Findings from a study of 120 first grade children who had regular access to language arts computer experiences indicate (1) young children do not perceive reading as a female activity; (2) for writing there was no consistent gender association; (3) computer use was seen as a masculine activity by all children. (IAH)

Investigates book report policies and how they affect the volume of and attitude toward student reading. Recommends that educators establish a clear, reasonable book report policy; involve parents, teachers, and students in the design and implementation of a schoolwide or districtwide policy; keep developmental needs of early adolescents in mind;…

Discusses the rationale and technique for using subtitled foreign films with an integrated language approach in a developmental college reading class. Reports student attitudes. Shows that the subtitled films motivated students to read, gave them good time on task, and improved their knowledge of other cultures and eras. (SR)

Examines a broad spectrum of college students' understanding of reading. Finds that students of lower ability characterized good readers as those who read quickly and often, and they characterized the reading process as a passive activity; more capable readers viewed reading as an interactive process. (RS)

Discusses the attitudes and issues of reluctant readers by describing the author's son Jonathan, an intelligent young man who came to hate reading. Offers advice for teachers from Jonathan regarding how they can help students enjoy reading more. Presents annotations of 11 new or overlooked young adult books worth reading. (SR)

Describes how two fifth-grade boys developed and sustained a love of fantasy books. Describes how these two discriminating readers have developed taste and a social context for their reading experience. Shows how their experience demonstrates important principles about reading and about reading curriculum. (SR)

Finds that, in making "good reader" judgments, upper-elementary children mentioned 15 separate criterial categories, clustered into four major category groupings, most frequently referencing the "public performance/fluency" category (word recognition, word analysis, and reading rate), but also mentioning "teacher practices,""affect," and…

Explores the role of literacy and curriculum in identity construction among fifth graders. Suggests: (1) there was a coherence of perspectives about six of the students while there was less agreement for the other six students; (2) literacy was a more important feature of some students' identities than others; and (3) the literacy curriculum…

Describes an activity in which students generate questions they ask themselves with regard to reading, becoming aware of their own inner dialog and thus of what they can do to be successful and what they unwittingly do to inhibit their own success. (SR)

Reports a study that examined the long-term stability of the construct of children's attitudes toward reading. Elementary students completed the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey twice over three years. Results indicated that children's attitudes about reading exhibited a consistent decline; girls expressed more positive attitudes toward…

Presents students' responses when the author asked whether or not it was worthwhile to study King Lear. Recognizes that she could not sell Shakespeare to her students and that most of them will never read another of his plays. (SG)

Describes how the author introduces her students to books by talking about the character in the books as if she knows them and as if they are her friends. Notes how referring to characters as "friends" opens up more possibilities for open discussions of sometimes controversial topics. (SG)

Describes a high school language arts elective course on the novel, based on copious reading both in and out of class, a mix of assigned books and personal choice books in a broad range of difficulty in sophistication, and a wide range of activities, discussions, and writing. Notes enthusiastic responses, individual victories, and the sense of…

The central theme of this paper is that developmental reading courses in college settings need to be revised in ways that will not perpetuate cycles of remediation that students have experienced in previous educational settings. Developmental reading courses are filled with students who possess poor concepts about themselves as readers. These…

This article considers what happened when a teacher posed the following question to her fifth graders during literature discussions: "Why might we read more than one story about a topic or a person?" As the students responded to this question across several weeks, they began to develop a more comprehensive conception of themselves as readers,…