Surveys such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) enable educators, policymakers and the wider community to compare Australian students with each other, as well as their counterparts across the…

Children's attitudes towards, and frequency of recreational reading influence their reading skill level. The aim of this study was to determine the relative influence of research-supported intrinsic and extrinsic variables that can shape this attitude and practice, and to investigate the use of artificial neural network as an adjunct approach in…

This study aims to investigate the influence of story creation on young EFL learners' reading performance. Action research was adopted to examine the effects of two different story reading projects in a library setting in Taiwan. Each project comprised a group of 19 young EFL learner from Grades 4 to 6 (aged 10-12). The first group's activities…

In line with the Matthew-effect in reading, reading comprehension and leisure time reading tend to be reciprocally related. Whereas prior research invested much efforts in the identification and description of variables explaining individual differences in reading comprehension, less efforts were spend on the exploration of variables important for…

This paper presents one elementary school librarian's experience using gamification and game-based learning in the specialist classroom. While the academic literature on gamification and game-based learning is increasing, there has not been much written on using these techniques in the specialist classroom. Using a case study method, the…

Teachers hold significant power to determine which books or printed materials students might access, choose, or reject. It is important to consider how teachers' objectives, understandings, or perspectives serve as literacy sponsorship and implicitly privilege or suppress which texts, genres, or authors students access. This case study examines…

Introduction: This study examines the impact of the availability of reading resources in the school, the classroom, the home and the social environment on the reading proficiency of Grade Four primary school students in Hong Kong. Method: Data about the reading performance of Hong Kong students in the 2011 Progress in International Reading…

This study aimed to employ machine learning techniques to uncover the pivotal determinants influencing the reading proficiency of fourth-grade students across 65 regions, as participants in the PIRLS 2021 assessment. The primary objective was to discern and assess key factors at the student, family and school levels that predict high and low…

In this qualitative research we employed the case study method to identify the factors that affect Turkish fifth to eight graders' selection of books to read and the reasons that cause them to stop reading the books they have selected. To identify those factors and reasons, data were collected from a total of 32 participating students who were…

Several instruments previously validated for use in school library research were tested for their appropriateness in the context of public libraries' summer reading programs for youth. The researchers were also interested in whether the connection between perceived competence in one's own information skills and perceived competence in one's own…

This paper is based on two studies conducted in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2008 and in Kampala, Uganda, in 2014. The basic research question addressed in both studies was: "What are the experiences in the lives of upper elementary-aged children that foster an intrinsic motivation to seek information?" The secondary question was:…

Research continues to demonstrate that motivated readers read more, yet too often students are not exposed to genres that might motivate them to continue reading. Further, students might not be encouraged to read outside their preferred reading genre. When students are unmotivated to read, they often do not read or do not finish the books they…

In this study, we examined students' access to text, defined as the number of texts freely available to children in their classrooms. From 60 elementary classrooms across five states, we catalogued the books in first, third and fifth grades in both high- and low-achieving schools (based on state-wide reading test scores) to create a database of…

This article is an investigation into the Reading Partners scheme at a large inner London comprehensive school in England; this research comes from a small scale study I carried out as part of my Masters of Teaching at the Institute of Education, University College London. Reading Partners is a project whereby younger and older students within the…

We compared students from schools with an enriched school library--that is, one with a larger and more up-to-date book collection--with students from schools with a typical school library. We tested effects of an enriched school library on reading motivation, reading frequency, and academic skills. Fourth- and fifth-grade students of 14 schools…