Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of the correlation between. reading achievement and attitude toward reading. This relationship was further analyzed by comparing correlations utilizing the following variables: sex, grade level, and socioeconomic settings.The following information was available for each subject in the study1. Sex2. A reading achievement score 3. A reading attitude scoreThe population of this study consisted of five hundred fifty-three (553) students in grades four, five, and six from the Dayton City Schools, Kettering City Schools, and Wolfe County Schools. The students were all members of heterogeneously-grouped self-contained classrooms. All students completed the California Reading Achievement Test,Level 3, Form A and the Estes Attitude Scales: Elementary Form, and ninety (90) of these students were interviewed utilizing the Reading Attitude Interview.The California Reading Achievement Test, Level 3, Form A, contained two sections, the first section contained forty (40) vocabulary questions and the second section contained forty-two (42) comprehension questions. Both sections were answered by utilizing one of the four (4) multiple choice answers provided for each question.The Estes Attitude Scales: Elementary Form consisted section contained fourteen Likert rated questions. All three sections were administered but only the reading section was scored.The five (5) students at each grade level in each socioeconomic school setting achieving the highest five (5) pairs of scores on the reading achievement test and reading attitude scale (accounting for forty-five (45) students) were administered the Reading Attitude Interview. The same procedure was followed for the five (5) students at each grade level in each socioeconomic school setting who achieved the lowest five pairs of scores on the reading of three sections: mathematics, reading, and science. Each achievement test and the reading attitude scale (accounting for forty-five (45) students). The aforementioned procedures accounted for an interview population of ninety (90) students. The interview instrument was devised and field tested by the investigator to analyze various possible influences on the student's attitude toward reading.Statistical processing of the data was conducted by calculating Pearson Product-Moment correlations for null hypotheses one, two, and three. Hypotheses four through twelve were statistically treated by computing Pearson Product-Moment correlations, Fisher Z-transformations, and two-tailed t-test values.Twelve major null hypotheses were tested at the.05 level of confidence to determine the relationship between reading achievement and attitude toward reading and also the influences exerted by the variables of sex, grade level, and socioeconomic setting.It appears from this study that reading achievement and attitude toward reading are correlated significantly. The degree of significance varied somewhat but the male students generally produced higher correlations than their female counterparts.Only one instance indicated a significant difference between correlations due to the sex variable. The fifth-grade rural male students produced significantly higher correlations than their female counterparts.One instance indicated a significant difference between correlations due to the variable of grade level. The fifth-grade students in a rural school setting produced significantly higher correlations than their sixth grade counterparts.Two instances of significant differences between correlations due to the variable of socioeconomic school setting occurred. In both instances, the sixth-grade students of rural and urban school settings produced significantly higher correlations than the sixth-grade students in a suburban school setting.Information from the Reading Attitude Interview revealed that the mother in the home appeared to be the greatest single influence on reading attitude, followed closely by the student's school environment and finally by the influence exerted by the student's peers.