The Attitudes of Fifth and Sixth Graders in Kuwait Governmental Schools towards Recreational and Academic Reading in English

The current study is a quantitative research that examined the mean differences of the students' attitude towards reading, based upon several demographic variables (such as gender, grade level and social media devices usage) The researchers used the Students' Reading Attitude Survey (SRAS) as the dependent variable; the sample consisted of 812 young elementary students (from the 5th and 6th grade) randomly selected from public schools. The research findings revealed that Kuwaiti students possess favorable attitudes toward both leisure and academic reading. Girls showed more positive attitudes toward reading than boys did. Younger students from the 5th grade showed more positive attitude toward reading than those of the 6th grade. Nevertheless, the results indicated that having an account in Instagram, Snap chat, or YouTube, or possessing a smart device had a negative effect on attitudes towards reading. This study is expected to help curriculum designers, education policy makers, and English teachers to promote independent reading amongst school students and enable them to move beyond traditional books by encouraging them to form a community of life-long readers in the Arab world.