Measuring Attitude Toward Reading: A New Tool for Teachers

In 1762, philosopher Rousseau specu lated that any method of teaching reading would suffice given adequate motivation on part of learner. While present-day educators might resist such a sweeping pro nouncement, importance of attitude is nev ertheless widely recognized. The Commission on Reading in its summary of research (An derson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) concluded that a skilled reader re quires... learning that written material can be interesting (p. 18). Smith (1988) observed that the emotional response to reading...is primary reason most readers read, and probably primary reason most nonreaders do not read (p. 177). Wixson and Lipson (in press) acknowledge that the student's attitude toward reading is a central factor affecting reading performance. These conclusions are based on a long history of research in which attitude and achievement have been consist ently linked (e.g., Purves & Beach, 1972; Walberg & Tsai, 1985). The recent emphasis on enhanced reading proficiency has often ignored im portant role played by children's attitudes in process of becoming literate. Athey (1985) suggested that one reason for this tendency is that affective aspects of reading tend to be ill-defined and to involve shadowy variables (p. 527) difficult to conceptualize, measure, and address instructionally. The focus of recent research and develop ment in assessment has been comprehension rather than attitude. Some progress has been made in development of individually ad ministered, qualitative instruments, but quan titative group surveys, which form a natural complement to qualitative approaches, are of ten poorly documented in terms of desirable psychometric attributes, such as normative frames of reference and evidence of reliability and validity. Our purpose was to produce a public-domain instrument that would remedy these shortcomings and enable teachers to es timate attitude levels efficiently and reliably. This article presents that instrument along with a discussion of its development and sug gestions for its use.