The use of children's literature to foster positive reading attitudes in primary children with reading difficulties

Strong, Elizabeth Lee (1978) The use of children's literature to foster positive reading attitudes in primary children with reading difficulties. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Children's attitudes toward reading and their personal motivation to read are very powerful influences in their learning to read. It is, therefore, the responsibility of teachers to foster in all children desirable attitudes toward reading while giving them adequate and efficient command of reading skills. -- The purpose of this internship was to select and to implement challenging and enjoyable reading activities for children who had encountered difficulties in learning how to read during their first three years of school. The function of these reading activities was to stimulate and to develop in these children positive attitudes toward reading. -- The literature reviewed was related to ways of fostering in children an interest in and love for reading. It affirmed that the use of children's literature can exert a positive effect on the development of children's reading attitudes and habits. The more exposure children have to good books and the more opportunities they have to interpret and to share their reading experiences, the greater is the probability that they will develop an interest in and a love for reading. -- Procedurally, the internship project involved the following: the identification of the sample, the creation of the reading environment, the organization of group and individual instruction, the sharing and interpreting of children's literature, and the expansion of interests in children's literature. -- The nine six-and seven-year-old children selected for this project were identified by standardized tests and classroom observations. The project was carried out over an eight-week period in an elementary school. -- Evaluation was based on the children's reactions to the project and their comments about their own involvement in it, the classroom teacher's impressions of the project and its effect on the children, and the intern's observations of the project. The evaluation indicated that the three objectives of the internship project had been successfully fulfilled. The books selected were accepted and enjoyed by the children and were suited to their diverse needs, interests and abilities; the reading activities proved to be both challenging and pleasurable and were effective in the development of reading interests and habits; the books and the related activities together were instrumental in developing and fostering in all the children a positive attitude toward reading.

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