Reading Preferences of Middle School Students

Abstract

Four fundamental language skills interact with each other. Developing reading skills will also develop listening,speaking, and writing skills. Reading comprehension, using what is understood on new subjects and learning newwords during reading can influence listening comprehension as well as oral and written self-expression. Generalcomplaints of teachers and parents regarding middle school students are that the students do not read enough.Increasing love for reading in middle school students can only be possible by determining the interests and needs ofthose students and guiding the students towards those needs and interests. When the literature was reviewed, therewere no functional researches regarding the reading preferences of middle school students. In this regard, this studywas necessary to contribute to the literature.The purpose of this study was to determine the reading preferences of middle school students. The pattern of thisresearch was created based on qualitative case study and under the scope of this study, 25 participants were selectedfor each class level including 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Data was collected with the semi-structuredinterview technique. Data was themed by two experts using content analysis. Similar answers were converted intonumerical data and presented in the form of tables. Examples from student statements were given to support thetables. The results of the research indicated that a majority of students preferred reading on printed resources,selected novels as genre, read texts with 300 or more pages, and preferred adventure as subject. Additionally,students expressed that unknown words in reading texts should be low, they voluntarily spend 1-2 hours per dayreading, and preferred silent reading.