A study surveyed independent reading habits and identified causal factors related to the decline in independent reading from middle school to college. Subjects, 100 students enrolled in a developmental reading course at a state-supported university in Kentucky, completed a 19-item survey instrument. A second survey was developed due to the results…

A study was conducted to determine how often newspaper comic strips deal with the topic of reading and how often a positive attitude is revealed toward the act of reading. From January 1984 through December 1984, daily and Sunday comic strips from the "Newark Star Ledger" were reviewed. Counted or recorded were the number of times reading was the…

A study compared the amount of time spent in reading at different grade levels between 1961 and 1985, specifically examining the differences in time allocation practices for formal reading and for other reading, and the ways in which these practices compare in different geographic regions during these years. The 1961 study obtained data from 1,224…

Data taken from library circulation records and from personal interviews with 374 second grade boys and 371 second grade girls were analyzed regarding: (1) Which titles were most frequently selected? (2) Which subjects were most frequently selected? (3) What was the quality of the books selected? (4) How many of the books selected were completely…

Highlights the major findings from a study of reading, particularly book reading, among adults. Discusses reading habits, sources of reading material, and attitudes toward reading, as well as demographic information. Concludes that reading does not substitute for, but rather goes along with, involvement in other leisure activities. (JMF)

Explores adolescent use of the media for leisure and, in particular, adolescent leisure reading of books. Surveys adolescents to measure the popularity of leisure reading compared to other leisure options, with a view toward contrasting female and male leisure reading pursuits. Finds that reading is popular with adolescents and that females favor…

A descriptive study examined whether reading aloud to children regularly would have an effect on creating independent readers. Subjects, 269 preschool through third-grade students in Cranford, New Jersey, were given a questionnaire to be completed by the parents. Ninety-one questionnaires representing 200 children (ranging in age from 3 months to…

A study examined whether a group of eighth graders whose teacher read orally to them for 10 minutes daily would develop greater interest in reading for pleasure than similar students who did not experience the teacher reading orally to them. Subjects, 36 urban and suburban youngsters, were divided into an experimental and a control sample.…

Eighty-one fifth grade students from a suburban parochial school were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups in a study designed to determine the effect of daily sustained silent reading (SSR) on student reading habits and attitudes toward reading. One teacher supervised 40 students in daily fifteen-minute periods of SSR, using…

This study was designed to consider whether, by introducing fourth grade children to books by two promotional techniques, teachers can influence: (1) the amount of personal reading done by children, (2) which books these children select for personal reading, and (3) the attitude of the children toward the books they select. In each of reading, and…

Investigates the relationship of out-of-school activities to reading achievement. Finds a wide variation between children in amount of out-of-school reading. Concludes that reading books was the out-of-school activity that had the strongest association with reading proficiency, but that on most days most subjects did little or no book reading. (MM)

To investigate adolescent reading habits and interests, a reading interest survey was administered to 103 male and 133 female sophomore English students from two high schools with similar socioeconomic backgrounds but different individualized reading programs. In the first school, students read and made book reports on three novels of their own…

This booklet describes methods that teachers can use in recreational reading in early childhood and elementary classrooms and suggests ways to help parents promote voluntary reading in their children. The first section deals with "Promoting Voluntary Reading through Classroom Library Corners." Discussed are the value of classroom library corners,…