Purpose: Previous research shows that identity and academic learning are interdependent, so affecting one can affect the other. The purpose of this case study was to explore preservice English teachers' reading identities and their perceptions of reading identity development in the context of English classrooms. Design/methodology/approach: This…

The literature reveals that no adequate instrument exists to measure college students' attitudes toward academic reading even though such attitudes are crucial for reading compliance and learning from text. To remedy this, the authors created and refined an attitude survey, administering it to 855 university students across four iterations. The…

The purpose of this study was to investigate social networking sites (SNS) and ways college students spend their time on both conventional academic and recreational reading. A total of 1,265 (466 male and 799 female) college students voluntarily participated in the study by completing a self-report survey. Descriptive analysis indicated that the…

"Reading maturity" is a construct that looks broadly at reading development encompassing not only basic reading skills but reading habits, attitudes, and dispositions. It has a rich history and this article calls for a need to make reading maturity a necessary part of the literacy curriculum. It offers a working description and reviews…

Can students read difficult but self-selected texts--and if so, how? In this article we describe what we learned about middle school students' use of background knowledge and specific vocabulary from interviews and surveys in our longitudinal study of magazine reading habits. Then we discuss the implications of these findings for structuring…

A century ago, a woman named Mary E. Hall convinced school leaders of the need for the professional school librarian--a librarian who cultivated a love of reading, academic achievement, and independent learning skills. After graduating from New York City's Pratt Institute Library School in 1895, Hall developed her vision for the high school…

This article describes our collaborative inquiry, three teacher educators/researchers of literacy from different institutions who shared a concern about how few teacher candidates in our programs neither viewed themselves as readers nor possessed a love of reading, qualities we view as key to supporting all children as lifelong readers, writers,…

Situated in a review of rural, cultural, and youth geographies, this article reports on a qualitative study of the role of reading and libraries in the lives of older rural teenagers. The primary method of data collection was the use of in-depth, flexibly structured interviews with twenty-seven youth between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years,…

A survey was conducted to determine the reading and library use patterns of adults 18 years of age or older. One hundred subjects chosen by a random sample technique were individually questionned by the researcher and data were tabulated by computer using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A profile of the respondent was…

Rural offspring of the back-to-the-land people of the late 1960s appear to have substituted reading for television viewing as a primary pastime. (LH)

Outlines one junior high school's method of improving students' reading habits through a book fair, a book exchange club, and a weekly read-in. (MM)

Examines non-goal oriented transactions with texts to investigate the information encounter in the context of daily living. Analyzes interview responses that illuminate two aspects of reading for pleasure: how readers choose these books; and books that have made a significant difference in readers' lives. Concludes with five themes emerging from…

Based on information from the report, "Becoming a Nation of Readers," this article presents eight recommendations for parents to follow to provide encouragement to their children in reading. (MD)

Foreword to a series: "National Library Week, April 20-26.