A study of parental reading attitude and selected school life variables as predictors of the reading attitude and reading achievement of grade eight students

Witherall, Wayne (1987) A study of parental reading attitude and selected school life variables as predictors of the reading attitude and reading achievement of grade eight students. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study sought to investigate the relationship between selected school-life variables: parental reading attitude and the reading attitude and reading achievement of the grade eight student. -- The subjects of this study were one hundred and forty students from an urban and a rural school in Central Newfoundland. All students completed the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (Canadian edition), Level E, Form 1, the Estes Attitude Scale for reading and the School Life scale. The parent sample completed the Parent Attitude Scale, an instrument designed by the investigator to assess parental attitude toward reading. -- After the data were collected, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the significance of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables of the study. Correlation coefficients were calculated for the total group of subjects and for males and females separately. -- At the .05 level of confidence, statistically significant correlations were found between many of the variables of this study. The correlation between reading attitude and reading achievement in this study supports the theory that attitude toward reading and reading achievement are directly related. Another variable that was found to be significantly associated with the students' reading achievement was the reading attitude of the parent or guardian. It was found that significant correlations existed between the reading attitude of the maternal and paternal parent or guardian and the reading achievement of both the male and female student. With regard to reading attitude, it was found that the reading attitude of the paternal parent significantly correlated with the female students' reading attitude, while the maternal reading attitude was significantly associated with the reading attitude of the male students. Correlations between maternal reading attitude and the female students' reading attitude and between paternal reading attitude and the reading attitude of the male student were not significant at the .05 level of confidence. -- The school life variables found to be significantly related to the reading attitude of both sexes were the students' perceptions of their identity, opportunity and quality of school life. A positive relationship was also found between the reading attitude of the female students and their perceptions of their status. A significant inverse relationship existed between quality of school life and reading attitude when the total group was analyzed. Only the students' perceptions of their opportunities were significantly associated with the reading achievement of the total population of students. When analyzed by sex group, none of the school life variables significantly correlated with the students' reading achievement. Students' perceptions of their teachers did not significantly correlate with either the students' reading attitude or reading achievement when analyzed by sex group. However, a positive association did exist between reading attitude and students' perceptions of their teachers when the total population was assessed.

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