This article reports the results of an interest survey given to children in four fifth and sixth grade classrooms. The author especially wished to determine if the sex differences in interest reported by so many writers (Norvell, 1958; McKay, 1968; Beta Upsilon Chapter, 1974) were still in effect today

Stevens, Kathleen C

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Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage ArtsVolume 21Issue 2 January 1981 Article 131-1-1981Reading Interests Among Fifth and Sixth GradeChildrenKathleen C. StevensNortheastern Illinois UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizonsPart of the Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the SpecialEducation and Literacy Studies at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. For moreinformation, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu.Recommended CitationStevens, K. C. (1981). Reading Interests Among Fifth and Sixth Grade Children. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and LanguageArts, 21 (2). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol21/iss2/13READING INTERESTS AMONG FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE CHILDREN Kathleen C. Stevens ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF READING NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Teachers have been urged to discover and utilize the reading in-terests of their students to promote enthusiasm for learning (Witty, 1959,1961; Purves and Beach, 1972). By discovering reading interests, it is hoped that teachers can encourage extra-curricular reading, thereby improving reading skills through this invaluable practice. Teachers should strive to encourage an interest in reading- what better way than to provide students with "interesting" books? This article reports the results of an interest survey given to children in four fifth and sixth grade classrooms. The author especially wished to determine if the sex differences in interest reported by so many writers (Norvell, 1958; McKay, 1968; Beta Upsilon Chapter, 1974) were still in effect today. METHOD The subjects were ninety-three fifth and sixth grade students in a small midwestern city. Fifty-one of the subjects were above the national mean in reading ability (average percentile = 67 on the SRA Assess-ment Survey, comprehension subtest). There was no difference in reading ability between males and females. The instruments used to assess interests were of two types. The first method employed a picture rating scale developed by Asher and Markell (1974). Children were shown a picture depicting the topic and asked to rate their interest in reading about this topic on a scale from one to seven. For example, a picture of an erupting volcano was shown, and children were asked to rate their interest in reading about this topic. The second instrument was the more traditional questionnaire, which asked children to rate their interest in topics on a scale from one to seven. The same thirty topics (see Table 1) were presented on both in-struments. Final topic score was the combined picture rating and ques-tionnaire scores. The possible high score was thus fourteen. By combin-ing the results of two methods, it was hoped to have a more "true" score for each topic. RESULTS The results of the survey are given in Table 1. The topics are ranked according to overall popularity. In addition, the average male score and the average female score are given for each topic. These scores were 148-rh tested (using a t-test) to determine if the differences between sex means were significant. Those topics which showed a significant difference between sexes (at the .05 level) are indicated by an asterisk in the last column of the table. DISCUSSION The results of this inquiry show that there are still differences in reading interests between boys and girls. Fifteen of the thirty topics showed sex differences. However, some topics on which differences might be expected (e.g., camping, rodeo, rats) showed no significant sex differences. This may indicate a diminishing of sex-based interests. The "winners" in the popularity contest among topics were outer space and galaxies. Many children showed by their comments that they associated these topics with the popular "Star Wars" movie and "Bat-tlestar Galactica" television show. Boys were special fans of these two topics (although outer space was #2 for the girls, and galaxies was #4). This seems to indicate that media have an effect on children's reading interests. The topic of "science fiction" finished a dismal twelfth in the Beta Upsilon Chapter's survey in 1974 (i.e., pre-"Star Wars"). Teachers are urged to use the results of this survey in order to pro-vide reading material of interest to their fifth and sixth grade students. They are also urged to investigate the interests of their particular group of students. By using the picture rating and questionnaire techniques, teachers can provide a check on responses. Only by assessing interests can we hope to provide students with materials of interest to them. TABLE 1 Mean Scores on Topics by Sex (Standard Deviations in Parentheses) average average average significant topic male female sex Topic score score score difference 1. outer space 12.08 13.02 10.29 (1. 77) (3.73) 2. galaxies 11.44 12.51 10.14 (2.19) (3.39) 3. sea lions 10.83 10.49 11.24 (2.49) (3.03) 4. volcanoes 10.54 11.68 9.14 (2.24) (3.39) 5. camping 10.23 9.77 10.79 (3.57) (4.20) 6. elephants 10.11 9.71 10.59 (3.48) (3.59) 7. rodeo 10.12 10.45 9.69 (3.39) (3.54) 8. fish 10.01 9.96 10.07 (3.33) (3.36) 9. bats 9.95 10.94 8.74 (3.07) (4.14) rh-149 TABLE 1 (continued) average average average significant topic male female sex Topic score score score difference 10. rockets 9.73 11.47 7.62 (2.69) (3.68) 11. birds 9.44 9.45 9.43 (2.87) (2.99) 12. jets 9.26 10.90 7.26 * (3.16) (3.68) 13. glaciers 9.24 9.63 8.76 (3.36 (2.84) 14. lightning 8.95 9.08 8.79 (3.76) (4.15) 15. baseball 8.60 9.63 7.36 (4.25) (4.4) 16. sailing 8.52 7.82 9.36 (2.84) (3.57) 17. radar 8.47 10.06 6.45 * (3.58) (3.89) 18. Coast Guard 8.29 9.08 7.33 (3.31) (3.96) 19. Lincoln 8.20 8.35 8.02 (3.79) (3.88) 20. photography 8.13 8.06 8.21 (3.57) (3.52) 21. lifeboats 7.92 7.98 7.86 (3.36) (3.54) 22. plants 7.86 6.75 9.21 (2.83) (3.38 23. sequoia trees 7.76 7.49 8.09 (3.37) (2.65) 24. insects 7.52 8.55 6.26 (3.85) (3.49) 25. rats 7.36 7.88 6.71 (3.55) (3.68) 26. termites 7.09 8.41 5.48 (4.09) (4.13) 27. Washington (George) 6.72 7.04 6.33 (3.30) (3.13) 28. coal mining 6.44 7.24 5.48 (3.39) (3.46) 29. aluminum smelting 5.95 6.76 4.98 (3.40) (2.73) 30. skyscrapers 5.57 5.88 5.19 (2.89) (2.88) lso-rh REFERENCES Asher, Steven and Richard Markell. "Sex Differences in Comprehension of High- and Low-Interest Reading Material," Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 66, no. 5 (19i4), pp. 680-687. Beta Upsilon ChapteI of Pi Lamuda Theta. "ChildIell's Readillg Illlelesls Classified uy Age Level," Reading Teacher, vol. 27, no. 7, (April 1974), pp. 694-700. McKay, James W. A Summary of Scientific Research and Professional Literature on Reading Interests, 1889-1965. Unpublished dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1968. Norvell, George W. What Boys and Girls Like to Read. Morristown, New Jersey: Silver Burdett, 1958. Purves, Alan and Richard Beach. Literature and the Reader. Urbana, IlHnois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1972. Witty, Paul. "Interest, Effort and Success," Education, vol. 79 (April 1959), pp. 480-486. Witty, Paul. "The Role of Inter~st," pp. 127-143 in NSSE Yearbook, Nelson B. Henry, editor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961. 

Reading Interests Among Fifth and Sixth Grade Children

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Reading Interests Among Fifth and Sixth Grade Children

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