| The Problem. There is evidence that the current "back to the basics" trend in education is emphasizing the cognitive domain to the neglect of the affective domain. A tenet of learning theory is that attitudes and interests, while difficult to identify and measure, are vital to the learning process. Regarding instruction in reading, achievement of the goal of developing lifelong readers is based on motivating students toward independent reading which is meaningful to the individual. Elementary school libraries have traditionally promoted reading for fun and to acquire information of personal value. Children's interests and attitudes are paramount considerations in enticing children to enter the world of books. This study is a description of the leisure reading component of the school library program in a Southern California suburban district of 25,000 students. The library program is based on a theoretical framework which combines Hunt's theory of "sustained silent reading," Fader's philosophy of "saturating" the environment with interesting reading materials, and Veatch's individualized reading system. The study called for measurement of student attitudes toward reading, an inventory of their interests and an assessment of the amount, variety, and difficulty of their leisure reading.;Results. The t test for correlated samples was used to determine the statistical significance between the pre- and posttests. Research question number one was answered as follows: no significant change was observed in the subjects' attitude toward reading from September to March. Subjects did improve slightly in attitude toward school, however. Analysis of the personal reading record cards indicated that the second research question was answered affirmatively to a small degree. There was a slight increase in the number of books read during the final two-month period of the study. The evidence is inconclusive; however, of the four variables considered, reading achievement, socioeconomic status, sex and Spanish surnames, sex difference seemed most closely related to reading attitudes and interests. The findings led to the conclusion that increased effort is needed to put into practice Early's summation of the theories mentioned above, "Surround children with books, set aside time for them to read, nudge them into books, but let them find their own level, and talk to them about reading.";Method. As a descriptive study, the research was designed to take a "snap-shot" of an elementary school library program emphasizing personal reading development. Research questions were: Will students indicate more positive attitudes toward reading and toward school at the end of the year than at the beginning? And will there be an increase in the quantity of students' independent reading from the first to the end of the year? Subjects were the entire fifth grade classes at two elementary schools. A combination of the students at both schools was representative of middle graders district-wide in reading achievement, socioeconomic status, boy-girl ratio, and the number of Spanish surname students. Two reading attitude instruments were administered as a pretest in September and again in March: the Dulin-Chester Reading Attitude Scale and the "Reading" and "School" components of the Right to Read Semantic Differential. Student interests were assessed with an interest inventory developed by Asher and others, which utilizes colored slides depicting various topics. Pupils maintained reading record cards of library books as they read them, and group charts were posted showing number and variety of books completed. |
PDF Full Text Request