In this degree project, a survey-study of 50 Swedish primary teachers’ attitudes towards reading and their choice of reading instruction practice in Swedish was made. The aim of the study was to examine Swedish primary teachers’ attitudes towards reading and how they describe their reading instruction practice. This to make it possible to examine if there is a relationship between the teachers’ attitudes towards reading and the choice they make about their reading instruction practice. The study aimed to answer the questions below: Considering the personal reading habit among the teachers, what kind of attitudes and perceptions of reading does the teachers in the study express? When it comes to their reading instruction practice, based on what principals do they describe their practice? What is described as important by the teachers when planning and contemplating reading instruction practice in Swedish? What does the teachers describe as successful motivators for a beneficial development in reading among the pupils? Is there a relationship between the teachers’ attitudes towards reading and their choice of reading instruction practice? Is the choice of reading instruction practice among the teachers influenced by the attitude towards reading that they have? The theoretical bases of this study were based on theories of functions of reading, the literacy language practices emergent literacy and skill-based read readiness and also on the theory of attitudes value in decision making.As a conclusion, this study finds that there is evidence for a relationship between the teachers’ attitudes towards reading and their choice reading instruction practice in Swedish. It is shown that the teachers’ attitudes towards reading could be seen as influential in the choice of reading instruction practice. This since there is a correlation between how reading is defined, descried and how the purpose of reading is described, in both of the aspects which the study investigated. / I detta självständiga arbete gjordes en enkätstudie av 50 svenska lågstadielärares attityder gentemot läsning och deras val av undervisningspraktik i läsundervisningen i Svenska. Syftet med studien var att undersöka svenska lågstadielärares attityder gentemot läsning och hur de beskriver sin läsundervisningspraktik i svenska. Detta för att undersöka utifall det fanns en relation i vilken attityd gentemot läsning de hade och de val de gjorde i utformandet av sin läsundervisningspraktik i svenskämnet. Studien syftade till att besvara dessa frågor: Utifrån den personliga fritidsläsningen, vilka attityder och inställningar gentemot läsning uttrycker lärarna i studien? Utifrån vilka principer beskriver lärarna sin läsundervisningspraktik? Vad framhåller de är av vikt vid planering samt genomförande av läsundervisning i svenskämnet i lågstadiet? Vad framhåller lärarna som motivatorer för en gynnsam läsutveckling hos eleverna? Finns det en relation mellan lärarnas personliga attityd samt förhållning gentemot läsning och deras val av metod i läsundervisningen? Är deras val av metod i undervisningen influerad av vad de personligen anser om läsning? De teoretiska utgångspunkterna i detta självständiga arbete baseras på teorier om funktioner av läsning, teorier om språkundervisningspraktikerna emergent literacy samt skill-based read readiness och också på teorier om hur våra attityder står i relation till de val och beslut vi gör. Sammanfattningsvis finner denna studie att det finns bevis för en relation mellan lågstadielärarnas personliga attityder gentemot läsning och hur de väljer att konstruera sin läsundervisningspraktik i svenskämnet. Detta då det finns en korrelation mellan hur lärarna i studien definierar och beskriver läsning samt syftet med läsning,  båda de aspekter som studien undersökte.

College reading programs are traditionally remedial or developmental in nature and often take a decontextualized skills based approach to reading and to supporting college readers (Holschuh & Paulson, 2013). Skills oriented deficit-based approaches to reading provide deficit-based frameworks for readers to construct self-perceptions. TLS 239 Literacy Tutoring is an undergraduate service-learning course where students learn about reading process and theory and develop strategies to tutor in community schools for twenty-four required hours. Coursework frames literacy as a socially constructed process and students engage in a miscue workshop, strategy presentations and in exploring the reading process. In this study, I examine the coursework of 38 students enrolled in TLS 239 and students' reports of shifting their perceptions and self-perceptions of literacy through coursework that challenged their literacy conceptualizations. In this study, I conceptualize Ken Goodman's (2003) theory of revaluing as restorying through a construct of story (Bruner, 2004; Short, 2012) and a semiotic theory of inquiry (Peirce, 1877), a process of fixating new belief. This struggle, or inquiry into reading provides a framework for students to renegotiate and restory their perceptions of literacy and their self-perceptions as literate. Findings indicate that conceptualizing reading as a socially constructed process including the construct of a reading transaction (Rosenblatt, 1994) and the construct of miscue (Goodman, 1969) was anomalous to college students' perceptions of literacy and caused students to doubt previously held misconceptions about reading. Students reported shifts towards conceptualizing reading as the construction of meaning, shifts towards positive self-perceptions as readers, and shifts in their literacy engagements. Students reported an increase in confidence, reading differently, reading more effectively, becoming metacognitive, reading more assigned readings in college, reading more for leisure and feeling more actively engaged in their other courses. Implications include conceptualizing literacy learning as social and emotional learning and the pedagogical implications of literacy instruction framed within a construct of inquiry.

Individuals with dyslexia have an unexpected difficulty learning to read. This difficulty produces other effects, such as poor reading attitudes, meaning many choose not to read. Reading is a valuable source of information and entertainment, therefore individuals with dyslexia require better reading support. This study attempted to develop an intervention to improve reading attitudes using video self-modelling (VSM). VSM involves individuals watching carefully created videos of themselves correctly performing target behaviours. During this 1 month intervention, 14 participants (13 male and 1 female) aged 9-14 who had dyslexia were asked to watch a weekly video of themselves silently reading one of four types of material: academic digital, academic print, recreational digital or recreational print. The participants’ reading attitudes and ability were measured before and after the intervention using the Survey of Adolescent Reading Attitudes and the Wide Range Achievement Test–Fourth Edition, respectively. Their reading habits and affect while reading (as a proxy measure of reading attitudes) were monitored during the intervention using a daily reading diary. This study did not detect any systematic or reliable changes in reading habits, affect while reading, reading attitudes and reading skills. This may have been due to limitations in the procedure, or it is possible that VSM cannot affect attitudes and that reading attitudes alone do not have a strong influence on ability. Consequently, future research should use VSM to help individuals with dyslexia by focusing on specific reading skills, such as phonological awareness.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur lärare och speciallärare i årskurserna 1–3 upplever att elever med lässvårigheters attityder och motivation till läsning påverkar deras läsutveckling. De forskningsfrågor som besvaras är: Vad upplever informanterna att elevernas attityder och motivation påverkas av?, Hur hanterar informanterna elevernas attityder och motivation till läsning? och på vilket sätt undervisar informanterna eleverna för att utveckla deras attityder och motivation till läsning? Den teoretiska utgångspunkten som studien intog var teorier om läsutveckling baserat på forskning. Studien utgick från Lundberg och Herrlins (2005) definition av de fem olika dimensionerna som eleverna behöver behärska för att anses som goda läsare. Forskningsmetoden som använts i studien utgick från teorin, teorier om det subjektiva, som är grunden för en fenomenografisk teoribildning. Materialet utgjordes av semistrukturerade intervjuer och de informanter som studien hade var strategiskt utvalda. Intervjuerna utgick från en intervjuguide och efter avslutad intervju transkriberades dem. Dessa transkriberingar analyserades med en tematisk analys. Det resultat som framkom utifrån intervjuerna är att samtliga informanter stött på olika grupper av läsattityder. En grupp utgör elever som anser att läsning är lustfyllt och därmed har positiva attityder till läsning och en grupp utgör de elever som anser läsning är mindre lustfyllt och därmed har negativa läsattityder. Informanterna anser också att föräldrarnas attityder till läsning påverkar elevernas läsattityder. Lärarna och speciallärarna hanterar elevernas läsattityder på olika sätt men samtliga informanter anser att det är viktigt att stötta eleverna i deras läsutveckling, för att minska risken att eleverna skapar negativa läsattityder. De har olika tillvägagångssätt i sin undervisning för att ta hänsyn till elevernas läsattityder. Samtliga informanter är däremot eniga om att elevernas läsattityder påverkar deras läsutveckling. / The purpose of the study is to study active teachers and special teachers 'experiences of how pupils with reading difficulties' read attitudes and motivation affects their reading development. The research questions that will be answered in the study are: What do the teachers describe that the involved pupils reading attitudes and motivation are influenced by and how do they mean that the pupils' attitudes affect their reading development? How do the teachers describe the way in which they handle the pupils’ reading attitudes? In what way do the teachers describe that they are teaching to affect pupils' attitudes for reading? The study is based on general theories of pupils’ reading development. This study will be based on Lundberg and Herrlins (2005) definition of the five different dimensions that pupils need to master in order to be considered as good readers. Theories on the subjective, in this respect phenomenological theory, provide the methodology of the study.  The material comprise of semi structured interviews and the candidates in the study were strategically selected. The interviews were based on an interview guide and after the interview, they were transcribed. These transcripts were analyzed by a thematic analysis. The results show that all candidates encounter diverse groups of attitudes to reading. One group constitutes pupils who think reading is fun and thus have a positive attitude to reading and one group constitutes those pupils who consider reading are less fun and thus have a negative attitude to reading. The candidates also consider that the attitudes of parents to reading influence the readings of pupils. Teachers and special teachers handle student readings in diverse ways, but all candidates consider it important to support pupils in their reading development, to reduce the risk of pupils creating negative readings. They also make different in their teachings to consider the pupils' readings. All candidates, on the other hand, agree that pupils' reading positions affect their reading development.

Describing the Reading Motivation of Four Second-Grade Students with Varying Abilities Kathy White Department of Teacher Education Master of Arts The purpose of this study was to describe the differences and similarities among four second-grade students with different abilities and different motivations in the development of their reading attitudes and motivations. A multi-case study design was used to describe the literacy profiles of the participants. Data relating to participants' attitudes, motivations, and values for reading were collected for six weeks from conversational interviews, student observations, parent interviews, student histories, and interviews with previous teachers. Four major results were found in the areas of attitudes, motivations, and values. First, the results for attitudes showed high-ability students were confident readers who were motivated to take a leadership role in collaborating about reading. Students with low abilities had poorer reading self-efficacy, blamed others for not being able to read, thought they were unlucky in reading, and lacked the confidence needed to collaborate with others about their reading. Second, results for assessing motivation were unpredictable and varied from student to student. High- and- low- ability students were motivated by both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. A third result showed participants in the study whose families were more involved in supporting reading at home, regardless of the participants' reading abilities, had high self-esteem, had future goals for learning, and were more motivated to read than the student from the home without achievement related values. Fourth, reading motivation scales may not be accurate with early elementary students. Qualitative methods are a more accurate source of information about young children's motivations to read. Hoping to read, another aspect of motivation, is discussed.

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This essay aims to investigate Swedish upper secondary school students' perceptions about their attitudes and motivation towards extensive reading in English. Further, this essay also aims to investigate students' attitudes towards self-selected reading as a potentially more motivational classroom strategy in comparison to teacher-selected reading. The main research questions addressed are 'What are Swedish upper secondary school students' attitudes to extensive reading in English?' and 'Do the students perceive self-selected reading to be more motivational than teacher-selected reading?'. The hypothesis is that students recognize learner autonomy to have a positive effect upon their reading attitudes and therefore prefer self-selected reading materials. Through collecting data using mixed methods consisting of 40 questionnaires and seven interviews, and further analyzing this data using qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics, this study presents several findings. The results show that students’ attitudes are mixed: students are both more positive and negative towards extensive reading in English than for reading in general. Through further comparing the students' attitudes regarding the two reading selection practices—self-selected or teacher-selected reading—this study shows that 90% of students believe that self-selected reading would positively impact their reading enjoyment. Additionally, the results also imply that it is not necessarily learner autonomy that students perceive as likely to improve their reading attitudes, but that they rather just want their reading materials to align with their personal interests. This degree project essay concludes that many of the students are not feeling intrinsically motivated to read in their English class, and are thus relying on extrinsic factors for motivation instead, such as grades, which leaves them with negative reading experiences and attitudes. Finally, some pedagogical implications in relation to this study's findings are discussed.

This essay aims to investigate Swedish upper secondary school students’ extramural reading (ER) habits as well as if and how these habits affect students’ attitudes toward and motivation for reading in the L2 English classroom. The research questions addressed are: “What are Swedish upper secondary school students’ extramural reading habits?” and “Do students’ extramural reading habits affect their a) attitudes toward, and b) motivation for reading in the L2 English classroom? If yes, in what way?” As engagement in extramural English is suggested to both motivate and demotivate students to read in school, this essay can provide insights into how students’ extramural reading habits affect the reading they do in school. A questionnaire is used to collect data from 99 Swedish upper secondary school students from all three English courses. The questionnaire consists of closed-ended and open-ended questions about the students’ extramural reading habits, attitudes toward and motivation for reading in the L2 English classroom. Quantitative content analysis is used to analyse the data. The findings of this essay reveal that the reading habits of the participating students are varied. While some students read extramurally in English frequently and in a large quantity, others never read extramurally in English. The most commonly read text types are web texts and subtitles. Furthermore, the results show that some aspects of students’ attitudes toward reading in the L2 classroom are significantly affected by the students’ ER and that 77% of the students agree to some extent that their extramural reading provides them with more motivation to read in school. To conclude, pedagogical implications in relation to the findings of this essay are discussed.

112 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the influence of so called "genetic method of initial reading learning" for further readership of children in the third class of elementary school. The aim of this thesis is to compare children's results in individual monitored elements at both children taught earlier by so called "analytic-synthetic method" and those taught by the "genetic method" monitoring the impact of both methods on these results. The data obtained has been linked with the effects brought by individual teachers. Subsequently, proposals for each of the monitored classes were presented to optimize the reading skills development. The theoretical part contains the topics that are closely related to children's reading skills development. The practice part is based on the research leading to the fulfillment of the thesis objectives. A questionnaire for children and teachers was used as the main source of data. The conclusion summarizes the thesis learnings and points out its results showing positive impacts of "genetic method" combined with specific activities used by the teacher. In the conclusion, I refer also to the steps for further reading skills development proposed for each of the classes monitored, which can become an inspiration for all teachers who care about the children's reading.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between preschool children&rsquo / s reading attitudes and their home literacy environment. In addition, children&rsquo / s perceptions of reading in terms of their reading attitudes were examined as a part of this study. The sample of this study consisted of 261 parents and their 5 year-old children who were enrolled preschool in Ankara, Turkey. The data of this study were collected through child interviews, demographic information forms, and the following questionnaires: the Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire (Umek et al., 2005) and the Preschool Children Reading Attitudes (Saracho, 1986) questionnaire. These questionnaires were both translated into Turkish, and statistical analyses were conducted to control for validity and reliability issues through a pilot study. The results of the study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between preschool children&rsquo / s reading attitudes and their home literacy environment. In addition, the study revealed there were some differences in children&rsquo / s reading attitudes and their home literacy environment in regards to demographic variables. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that children who have more positive reading attitudes tended to give clearer and more detailed responses to questions and were more aware that writing contains messages. In addition, those children mentioned letters and the role of letters in the learning to read process.