McKenna, M.C., & Kear, D.J. (1990, May). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers.

The Reading Teacher, 43(8), 626-639. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RT.43.8.3 Copyright International Reading Association. All rights reserved.

A New Tool for Teachers

Michael C. McKenna and Dennis J. Kear

n 1762, the philosopher Rousseau speculat- one reason for this tendency is that the affeced that any method of teaching reading tive aspectsof reading tend to be ill-defined and to involve "shadowy variables"(p. 527) difficult would suffice given adequatemotivation on the part of the learner. Whale present-day eduto conceptualize, measure, and address inslrocc a m might resist such a sweeping pronouncetionally. The focusof recent research and development, the o attitude is nevertheless f ment in assessment has been comprehension widely recognized- The Commission on Redinghi&s u m m r y a f ~ h ( ~ m n ,rather than attitude. Some progress has been made inthe developmentof individually adminHiebert, Scott, & WiIkinson, 1985) concluded istered, qualitative mstmments, hut quantitative that "becominga slaDed readerrequires...learngroup surveys, which form a natural compleing that written materid can b hkresthg'' (p, merit to qualitative approaches,are often p d y 18). Smith (1988) observed that "the emotional documented in terms of desirable psychometric response to reading..is the primary reason most readers read, and probably the primary reason attributes,such as nofmadveframesof reference and evidence of reliability and validity. Our purmost nomeaders do not readw(p. 177). Wixson pose was to produce a publicdomaininstrument and Lipwn (in press) acknowledgethat "the stuthat would remedy these shortcomings and endent's attitude toward reading is a central factor able teachers to &" ' attitude levels efficientaffecting leading performance."These concluly and reliably. This article presents that sions are based on a long history of research in ofitsdevelwhich attitude and achievement have been con- instrument along with a (T opment and suggestions for its use. sistently linked (e.g., Purves & Beach, 1972; Walbetg & Tsai, 1985). The recent emphasis on enhanced reading Development the Scale raxificiencyhas often ignored the iniportant role played by children's attitudes in the process of Several inipottant criteria were established to guide the development of the ' t. The becoming literate. Athey (1985) suggested that

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of

Used with permission of t e International Reading Association h 4 1990 International Reading Association - www.reading.org 3

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey Scoring Sheet

Student Name________________________________________________________ Teacher_____________________________________________________________ Grade________________________ Administration Date______________________

4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Scoring Guide Happiest Garfield Slightly smiling Garfield Mildly upset Garfield Very upset Garfield

Recreational reading 1. ____ 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Academic reading 1. ____ 2. ____ 3. ____ 4. ____ 5. ____ 6. ____ 7. ____ 8. ____ 9. ____ 10. ____ Raw Score: ____

Raw Score: ____

Full scale raw score . . . . . . . . . . . (Recreational + Academic): _____ Percentile ranks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recreational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Academic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Full scale
PAWS www.professorgarfield.org Survey designed by Dennis J. Kear, Wichita State University