Reading Guidance: A Study Based on an Analysis of the Interests, Habits, and Abilities of a Selected Group of Ninth Grade Students at Horace Maynard High School

This study was an evaluation of efforts to stimulate and motivate the development and refinement of the attitudes and habits involved in the personal reading selections of ninth grade students. The specific purpose was to determine the extent to which reading interests can be elevated and broadened under a carefully planned reading guidance program. The guidance procedures used were based on an analysis of the reading interests and abilities of a selected group of students.

The problem of this investigation was to determine the following:

1. Into what categories do the personal reading interests and reading abilities of these students fall?

2. What relationship do sex and intelligence have to reading interests and preferences?

3. To what extent does the home environment affect achievement in reading and the development of literary taste as reflected by the reading choices of the students?

4. As a result of the planned reading guidance program, is there evidence of broadened interests and elevated reading tastes in (a) the quantity of books read, (b) a wider range of subjects selected, and (c) the quality and maturity level of books chosen?