A study examined what factors made content area literacy learners have positive or negative attitudes toward reading at various stages and what sociocultural dimensions influenced positive or negative attitudes toward reading. Subjects, 35 Hawaii students and 18 mainland students, completed an autobiography assignment as part of a required content…

A study investigated Swedish students' attitudes about the point of being able to read. Subjects were 53 Swedish students in grades 5 and 8. Their answers were distributed into three categories: a survival and participation perspective; a dynamic-instrumental perspective; and a personal experience perspective. Regardless of performance level, most…

This concise report explores the issue of student reading motivation, and relates it to the use of the Accelerated Reader (AR) reading management program. The report discusses issues of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation, and notes that the points students earn for taking Accelerated Reader tests are not extrinsic rewards but simply a…

To increase the reading level of students who come from homes where reading is not valued or modeled, a social context was created where inexperienced readers could interact with adults and books. Three students from homes where reading was not valued were read to by adults two to three times each day for six weeks. Discussion of the book was…

This publication recounts the childhood experiences of one boy at the Tennessee School for the Blind and his use of braille and talking book library services. It also describes his frustration at the rationing of braille reading materials at the school, and how his enormous appetite for reading material led him to "beat" the school's…

A group of 40 elementary school librarians in the greater Phoenix area of Arizona were invited to participate in a study of the effects of an experimental school library motivational program on library use, library attitudes, and reading attitudes of elementary school students. Librarians at 13 schools participated, with 11 completing the study.…

A study investigated the attitudes normal and disabled readers have toward reading to determine if differences existed between the two groups. Subjects, 40 normal readers and 40 students from remedial classes in grades 3 through 6, each completed the Estes Attitude scale. The results indicated a significant difference in attitudes toward reading…

Seventy-five fifth grade students were administered an interest inventory to determine their attitudes toward reading and the kinds of reading materials they preferred. In addition, an observer completed reading behavior checklists for each student, and the students completed a second inventory to discover the amount of reading they did as opposed…

This study investigated the effects of story mapping on reading comprehension. Subjects, 20 second-grade students of below-average reading achievement, were presented over a 10-week period with activities in story mapping utilizing a variety of story map frames. The Metropolitan Achievement Test was administered as a pre- and posttest. Results…

This practicum was designed to provide a setting where negative attitudes toward reading in eight eighth-grade literature students (in a small private school in a large southeastern city) would be modified. The practicum aimed to provide students with regular opportunities for successful experiences in reading, and to promote the enjoyment of…

A content analysis of programing on the three major television networks was conducted to determine the number of positive role models who read actively on television. Programs on each network were analyzed for one week, and all references to or acts of reading were tabulated and categorized according to their purpose. These included characters…

An initial study (Ram 1) in Denmark in 1970 determined whether methods could be developed to assess the effect of textual passages on readers' experiences of a short story. Subjects, 717 Danish secondary students, were given a questionnaire to check on the effect of specific auctorial techniques and to chart readers' attitudes and the way they…

Reading as a pastime is basic to creativity and intellectual mind expansion as well as to the appropriate development of listening skills. Reasons for the decline of listening and communication skills can be attributed in part to misuse of media, to latch-key children, to decreased support from parents for reading at home, to lack of sufficient…

To examine the effects of traditional reading programs on children's attitudes toward reading and what influence children's literature might have on such attitudes, a study proposed a possible rationale for incorporating children's literature into the curriculum to provide a more balanced reading program for students. The study compiled 60…

To identify the profile of the active older reader, indepth taped interviews were conducted with 23 retired individuals for whom reading was an important part of daily living experience. Demographic data indicated that the highest education level attained varied from grammar school to a master's degree. Developmentally, the lifetime reader…