THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DIFFICULTY OF READING MATERIAL CHOSEN AND ATTITUDE TOWARD READING WAS EXAMINED. SUBJECTS WERE 40 SECOND GRADERS. ONE-HALF OF THE SUBJECTS EXHIBTED A FAVORABLE ATTITUDE TOWARD READING, AND ONE-HALF EXHIBITED AN UNFAVORABLE ATTITUDE. THE ACTIVITY PREFERENCE TEST WAS ADAPTED FOR THE STUDY AND ADMINISTERED. AN INTERVIEW,…

A study examined the acquisition of a reading vocabulary for abstract and concrete words in 62 second-grade children. Words had been learned as part of a basal reader program or as part of outside reading. Word recognition speed and reading accuracy were examined for abstract and concrete words using lexical decision and word naming tasks. Results…

This study's purpose was to determine if the amount of time spent reading independently at home and at school correlated with oral reading fluency and comprehension. Fifteen heterogeneously grouped second graders logged the amount of minutes they read independently over a 12-week period. The students were pre- and post-tested using the Woodcock…

Compares second grade and fifth grade students' recreational reading levels (when students self-select library books for recreation reading) in relation to independent, instructional, and frustration levels as determined with an informal reading inventory. Concludes that recreational reading levels should not be viewed as synonymous with…

This study assessed the effectiveness of two motivational techniques for promoting interest in reading by using two criteria: the number of books withdrawn from the classroom library and the scores obtained on the Primary Pupil Reading Attitude Inventory (PPRAI). Thirty second-grade classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental…

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…

A study of the current expressed reading interests of children in the first two years of school conducted in ten countries--Austria, Canada, England, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Sweden, and the United States--is reported in this paper. Over 2,000 children drew pictures about what they would best like to read or have read to…

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed by Advantage Learning Systems to assess students' reading comprehension levels and keep detailed and accurate reports of such findings. This research studied the Accelerated Reader program with a second grade class over a 6-week time frame. One class of 20 students read books picked from the…

A study was conducted to compare students' recreational reading levels to their independent, instructional, and frustrational levels determinable with an informal reading inventory. Subjects, 20 second grade and 20 fifth grade students, were administered the Basic Reading Inventory. In addition, the school's librarian recorded titles of four books…

The effects of the Wisconsin Prototypic System of Reading Skill Development, combined with teacher inservice training, on the performance and attitudes of primary pupils and their teachers were examined. Experimental and control subjects were students in grades 2 and 3. Teachers served as their own controls, having instructed the control a nd…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the status of nonfiction in the reading interests of second, third, and fourth graders and to determine the effectiveness of a personal reading record as a measure of reading interests. All students in the second, third, and fourth grades of a middle-class rural area in central New Jersey served as…

A literature-based reading program was introduced to 98 students in 5 second-grade classrooms in an urban school district with a socioeconomic status ranging from middle class to disadvantaged. Students were primarily African American or Hispanic. Of the total, 22% had previously been classified as "at risk" as determined by state regulations. The…