Children's attitudes toward reading: A national survey Understanding the role of attitude in developing readers is important for two principal reasons. First, attitude may affect the level of ability ultimately attained by a given student through its influence on such factors as engagement and practice. Second, even for the fluent reader, poor attitude may occasion a choice not to read when other options exist, a condition now generally known as aliteracy. Although the necessity of understanding attitude is unquestioned for these reasons, progress toward such understanding has been slow. Research into methodologies and correlates is frequently contradictory, a situation that is the likely result of (a) psychological theories that fail to define and account for what Athey (1985, p. 527) has termed "shadowy variables" associated with attitude; (b) psychometrically inadequate instruments that have been relied upon in the past to examine attitudinal questions; and (c) overgeneralization based on small and idiosyncratic samples. This study was undertaken to address these problems and to explore anew some of the central issues associated with attitude toward reading. It is important to acknowledge, however, that the approach to attitude assessment employed here has inherent limitations and that further investigation using other paradigms is needed to adequately understand the complex processes through which children acquire attitudes toward reading.

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To examine the current state of reading attitudes among middle school students in the United States, a survey was developed and administered to 4,491 students in 23 states plus the District of Columbia. The instrument comprised four subscales measuring attitudes toward: recreational reading in print settings, recreational reading in digital settings, academic reading in print settings, and academic reading in digital settings. Factor analysis confirmed the factor structure corresponding to the four subscales, and reliability coefficients for these subscales ranged from 0.78 to 0.86. Correlations among the subscales varied considerably, due largely to the recreational digital subscale. Analyses of variance subsequently confirmed a pattern for the recreational digital subscale that differed from that of the others. For academic digital, recreational print, and academic print, the attitudes of females were more positive than those of males; however, for attitudes toward recreational reading in digital settings, the pattern was reversed. In addition, results for three of the subscales showed a gradual worsening of attitudes from 6th to 8th grade. The exception was academic print, for which attitudes did not differ by grade. No interactions were observed between grade and gender for any of the subscales. Results are discussed in the context of attitude theory and the rapid evolution of digital literacy and its social uses by adolescents.

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Electronic books (e-books) are a prevalent method for integrating technology in preschool and elementary classrooms; however, there is a lack of consensus concerning the extent to which e-books increase literacy skills in the domains of comprehension and decoding. This article assesses the efficacy of e-books with a comprehensive review method, including a systematic literature search, comparison of outcomes with effect sizes, and discussion of individual studies that met either (a) randomized-trial synthesis criteria, or (b) quasi-experimental/observational narrative synthesis criteria. Seven studies met the randomized-trial criteria and 20 studies met the quasi-experimental/observational narrative review criteria. Results from the randomized trials indicate that the effects of e-books on comprehension-related outcomes were small to medium in size. Only two randomized trials examined decoding-related outcomes, thereby preventing firm conclusions. The narrative review suggests some interactive e-book features support comprehension, whereas other incongruent features may hinder comprehension. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.