's literacy. Attempts to get a more basic than usual view of literacy, seeing it primarily as an economic activity. (Author/GT)

Notes certain disquieting trends that affect the publication and the reading of children's books; discusses a number of reasons why children read, including for information, to please adults, for instant gratification, for illumination of self, for escape, and for reassurance and deep satisfaction of a vicarious triumph. (GT)

This article outlines how educators can provide appropriate resources for encouraging the love of reading, support strategies that motivate reading, promote the joy of reading across the curriculum, provide a balanced curriculum representing both lifetime literacy and skills instruction, and foster lifelong literacy in students who struggle with…

Reflecting the concern which has been generated over the influence of television viewing on society at large, this "FAST Bib" presents annotations of 31 ERIC documents and journal articles published between 1989 and 1992. Annotations in the FAST Bib are divided into five sections: (1) Overview; (2) The Connection between Television and…

Educators must accept the challenge of encouraging the lifetime reading habit in school. Students who are surrounded with books, newspapers, magazines, and other materials will be tempted to browse and to read from these sources. When selecting materials for the classroom, educators should work closely with the library media specialist who is…

Drawing from data obtained from a two-page student questionnaire mailed to a number of Connecticut English and reading teachers in all types of schools, this paper reports on the reading interests and habits of students in grades four through twelve. Usable responses were received from 3,339 students from 51 schools in 37 different towns and…

Dealing with student motivation in the reading curriculum, this paper begins by discussing why motivation is important. Next it explores reasons for lack of motivation and ways to remedy the problem, including teacher enthusiasm; appropriate reading materials; variety in teaching methods; balance among cognitive, affective, and psychomotor…

Intended for teachers to share with parents of school children, this paper presents techniques to encourage children to read during their summer vacations. The 21 suggestions for parents include the following: (1) model reading behaviors, (2) brainstorm with children to determine possible areas of interest, (3) read aloud to children, (4) allow…

During the school year 1971-72, a study of language skills was conducted in the city of Toronto, Ontario. Scores on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test were analyzed for many students in grades four, six, eight, and nine. Students scored at grade level with reference to the United States norms of this test. The vocabulary and reading subsections of…

Surveys the reading and television viewing habits of K-12 children and the perceptions of K-8 students' parents about their children's use of time. Finds discrepancies between middle grade students' reported reading times and parents' faith in their children's reading ability; suggesting the need to educate parents and to make changes in the…

Examines television's impact on reading and school achievement in terms of the displacement hypothesis (watching television displaces developmental reading activities). Indicates small differences in reading scores for children watching two to four hours a day, but beyond four hours effects are negative and increasingly deleterious. (SR)

Describes ten activities designed to motivate students to read, including: (1) writing movie and television reviews, then reading newspaper reviews of the same movie or program; (2) maintaining a "clipping file" of newspaper and magazine articles, which can encourage further reading about the article topics; and (3) forming a committee…

Focuses on reading in the school domain and concludes that achievement in reading results from a combination of maturation, exposure, and instruction. Assesses the limits an successes of the instruction of reading in the U.S. and makes cross-national comparisons. (RDN)