Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

6-1981

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Paul C. Burns

Committee Members

J. Estill Alexander, Lynn Cagle, Earl M. Ramer

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to determine the self-concept and attitude toward reading of a group of kindergarten children who had begun to read. In addition, interrelationships among self-concept, reading attitude and level of reading ability were examined.

Ten different kindergarten classrooms were selected in two school systems in West Tennessee. Teachers in the classrooms were asked to identify children they thought to be reading. The Classroom Reading Inventory was administered to the children so identified in order to determine that they were reading on or above preprimer level. Twenty children whose reading levels ranged from preprimer to grade four comprised the sample.

The Primary Pupil Reading Attitude Inventory

and the Brown-IDS Self-Concept Referents Test were administered to the children by the investigator to measure self-concept and attitude toward reading. Each teacher completed a questionnaire designed by the investigator to provide information concerning the child's reading behavior.

The stated purposes of the study were to report information that would indicate how selected children felt about themselves when they learned to read before first grade, how they perceived that their mothers, teachers and peers felt about them, and what attitude they had toward reading. Test results showed that the early readers in the sample had very positive self-concepts as determined by their own view of self and their view of the perceptions of their mothers, teachers and peers about them. The most positive view was that of the child and the teacher. The view of the mother and peers was slightly lower but also positive. The attitude toward reading varied widely with a majority of the children having poor attitudes.

Four additional questions were formulated for the study. Question one asked if a generalization could be drawn about the level of reading ability and the self-concept and/or attitude toward reading. All self-concept scores were positive regardless of the level of reading ability. Although great variability existed in reading attitude, it did not correlate with reading ability; however, generally lower scores were made by children reading above the preprimer level.

Question two asked if there were any notable differences between boys and girls in self-concept, reading attitude or both. There were no notable differences in self-concept. Girls tended to have more positive attitudes toward reading than boys.

Question three asked if children with the most positive self-concept also had the most positive attitude toward reading, Reading attitude could not be inferred from self-concept.

Question four asked if information gained from the teacher questionnaire would be important to consider with regard to early reading children. Teachers indicated that those children who learned to read in kindergarten could be expected to start after the beginning of the calendar year. The classroom behaviors that could be expected were reading labels in the room, writing on the chalkboard and classmates' names in written form rather than books.

The following tentative conclusions were reached for the children in the sample:

1. The self-concepts of early reading children were positive.

2. The attitude toward reading among children who read in kindergarten varied widely with generally lower scores occurring for those reading above preprimer and with girls generally scoring higher than boys.

3. Consistent classroom behaviors of early reading children could be identified by teachers.

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