Comparing Reading Attitudes and Academic Achievement of Eighth Graders.

Classroom teachers in the 1990s are encountering more and more students who are uninterested in learning. In fact, some students begrudge even opening up their books whether it be to read, spell or solve math problems. These negative attitudes are believed by many teachers to have a significant bearing on the students' ability to perform well in any given subject area. A study therefore investigated the correlation between attitudes toward reading and performance in reading. Subjects, 35 eighth-grade students out of a class of 360 predominantly white, lower middle class, urban junior high students in Ohio were given the Wisconsin Reading Attitude Inventory Form which assessed their attitudes toward reading. The scores on the inventory were then compared to the grades the students received in their seventh grade reading class last year to see if a correlational relationship existed. The results were determined by establishing the mean, standard deviation, median, Cronbach's reliability of each part of the inventory and how they correlated with the grades students received. For this group of readers, the results revealed that a low correlation existed between any attitude score or a combination of scores and grades in seventh grade reading class. (Contains seven references and one table.) (Author/TB)