Abstract
Statement of the Problem
This study will examine sixth grade students' interest and attitudes towards reading, determining whether the book cover, protagonist, race, or gender of main characters are factors in book selection, and examining whether there are patterns or trends across genders. This study also addresses the following questions: "What can educators do to utilize student interests and encourage them to become life-long readers? What are the factors that determine a student's choice in an independent reading book?" Overall, this study sought to address the declining reading attitudes of sixth grade students and obtain a better understanding of student reading interest as primary students enter upper elementary grades.
Sources of Data
Three sources of data were analyzed: a Likert scale interest survey that focused on students' attitudes towards reading, and two book questionnaires that were administered pre-and post-book selection, which had both open-ended questions and Likert scale questions. The methodology employed for this study involved both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Participants were required to fill out the interest survey prior to choosing a book to read from a selection of nine titles. Qualitative data was analyzed using a thematic approach while quantitative data collected was tallied and recorded.
Conclusions Researched
Results of this study demonstrated that the book cover, protagonist, race, and gender of main characters does influence students' book selection. Findings also indicated that the gender of the reader played a major factor. On the interest survey, male students said that the gender of the main character of a book is not a factor in selection, but in practice, male students mainly chose boy-centered books, while female students chose both girl-centered and boy-centered books. This finding demonstrated that female students crossed the gender line more often in their book selections than male students. Peers were also an influence on a student's book selection.