This study described (a) the factors and activities in the home environment which appear to affect children's reading competence and affective dimensions of reading, (b) the parents' language style when interacting with their children, (c) the rate of reading acquisition for children from differing home environments, and (d) observable behaviors as children learn to read.

This master thesis constitutes a study into the history of reading. The object is to illustrate how reading practices of a few girls and young women were molded during the early decades of the twentieth century. By studying how reading was expressed in a specific historical situation, the prerequisites and changes of reading can be understood as part of a wider historical perspective. The primary material consists of 33 retrospective interviews that were recorded during the 1970s and 80s, wherein female respondents articulate their recollections of books and reading in their childhood and adolescent. The theoretical framework draws inspiration from the field of the history of reading, with influence from scholars such as Roger Chartier and Robert Darnton. The comprehension is that reading practices are shaped and limited by social and cultural factors, but the practices are also shaped by the liberties readers take within the prevailing limitations. The analysis shows that the home environment played a decisive role when it comes to the prerequisites for reading, and is closely intertwined with factors such as the parents' level of education, occupations and financial assets. As many homes suffered from a lack of reading material, the libraries connected to schools, religious communities or popular movements became valuable sources. Public education efforts, such as the emergence of public libraries and the spread of new, cheaper reading materials, had great significance for many of the girls, and made reading more varied and free. The overall picture shows that reading practices varied between different individuals. Different modalities of reading are closely intertwined with distinct individual prerequisites and the various opportunities which allowed the respondents to be active readers and tailor their reading practices to meet their own specific needs.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine and summarize the various facts concerning the reading interests and library habits of the second, third, and fourth year students enrolled in the Newsome Dougherty Memorial High School of Gainesville, Texas, for the school year of 1944-1945 as revealed through data collected by questionnaires and from library records.

The problem in this thesis is to determine the reading interests of the students of the Waxahachie High School for the first semester of the 1948-1949 school year.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is an exploratory study into the feasibility of the use of wordless picture books with the aim to develop a culture of and love for reading within the South African context, as approached from my viewpoint as an illustrator. Despite a growing body of literature that advocates the use of wordless picture books in educational and literacy development, not much research exists on their use within the South African context exists. Additionally, there are few locally published wordless picture books available in South Africa, with the market being dominated by American and European imports. Those that do exist locally lack variety and are largely labelled as educational. In addition, South Africa has a very low general reading rate, with reading and books being viewed as synonymous with an academic activity or obligation. Further, children are not encouraged to read for enjoyment at home, as their parents often do not have a reading culture of their own. Although educational books can be used in the home for joint reading, the use of books that are created for ‘strictly educational purposes’ leads to a risk of losing the magic of reading purely for enjoyment. A risk that runs parallel with this is the perpetuation of this negative view of reading in general. The inherent characteristics of wordless picture books serve as motivating factors that could contribute to developing a more positive attitude to books in general, and as such, foster a culture of reading that parents can transfer to their children. Through a semiotic and narratological analysis of wordless picture books, as well as a conceptualisation of the medium in my practical work, I debate the strengths of the medium as applied to the South African context. An empirical study forms part of this research in an effort to understand better how these books would function in joint reading between a child and their parent or primary caregiver. My fundamental argument is that the creation, production and use of this genre of picture books should be considered more favourably, and warrant further investigation within the South African context. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling is ‘n ondersoekende uitvoerbaarheidstudie oor die gebruik van boeke sonder woorde om ‘n kultuur van en liefde vir lees in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks te ontwikkel ,soos gesien vanuit my uitgangspunt as illustreerder. Ten spyte van ‘n groter wordende omvang van literatuur wat die gebruik van boeke sonder woorde in opvoedkundige- en geletterdheidsontwikkeling voorstaan, bestaan daar weinig navorsing oor hul gebruik in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Daarbenewens is daar min boeke sonder woorde wat plaaslik uitgegee word en word dié mark deur invoere uit Amerika en Europa oorheers. Dit wat wel plaaslik beskikbaar is, toon ‘n gebrek aan verskeidenheid en word meestal as opvoedkundig beskou. Verder het Suid-Afrika ‘n baie lae algemene leesgeneigtheid waar lees en boeke as sinoniem met ‘n akademiese aktiwiteit of verpligting beskou word. Voorts word kinders tuis nie aangemoedig om vir die genot daarvan te lees nie, omdat hul ouers dikwels self nie ‘n leeskultuur handhaaf nie. Hoewel opvoedkundige boeke tuis vir gesamentlike lees gebruik kan word, skep die benutting van boeke van ‘n ‘suiwer opvoedkundige aard’ die risko dat lees bloot vir die genot daarvan, verlore mag gaan. ‘n Risiko wat gelyktydig hiermee ontstaan, is die voortsetting van ‘n negatiewe siening oor lees. Boeke sonder woorde beskik oor inherente eieskappe wat as motivering vir lees dien en sodoende ‘n positiewer ingesteldheid teenoor boeke in die algemeen ontwikkel. Hierdeur kan ‘n kultuur van lees gekweek word wat ouers weer aan hul kinders kan oordra . Deur middel van semiotieke en narratologiese ontleding van boeke sonder woorde, sowel as ‘n konseptualisering van hierdie medium in my praktiese werk, beredeneer ek die sterkpunte van die medium soos toegepas binne die Suid-Afrikaanse opset. ‘n Empiriese studie vorm deel van die navorsing ten einde ‘n beter begrip te kry oor die benutting van dié boeke in gesamentlike lees tussen die kind en sy/haar ouer of primêre versorger. My grondliggende argument is dat die skepping, produksie en gebruik van hierdie genre van prentboeke sonder woorde gunstiger oorweeg behoort te word en verdere ondersoek binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks regverdig.

The thesis investigates the fictional uses of the figure of the unchaste woman over the period of the early feminist movement in order to trace attitudes towards woman as a sexual being and as a person in her own right. The cheap and popular literature of the period has been used both to illuminate accepted conventions, so that the achievement of major novelists can be more clearly understood, and to discover differences in style, moral intent, and emotional content of the fiction consumed by women of various social classes which may be related to class-based differences in feminine role, expectations, and self-image. [continued in text ...]

The aim of the present study is to paint an overall picture of how Voltaire interacted with the books that made up his personal library. Situated at the crossroads between history of the book, literary history and literary studies in the standard meaning of the term, it seeks to deepen our understanding of the ways in which Voltaire used his books and of the different types of notes that he left in them. These notes are of course texts in themselves – short ones, to be sure, but texts all the same – and their material, literary and polemical significance have never before been studied in depth. We begin by classifying the marginalia according to the function they seem to have played for Voltaire and, based on their material characteristics, by developing methodologies to analyse these short manuscripts, along with the non-verbal markings that accompany them. An analysis follows of the ways in which Voltaire used the white spaces in his books, then of the links that can be established between the signs of his reading and the genesis of his published works. Finally, we study the poetics of the marginal notes as well as the dynamics at work in the annotated library as a whole. Throughout, Voltaire’s notes and reading habits are placed in the context of the critical literature that has grown up around the subject of marginalia. Along the way, we compare his marginal notes to those of other literary figures of the period, for the subject of this study is clearly the marginalia of a writer, which are necessarily inextricably linked to his principal activity – writing. Indeed, one might speak of an interpenetration, of a blurring of boundaries between reading and writing. Beyond the marks of Voltaire's reading, the study of marginalia raises questions that are relevant for other non-canonical and paratextual materials. To place them in the spotlight transforms their status, and a note that was 'marginal' comes to be considered a text in its own right.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the introduction of a regular librarian-centered reading guidance program as an integral part of the entire school program would improve the reading attitudes and habits of elementary school students and increase the reading achievement scores on a standardized test of elementary school students. In addition, the reading attitudes of students were compared with reading achievement scores to assess any relationship between the two.

A group of 101 older adults (sixty-five years of age and over) who lived independently in three retirement apartment residences in Denton, Texas, were asked about their patterns of reading, television viewing, and radio listening habits for two periods in their lives: (1) at age forty to fifty-five and (2) at the present. Respondents were asked about their use of external information sources (public library, grocery store, newsstand, etc.) and their use of proximate information sources (radio, friends/relatives, television, etc.) They were also asked about access to transportation, income satisfaction, status of general health, vision, hearing, physical mobility and reasons for utilizing various information sources. Four hypotheses relating changes in health, environment, economic status, and education to reasons for reading and use of information sources were tested through the use of t-tests, regression analysis and analysis of variance. Within this group of older adults, use of external information sources decreased from the past to the present. There was, however, no change in the use of information sources located in or near the residence as difficulties in these areas increased. A relationship was found between educational level and reading for pleasure earlier in life. Also, those with higher educational levels reported fewer differences in their reasons for reading in the present and in the past.

Este trabalho é um estudo da circulação de livros e práticas de leitura entre anarquistas atuantes na cidade de São Paulo na década de 1930. Foi analisada a formação e o desenvolvimento do acervo da biblioteca do Centro de Cultura Social (CCS). Organizado por anarquistas em 1933 e fechado em 1937 com o Golpe do Estado Novo, encerrando sua primeira fase. Sua biblioteca, neste período foi constituída por livros, jornais e documentos de militantes anarco-sindicalistas e tinha como função servir de subsídio para as atividades deste centro de cultura, como leituras comentadas, palestras, cursos e atividades teatrais. Além desta fonte de pesquisa foram usados também resenhas e anúncios de venda de livros publicados nos jornais A Lanterna e A Plebe, entre 1933 e 1935 e documentos do DEOPS/SP, tais como autos de busca e apreensão de bibliotecas particulares de anarquistas e relatórios de investigação que tratavam de circulação de livros e jornais libertários. As pesquisas sobre história dos livros e práticas de leitura de Robert Darnton foram usadas como referencial teórico. Entre os autores dos livros da antiga biblioteca do Centro de Cultura Social e das bibliotecas particulares apreendidas chamam a atenção clássicos do anarquismo como Malatesta, Proudhon, Kropotkin, Elisée Reclus, mas também autores como Marx e Trotsky. Quanto aos gêneros literários foram encontrados ensaios, crônicas, romances e poesias. No que se refere à circulação dos livros verificou-se que eram vendidos em algumas livrarias na cidade de São Paulo, através dos jornais libertários e pelos próprios militantes. Entre os anarquistas eram frequentes tanto as práticas de leituras comentadas em espaços como centros de cultura e bibliotecas populares quanto às leituras individuais de obras adquiridas através de compra e guardadas em pequenos acervos particulares / This work is a study of the circulation of books and reading practices among anarchists active in the city of São Paulo in the 1930s. We analyzed the formation and development collection of the Centro de Cultura Social (CCS) Library. This center was organized by anarchists in the year 1933 and closed in 1937 on the occasion of the Estado Novo, ending its first phase. His library in that period consisted of books, newspapers, anarcho-syndicalist militant documents and had the duty to serve as input to the center of culture activities, as commented readings, lectures, courses and theatrical activities. In addition to this source of research we also used reviews and adverts of selling published books in the newspaper A Lanterna and A Plebe, between 1933 and 1935 and DEOPS / SP documents, such as notices of search and seizure of anarchists private libraries and research reports about books circulation and newspapers libertarians. Were used as a theoretical research of Robert Darnton on the history of books and reading practices. About the authors of the books of both libraries, the old library of the Centro de Cultura Social and the private libraries seized, draw attention classic authors of anarchism as Malatesta, Proudhon, Kropotkin, Reclus Elisée, but also others like Marx and Trotsky. In the Literary genres we found essays, stories, novels and poetry. Regarding to the circulation of books, was found that some were sold in bookstores in the city of São Paulo, through newspapers libertarians and by the militants. Among the anarchists were frequent as commented reading practices on spaces like centers of culture and public libraries as the readings of individual works acquired through purchase and stored in small private collections