The increasing use of digital technologies has implications for reading. Online and on-screen reading often consist of engaging with multiple, short, multimedia snippets of information, whereas longform reading is in decline. Meta-analyses have identified a screen inferiority when reading informational texts, but not narrative texts. The mode…

Fiction reading is a popular leisure activity associated with a variety of pleasurable experiences, including suspense, narrative transportation, and--as indicated by recent empirical studies--also flow. In the context of fiction reading, flow--generally defined as a pleasurable state of mind experienced during an optimally stimulating…

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between parents' reading motivation and leisure reading frequency and their children's reading motivation. Secondary data analysis was used to examine a sample of almost 330,000 Chilean adolescents. The results of multilevel regression models revealed that parents' reading motivation and…

Reading skills are considered an important lever for success in school and active participation in society. They are positively associated with reading motivation, reading self-concept, reading frequency, and behavioral engagement in reading (e.g., time, effort), variables that tend to decline as students move from elementary to secondary school.…

Does reading a lot lead to better reading skills, or does reading a lot follow from high initial reading skills? The authors present a longitudinal study of how much children choose to read and how well they decode and comprehend texts. This is the first study to examine the codevelopment of print exposure with both fluency and comprehension…

Why should children read in their leisure time? Reading may contribute to the acquisition of reading literacy and may foster integral human development. However, there has been a scarcity of research on determinants of leisure time reading among elementary school students, especially regarding environmental aspects. In this article, the authors…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between the amounts of time that U.S. and Chilean students spend on conventional academic reading, extracurricular reading, and Facebook and also to report the types of materials they prefer to read. The study surveyed students in the United States (n = 1,265) and Chile (n = 2,076)…

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…

Presents information regarding frequently occurring reading tasks both at work and in leisure settings. Concludes that (1) competencies exist that can be measured independently, (2) these competencies are distinguishable in terms of goals and procedures of reader, and (3) activity as measured by time spent with material for a specific task is…

Finds that reading practices involving books and work documents bore a strong relationship to literacy proficiencies, and that younger adults were more likely to read brief documents for work, while older adults were more avid newspaper readers. Concludes that engaging in a diversity of reading practices is indicative of reading maturity and has…

Concludes that preschoolers, unlike older children, view books and reading as masculine objects and activities. (AEA)

Examines the effectiveness of an early literacy intervention project for inner-city children in grades 1-4. Discusses the factors that predicted reading growth as the number of rime patterns taught, story grammar instruction, the number of words the child read at home, and parent involvement in recreational reading. Considers results and…

Reports on five studies which investigated reading for pleasure. Finds that this reading is characterized by within-text reading rate variability, is more arousing physiologically than other waking activities, and gives readers a feeling of control. Also finds that the Fog Index of readability predicts readers' preferences and difficulty rankings.…

Analyzes the relationship between amount of time devoted to leisure reading by Irish elementary school children and a series of personal, home, and school variables. Reports that reading consumed 5.4 percent of available leisure time and that the variables considered accounted for only 22.9 percent of the variation in time in book reading. (MKM)

Examines the association of reading instruction with the amount and breadth of students' reading activities, taking account of social, cognitive, and home factors. Finds that, for students aged 9, 13, and 17, amount of reading was associated with levels of social interaction surrounding reading, cognitive strategies for reading, and…