Improving Children’s

Reading Attitudes

Michael C. McKenna Sharon Walpole

University of Virginia University of Delaware
 Today’s Goals
 Appreciate the role of attitude in acquiring
literacy.
 Recognize key factors in fostering positive
attitudes toward reading.
 Learn about effective methods of
improving reading attitudes.
 Back in School . . .
 Administer an attitude inventory to one
class (grade 2 or 3) and analyze the
results.
 Conference with the teacher about
possible steps that might improve
attitudes.
 Follow-up with the teacher on the success
of the steps taken.
 What is attitude?
A learned predisposition to respond
in a consistently favorable or
unfavorable manner with respect
to a given object.
– Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, p. 6, original
emphasis
 In other words . . .
 Attitude is an emotional response to the
prospect of reading.
 Attitudes can involve any proposed
behavior:
 Your attitude toward eating chocolate may be
more positive than your attitude toward eating
broccoli.
 A child’s attitude toward spending free time
reading may differ from his or her attitude
toward other ways of spending free time.
General
Attitudes can range
from general to
specific.

Specific
General Attitude toward Reading

Attitude toward Reading

about animal characters

Attitude toward Reading

Books by Arnold Lobel

Attitude toward Reading

Specific Frog and Toad books
Instruction that builds positive attitudes
toward reading should . . .

 Provide successful and engaging

experiences with reading.
 Strengthen beliefs that reading will be
pleasant.
 Challenge beliefs about peer expectations
concerning reading.
 Key research findings
The bad news:
 Attitudes toward reading tend to worsen over time.

 The decline begins in grade one!

 Attitudes worsen most rapidly for the worst readers.

 Girls have more positive attitudes than boys.

 The gender difference is unrelated to reading ability and is

documented in many languages and countries.
 Ethnicity does not, in itself, influence attitudes.

The good news:

 Some instructional approaches can be effective at improving attitudes.
McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth (1995)
 A Matthew Effect

McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth (1995)

 Key research findings
The bad news:
 Attitudes toward reading tend to worsen over time.

 The decline begins in grade one!

 Attitudes worsen most rapidly for the worst readers.

 Girls have more positive attitudes than boys.

 The gender difference is unrelated to reading ability and is

documented in many languages and countries.
 Ethnicity does not, in itself, influence attitudes.

The good news:

 Some instructional approaches can be effective at improving attitudes.
\
 Key research findings
The bad news:
 Attitudes toward reading tend to worsen over time.

 The decline begins in grade one!

 Attitudes worsen most rapidly for the worst readers.

 Girls have more positive attitudes than boys.

 The gender difference is unrelated to reading ability and is

documented in many languages and countries.
 Ethnicity does not, in itself, influence attitudes.

The good news:

 Some instructional approaches can be effective at improving attitudes.
 Key research findings
The bad news:
 Attitudes toward reading tend to worsen over time.

 The decline begins in grade one!

 Attitudes worsen most rapidly for the worst readers.

 Girls have more positive attitudes than boys.

 The gender difference is unrelated to reading ability and is

documented in many languages and countries.
 Ethnicity does not, in itself, influence attitudes.

The good news:

 Some instructional approaches have proved effective at improving
attitudes.
 Some effective approaches
 Facilitating interaction with better readers.
 Using high-quality literature chosen according to interests.
 Reading aloud to children.
 Stressing links to children’s lives and experiences.
 Teaching comprehension strategies.
 Arranging cross-age interactions.
 Providing chances to discuss literature.

– McKenna (2001)
 The NRP Report was not
What about using conclusive. However, it
incentives? seems likely that
incentives might improve
attitudes if:

1. They improve proficiency

by encouraging practice.
2. They expose children to
lots of engaging texts.
Some GARF assumptions . . .
 Explicit instruction in the five key areas is
not enough without a willingness on the
part of children to apply what they learn.
 The National Reading Panel recognized
this truth by addressing affective factors.
 Many instructional approaches build skills
and attitudes simultaneously.
 Coaches’ Corner
 What is your perception about the level of
reading attitudes in your school?
 Which of the research-based instructional
approaches do see most often?
 Which do you seldom see?
 Which not at all?
How do I begin tackling the
problem of reading attitudes
in my school?

Let’s start by assessing

the scope of the problem.
To do that we’ll use a
reading attitude survey.
McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring
attitude towards reading: A new tool for
teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43, 626-639.

Read this article. It introduces

the Elementary Reading Attitude
Survey (ERAS), a nationally
normed group instrument that is
quick to administer.
 What have we learned?
 What are the two 10-item subscales of the
ERAS?
 At which RF grades can the ERAS be given?
 How do you introduce the ERAS to children?
 How do you encourage honest responses?
 How do you score the ERAS?
 How do you find class means of raw scores?
 How do locate percentile ranks?
 Let’s Plan . . .
 Think of a classroom at grade 2 or 3 where you
suspect attitudes are a concern.
 List the attitude-building instructional
approaches that the teacher does not use or
uses too seldom.
 Back at School . . .
 Arrange with the teacher to administer the
ERAS.
 Duplicate, administer, and score it.
 Prepare a class roster with percentile ranks.
 Arrange a conference with the teacher.
 At the conference, review the ERAS results.
 Focus on the attitude-building instructional
approaches that the teacher does not use or
uses too seldom.
 Make a follow-up plan to revisit the teacher.
 References
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and
behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
McKenna, M. C. (2001). Development of reading attitudes. In
L. Verhoeven & C. Snow (Eds.), Literacy and motivation:
Reading engagement in individuals and groups (pp. 135-
158). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude
towards reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading
Teacher, 43, 626-639.
McKenna, M. C., Kear, D. J., & Ellsworth, R. A. (1995).
Children’s attitudes toward reading: A national survey.
Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 934-956.