Children's Interest In Reading Research Articles

The Home Literacy Environment and Preschool Children's Reading Skills and Interest

Research Findings: This study explored the association between the home literacy environment (HLE), conceptualized as comprising parents’ reading beliefs and home literacy practices, and preschoolers’ reading skills and reading interest. It also identified factors in the HLE that predict emerging reading competence and motivation to read. A total of 193 children age 6 years from 14 preschools across Singapore and their parents participated in the study. The parents completed a reading belief inventory, a family literacy activity inventory, and a demographic questionnaire that surveyed the child's reading interest. The children were administered a battery of standardized literacy tests. The study found a moderate relationship between the HLE and children's reading competencies and a strong relationship between the HLE and children's reading interest. When parents’ education level and children's age were controlled, hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that family literacy activities contributed more unique variance to children's reading outcomes and reading interest than did parents’ reading beliefs. Active parental involvement was the strongest component of the HLE, with parent–child engagement in reading and writing emerging as the best predictor of both the child's emerging reading skills and reading interest. With respect to reading beliefs, parents’ efficacy in supporting literacy development before their child attended school positively predicted reading competence, as did parents’ affect and verbal participation in fostering reading interest. However, verbal participation negatively predicted Singapore children's reading competence. Practice or Policy: The implications of the results were discussed.

Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: Effects on language and literacy.

This study investigates the effects of parent-child shared book reading and metalinguistic training on the language and literacy skills of 148 kindergartners in Hong Kong. Children were pretested on Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, morphological awareness, and reading interest and then assigned randomly to 1 of 4 conditions: the dialogic reading with morphology training (DR + MT), dialogic reading (DR), typical reading, or control condition. After a 12-week intervention period, the DR intervention yielded greater gains in vocabulary, and the DR + MT intervention yielded greater improvement in character recognition and morphological awareness. Both interventions enhanced children's reading interest. Results confirm that different home literacy approaches influence children's oral and written language skills differently: Shared book reading promotes language development, whereas parents' explicit metalinguistic training within a shared book reading context better prepares children for learning to read.

Modeling the Early Paths of Phonological Awareness and Factors Supporting its Development in Children With and Without Familial Risk of Dyslexia

The development of phonological awareness (PA) before school age was modeled in association with the development of vocabulary and letter knowledge, home literacy environment (HLE), children's reading interest, and beginning reading skill in children with and without familial risk of dyslexia. A total of 186 children were followed from birth to the age of 6.5 years. Of these children, about half had a familial background of reading difficulties (the at-risk group), and the other half came from families without such background (the control group). The data from several measures and assessment time points were analyzed within an SEM framework, and a latent analysis of growth curves was employed. Vocabulary and letter knowledge were found to predict PA development, and vice versa, PA predicted them. The effect of HLE on PA was mediated by vocabulary skills, and of the HLE variables, the only variable predicting vocabulary development was shared reading. In spite of the difference in level, favoring the controls, the pattern of effects of vocabulary and letter knowledge on PA development was highly similar in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. However, in the at-risk group, the HLE variables and children's reading interest had stronger associations with each other and with skill development than in the control group, and vocabulary predicted parental reports on children's reading interest in the at-risk group only.

Promoting Emergent Literacy in a Pediatric Clinic: Predictors of Parent-Child Reading

Shared parent-child reading during the preschool years is significantly related to children's emergent literacy skills. Factors potentially predictive of shared reading were assessed among low-income families of preschoolers (N = 79) attending a pediatric clinic. Demographic, experiential, attitudinal, and caretaker literacy measures were examined in relation to 2 self-report measures of shared parent-child reading: DeBaryshe's (1995) Reading Exposure Composite and Needlman, Fried, Morley, Taylor, and Zuckerman's (1991) Activity Recall Literacy Orientation. Regression analyses revealed that caretaker reading beliefs, self-reported caretaker literacy, and child interest in reading were significant predictors of both shared reading measures. Results are discussed in terms of implications for primary prevention programs aimed at encouraging children's emergent literacy skills in public pediatric settings.

A Study of Children's Reading Interests

A Study of Children's Reading Interests

The Reading Interests of Children in the Primary Grades

Law in a Free Society Santa Monica, California Textbooks that are used to teach reading in the elementary school should offer children material that appeals to them, material that will motivate them to learn to read. More than a decade ago Kagan (1) wrote that the content of reading materials was a major factor in children's acquisition of reading skills. Children want to learn to read largely because there are people, places, events, or information they want to read about. It is the responsibility of authors of reading textbooks to present material that is appealing and that motivates children to read. Educational researchers have long been concerned with children's reading preferences. Zimet (2) found more than three hundred studies of children's interests and story preferences covering a broad and varied range. Wiberg and Trost (3) did research on children's free-choice library selections. Thorndike (4) and Emans (5) studied the effects of socioeconomic background, age, and sex on children's reading preferences. Peller (6) related psychoanalytic concepts to children's reading preferences. Most of this inquiry consists of surveys or correlational studies rather than ex-

Children's Reading Interests. Schools Council Working Paper 52

Children's Reading Interests. Schools Council Working Paper 52

Literature in the Elementary School

R ESEARCH in the field of children's literature during the three-year period under review was characterized more by dearth than by abundance. Articles on various aspects of children's books, authors, and classroom activities filled the journals, but few reflected well-organized research design. The most significant studies were those which dealt with (a) attempts, based on sound research principles, to ascertain reading interests and tastes of children and (b) the influence of literary experiences on the psychological functioning of the individual. Some reported efforts at individualized reading instruction, but few based choices of materials on judgments of children. Adult judgments of literature for children seemed still to prevail in selection and utilization. Children's Reading Interests The most comprehensive research on children's reading interests was reported by Norvell (1958), whose study included findings based on approximately 960,000 expressions of opinion of more than 24,000 children in grades 3 to 6 in all sizes of schools in New York State. Some conclusions were based on an augmented sample using data from the same geographical area. These data, with what were gathered earlier, brought the total sample to more than 4 million expressions of opinion from 124,000 children. Twenty-five hundred teachers assisted in the study, which was in process for more than 25 years. The aim was to devise a procedure for data collection for classroom teachers which would yield results that could be combined with other independent studies carried out by the same procedure. Further aims included devising ways to determine (a) the number of pupil reports on a given literary selection necessary to yield a dependable reading-interest score; (b) the effect of age, intelligence, and sex on interest factors; (c) the influence on children's interests of adventure, humor, and romantic love in selections; (d) the effect of quality of teaching on reading interests; and (e) change from grade to grade of children's enjoyment of literary materials. Methods of collecting, processing, and interpreting the data were explained in detail. Carefully controlled statistical procedures were employed to assure reliability of results.

An Investigation into the Reading Interests of Children

MANY QUESTIONS have arisen as to the effect which certain kinds of reading materials have upon children. The reading of comic books, for example, has been of great concern to educators as well as to par ents. The blood and thunder type of comic has been criticized by var ious sources as a very important causal factor in juvenile delinquency. However, great doubt exists in professional circles that the etiology of delinquency can so simply be* found. 1 I n r e viewing recent lit e r a t ure regarding this topic, one is led to believe that more research is needed to determine just what role the reading of children plays in their behav ior patterns. Fiction, even by people not in the field of psychology, has frequently been considered as a type of fantasy. In this type of reading the individ ual is supposed, throws himself into the action presented, and i de nti fies himself with one or more of the characters portrayed. Through reading the individual may shake loose the bonds of reality and do things which he has been prevented from doing, either by inhibiting forces in the environment or by inhibition arising from within himself.

The Informational Needs and Reading Interests of Children in Grades IV Through VIII

The Informational Needs and Reading Interests of Children in Grades IV Through VIII

The Reading Interests of Children and the School

The Reading Interests of Children and the School

Some Results of a Twelve-Year Study of Children's Reading Interests

Some Results of a Twelve-Year Study of Children's Reading Interests

Guiding Child Interest in Reading for Pleasure

Guiding Child Interest in Reading for Pleasure

Reading the Comics—A Comparative Study

In another manuscript1 the writer pre sented data concerning children's interest in the comics. Three hundred thirty-four boys and girls in grades IV, V, and VI of the Evanston, Illinois schools were interviewed. The investigation disclosed a genuine inter est in comic books, magazines, and strips in all grades. The average number of maga zines read was about thirteen; three were read regularly; an additional three were read often, and six were read occasionally. Read ing the comic strips was also a popular pur suit; an average of twenty-five comic strips were read. Of these, thirteen were read regularly and four were examined often. Finally, about sixty per cent of the pupils reported that they enjoyed making their own comics. These data attest unequivocally to a general interest in comics among middle grade children, and they suggest the validity of the statement that the comics represent children's major reading interest. The purpose of this investigation is to study the interests of children selected at random from 2500 public school youngsters on the same points as those covered by the preceding investigation. Children in grades IV, V, and VI of eight schools in Chicago and vicinity were interviewed. Samples of one hundred each were made at random by including the reports of every twentieth child in the first sample, and proportionate num bers in other samples. Eliminations and ad ditions were made until the samples were constituted in the manner shown in Table I. The samples showed remarkable agreement. Hence, it seemed that the method provided 1 See the preceding paper in this number of the Journal. Ed. Table I

Children's Reading Interests as Related to Sex and Grade in School

Children's Reading Interests as Related to Sex and Grade in School

Reading Interests of High-School Children

Much has been written in books and magazines about the reading in terests of children of the primary, the elementary and even the junior high school, but there is little material about the reading interests of the senior high-school pupils, perhaps because it is generally accepted that the ideals and interests of the adolescent child are all nicely formed in his juvenile years and that these persist through late adolescence. In an effort to discover what girls of high-school age like to read, a survey was made in the Julia Richman High School by the school librarians. This school is one of New York's largest schools for girls, having a registration of about 4000. The student body is average for New York City, being made up of all nationalities with a large percentage of Jews. The school offers a four year general course with academic, commercial and fine arts ?lectives. It is divided into four groups based on the re sults of elementary school records, observation, and intelligence tests. Special emphasis has been placed upon vocational guidance and the course for the group of lowest intelligence has been modified in order to meet their needs. The survey was made largely in the school library which is used for reference and reading by eight to nine hundred pupils daily and has an average circulation of two hundred books per day. The survey con sisted of a questionnaire, a set of cards, a set of compositions on the reading preferences of a second term class, and the pupils' records of books read for outside reading during the four years of high school. The questionnaire was planned in an endeavor to discover the most popular titles among high-school girls, the kinds of fiction in the order of their preference, the magazines which they read most, and the effect of the physical makeup upon their choice of books. The form used was as follows: TABLE I Questionnaire Section Age 1. Name five books which you have read and liked. 2. Arrange the following kinds of fiction in the order of your preference : Stories of Home, Love stories, Mystery stories, Fairy stories, Character stories, School stories. 3. Name three magazines which you enjoy reading. 4. Answer the following questions with yes or no. 1. Do you prefer books which have illustrations? 2. Do you prefer books with bright covers? 3. Do you dislike large books? 4. Do you like thin books? 276

The Influence of Intelligence upon Children's Reading Interests

The Influence of Intelligence upon Children's Reading Interests

The new books on our shelf

Abstract The Winston Simplified Dictionary, Advanced Edition. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., 1927. Price, $2.64; $2.88, with thumb index. The Art Digest. Edited by Peyton Boswell. Hopewell, N. J. Semi‐monthly; Vol. 1, No. 9, is March 1, 1927. Subscription: $1; after May 1, $2; for five years, $5 (for the present only). The Practical Teacher. By Charles E. Holley (James Millikin University). New York: The Century Company, 1927. Pp. 306. Price, $2. Experiments in Writing. By (Mrs.) Luella B. Cook (Central High School, Minneapolis). New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1927. Pp. 504. Farm Projects and Problems for Elementary Schools. By Kary C. Davis. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1927. Pp. xii + 539. Price, $1.40. Tip‐Offs for Proofreaders. By H. B. Cooper. Philadelphia (1520 North Robinson Street): John W. Lea, 1927. Pp. 91. Price, $1.50 ($1 in paper covers). The Science of Things About Us. By Charles E. Rush and Amy Winslow. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1926. Pp. xiii + 318. Price, 90 cents. The Meaning of Psychology. By C. K. Ogden (Magdalene College, Cambridge). New York and London: Harper Brothers, 1926. Pp. xxi + 326. Psychology: Its Methods and Principles. By F. A. C. Perrin and D. B. Klein (University of Texas). New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1926. Pp. x + 387. Statistics in Psychology and Education. By Henry E. Garrett (Columbia University). New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1926. Pp. 13 + 317. Price, $3.50. Organic Chemistry. By William A. Noyes. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1926. Pp. xix + 677. Childhood's Fears. By C. F. Morton. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925. Pp. 284. Classroom Tests. By Charles Russell (Massachusetts State Normal School, Westfield). Boston: Ginn & Co., 1926. Pp. v + 346. Price, $1.60. Trends in American Secondary Education, the Inglis Lecture, 1925. By Leonard V. Koos. Cambridge: The Harvard University Press, 1926. Directed Observation and Supervised Teaching. By J. Herbert Blackhurst (Purdue University). Boston: Ginn and Co., 1925. Pp. xii + 420. Price, $1.80. Ancient History. By Severe E. Frost. Fort Worth: The World Co., Inc., 1924. Pp. 96. United States History. By Severe E. Frost. Fort Worth: The World Co., Inc., 1924. Pp. 69. Brown‐Woody Civics Test. By A. W. Brown (University of Michigan) and Clifford Woody (University of Michigan). Yonkers, N. Y.: World Book Co., 1926. Pp. 11. Price, $1.30 for package of 25. Principles and Practice of Cooperative Marketing. By E. G. Mears and M. O. Tabriner. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1926. Pp. viii +579. Illustrated. “Maps.” By Paul M. Paine, Librarian, Syracuse Public Library, Syracuse, N. Y. (1) A Map of Good Stories; (2) A Northward Map of Truthful Tales; (3) A Map of Adventures; (4) A Map of America's Making; (5) A Book‐Lover's Map of America. Medical and Sanitary Inspection of Schools. By S. W. Newmayer. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1924. Pp. x + 462. Children's Reading Interests. By Arthur Melville Jordan. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1926. Pp. 103. Canadian Wonder Tales. By Alfred E. Logie. Chicago: Row, Peterson & Co., 1925. Pp. v + 228. Everyday English. By Caroline L. Laird, Hallie D. Walker, and Anna M. Locke. Chicago: Row, Peterson & Co., 1926. Genetic Studies of Genius, Vol. I, Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousands Gifted Children. By Lewis M. Terman (Stanford University) and others. Stanford University, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1925. Pp. xv + 648.

A Study of Primary Children's Reading Interests.

A Study of Primary Children's Reading Interests.