A questionnaire was sent to a number of elementary and secondary school English and reading teachers in Connecticut, asking them to survey one or two different classes to determine their students' reading interests. Questions dealt with such topics as favorite type of book, favorite books, more recently read title, favorite authors, sources of…

The articles in this publication offer ideas for developing enjoyment of reading in children. Among the topics discussed are the following: the need for teachers and parents to build children's self-esteem through increasing their experiences of success, their expectations of success, and the value they place on reading; methods for increasing…

Contained in this volume are the appendixes to the study of a 1961 Form-4 class and several groups of teachers in Kenya. Included are: (1) tables on characteristics of Form-4 male students by ethnic group, (2) tables on characteristics of Form-4 female students by ethnic group, (3) supplementary cross-tabulations of characteristics of African male…

This paper describes a program intended to motivate elementary students to read for recreational purposes. The targeted population consists of first-, second-, and third-grade students in a growing middle class community located in the south suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of students' attitudes toward recreational reading was…

A study investigated how students felt about the "extra" reading activities and opportunities offered to them through an after-school recreational reading program. Ten fifth-grade students who were deemed most critically in need in terms of academic progress were observed in the after-school reading activities and were interviewed. Six…

Concludes that students involved in a peer-interaction model and an individual teacher-student conference model of recreational reading instruction obtained higher scores on a reading attitude measure than students in a sustained silent reading and a control model. Students involved in the peer-interaction model received significantly higher…

Largely English-speaking female (31) and male (29) students in grades 10-12, ages 15 to 20, with grade point averages from 50 to over 65, in a Native-controlled school, answered questionnaires related to academic success, job interests, travel, off-reserve experiences, and spare time activities (reading, television viewing). (MH)

Reports on the reading interests of 450 Russian secondary school graduates enrolled in a mathematics and physics-oriented technical school in Moscow. Finds that students' interests changed during two periods in recent Russian history: (1) 1988-1990--the perestroika period; and (2) 1991-1992--the "market" period. (CFR)

This study revealed that in the 31 junior and senior high schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina there was discernible growth in written composition from grade to grade when students were measured and analyzed by total group, academic and nonacademic curriculum, and boys and girls. Each student's writing ability was measured by a…

The reading interests of 300 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students were surveyed and compared to those revealed in previous research. The results indicated that the amount of time students reported reading outside of school per day has decreased slightly since a 1961 study by P. Witty, with females still reading more than males. As in the…

Forty-eight undergraduate secondary education majors were involved in an investigation of the relationships between participation in a preservice secondary school reading methods course (which included sharing of leisure reading books as well as the traditional format) and changes in attitudes toward teaching reading in the content areas, in…

Suggests that educators can help new readers develop the habit of reading by exposing them to easy-to-read, high-interest books, giving them time to practice reading, reading books aloud in class, and having students share their reactions to books with each other. (MM)

A brief review looks at student characteristics, interests, and preferences in entertainment, reading matter, politics, fashion, college choice, college major, food, alcohol use, fraternities and sororities, and military training. It identifies the most common reasons for attending college and the countries from which the most foreign students…

This article describes a theoretically informed methodology for eliciting the voices of adolescent boys identified by their teachers and parents as reluctant leisure time readers. Similar methods have also been used to draw out the voices of the boys' parents to understand their efforts to guide and maintain their sons' literacy practices, within…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: secondary school principals' attitudes toward characteristics of an ideal reading program; the effects of rock music on the reading comprehension of eighth grade students; objectives for…