A study was designed to formulate a taxonomy of the literary response processes of children. Three fifth grade girls reading above grade level were asked to read two books that treated a common subject (the death of a child) in different ways. Interviews with the children were recorded so that their literary responses could be analyzed for…

Looks at growth in listening comprehension of 146 children from third grade to fifth grade and their fifth-grade estimate of accumulated wide reading as measured by an instrument using a checklist-with-foils logic, the Title Recognition Test. Indicates that individual differences in growth of listening comprehension from third grade to fifth grade…

The habit of reading books by authors one has read previously is a fairly widespread one. (JH)

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)

A study examined the relationship between children's out-of-school activities and their reading achievement. Subjects, 155 fifth graders from a village school and a small city school in Illinois, recorded on daily activity forms how many minutes they spent on a wide range of out-of-school activities. Forms were completed for periods ranging from 8…

An informal study examined the impact of a simple behavior modification procedure on the reading habits of second and fifth grade students. Behavior modification theory was pared down to two rules ("reinforce proper behavior" and "reinforce anything close to proper behavior") so that no additional burdens would be placed on…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program for improving the recreational reading habits of fifth-grade students and encouraging them to become lifelong readers. The targeted population lived in a growing, low- to upper-middle-class, suburban community, located in Hanover Park, approximately 35 miles west of Chicago, Illinois. Students in…

A study investigated why children choose not to read. Subjects, 21 fifth-grade students attending a Catholic school in Vancouver, British Columbia, completed "clock-sheets" detailing their activities outside of school over a 5-day period, were administered a measure of locus of control, completed a reading attitude survey, and were…

A study was conducted (1) to develop a more comprehensive theoretical framework for exploring the nature and process of response to literature, (2) to develop an integrated schema for analyzing responses, and (3) to apply this theory and schema to the responses of fifth and eighth grade students to two different kinds of texts. Subjects were ten…

Examines the relationship between leisure-time reading and home environment, reading attitude, and reading motivation. Suggests, from the perspective of developing the leisure reading habit, that (1) what parents "do" is more important than what they "are" and (2) the emphasis placed on reading in the home and on academic and intellectual…

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…

A study investigated the relationships between reading interests, habits, and attitudes of third, fourth, and fifth grade students and the variables of teacher/parental influences, ethnic background, gender, and grade levels of the students. Subjects, a random sample of 101 Black, 92 White, 2 Chinese and 1 Arab low-to-middle socioeconomic-level…

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)

A total of 230 second through fifth grade boys and girls from five private schools in the San Francisco Bay area were asked to keep a record of the books they read for pleasure over the period of a month to determine whether there were differences between the books chosen across the grades and between sexes. The students recorded the books on a…

A study examined what effect, if any, vision training exercises had on reading achievement. It was hypothesized that training students to control more accurately the speed and direction of their eye movements would improve their visual skills. However, it was also hypothesized that a more efficient visual system would have no effect on reading…