An investigation into the relationship between reading achievement and attitudes towards reading of third and sixth grade students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of a statistically significant relationship between attitudes toward reading and reading achievement in grades three and six. -- The sample consisted of one hundred and fifty students from three different schools under the jurisdiction of the Avalon Consolidated School Board. The students comprised all of the grades three and six students in the aforementioned schools. All students were administered the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests and the Estes Reading Attitude Scale. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test measured achievement, whereas the Estes Reading Attitude Scale measured attitude towards reading. -- After the data was collected, an initial interpretation was undertaken by running frequency distributions and histograms using the raw data. These distributions were used to place the data into categories of high, average, and low reading and positive, neutral and negative attitudes. -- A one-way ANOVA was used in the final interpretation to measure the interactions of reading achievement with attitudes towards reading in grades three and six. A two-way ANOVA was used to determine the influence of grade on the interaction of reading and attitude toward reading. This was also used to determine the effect of sex on the interaction of reading achievement and attitude towards reading. -- At the .05 level of confidence, statistical analysis supported the theory that attitude and reading are directly related. It was found that attitudes affect reading in grades three and six. One unanticipated finding was that sex was not a determinant of differences in reading comprehension for grade three pupils. However, by grade six, there was a strong-relationship between sex and reading, in favor mainly of girls. The investigator's subjective interpretation was that there should be more done in the schools to foster positive attitudes towards reading, especially with boys in the elementary grades.