Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. The 52 articles selected from those presented at the 1979 meeting of the National…

The impact of a parent-school partnership program on elementary school children's reading achievement and attitudes is being evaluated over five years. The program involves the parents in children's reading activities and allows them to influence their children's attitudes toward school achievement. Participating parents agree to support seven…

A study (involving 100 children in grades 1-5) investigated whether children thought of reading as especially a male or female activity. Findings indicated that in grades 1-4, boys regarded reading as mostly a feminine activity, while in grade 5 boys regarded reading as mostly a masculine activity and girls regarded it as mostly a feminine…

A study was conducted to discern reading habits of adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) students in two Mississippi junior colleges. A sample of 217 students was administered a questionnaire about reading habits. The sample was studied as a whole and by the demographic variables of race, gender, age (14-19; 20-29;…

Representing the expertise of university education professors and public school teachers, the articles in these proceedings focus on encouraging reading and fostering lifelong reading habits. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Television and Books: Friends or Foes" (Jeannetta H. Caplan); (2) "Encouraging the…

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a 10-week, after school reading program developed to motivate reluctant readers through reading aloud to them and through giving them books to read. Appropriate paperback books were read aloud to unmotivated readers in grades 3 and 4 for about 10 minutes or until a particularly exciting part…

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…

The case study of James, a semiliterate 16-year-old delinquent, illustrates (1) the importance of learners' language strengths, (2) the importance of learners' perceptions about the nature of assigned tasks, and (3) the need to examine reading instruction as a possible contributor to delayed literacy. When James was asked to tape record a story,…

Initiated in the fall of 1965 in an effort to raise the reading and language levels of skill-deficient students in grades two through six, the Hartford, Connecticut, Intensive Reading Instructional Team (IRIT) program has proven its effectiveness, and has been expanded through Title I funding. Each year, three groups of 45 students are selected to…

A study was conducted to examine and describe the knowledge and beliefs of elementary school teachers and students regarding the acquisition of reading comprehension skills during reading instruction and the application of those skills during social studies instruction. One teacher and 26 fourth and fifth grade students were observed daily over a…

This monograph contains a discussion of a telephone survey conducted to gain more knowledge about the job-related reading, functional reading, and leisure reading habits of a representative sample of adults from Anderson, Indiana. The discussion highlights survey results by demographic variables, reports specific analyses of survey items, and…

This practical guide for parents who care and want to help children learn to read and enjoy reading discusses ten ways in which parents and the home environment can influence reading habits and attitudes. These include: (1) encouraging the child while he or she reads, (2) reading aloud to the child and listening while he or she reads aloud, (3)…

A reading program's effectiveness can be assessed by investigating skills improvement together with attitude improvement. Frequently, teachers make questionable assumptions about student reading attitudes. To provide educators with a more accurate picture of students' expressed feelings, students' attitudes toward reading should be measured with…

A study was conducted to determine what beliefs secondary school students held about reading and to compare those beliefs with a set of elementary school teachers' beliefs identified by G. Duffy and W. Metheny. Three hundred high school students from freshman, junior, and senior social studies classes completed a revised version of the 45-item…

To support young children in bringing all of their resources to bear on constructing meaning from print, teachers must be aware of how children learn, must make use of a variety of learning materials, and must carefully prepare the contextual setting in which children move into reading. Teachers should focus on planning a classroom reading…