Elementary schoolers' attitudes toward reading in English: how boys feel relative to girls

This paper describes the results of a study that examined the attitudes of Malaysian primary school boys and girls toward reading in English as a Second Language. Using the Students’ Reading Attitude Survey, which the researchers adapted from McKenna and Kear (1990) Elementary Reading Attitude Surve...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohd Asraf, Ratnawati, Abdullah, Hazlina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Canadian Center of Science and Education 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/52793/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/52793/1/Elementary%20Schoolers%27%20Attitudes%20toward%20Reading%20in%20English.pdf
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Summary:This paper describes the results of a study that examined the attitudes of Malaysian primary school boys and girls toward reading in English as a Second Language. Using the Students’ Reading Attitude Survey, which the researchers adapted from McKenna and Kear (1990) Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, 2,666 responses were analysed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. The findings reveal that the students had positive attitudes toward recreational and academic reading in English as a second language, but that the girls scored significantly higher on all the dimensions of reading attitudes compared to the boys. The results provide some insights into the gender gap between boys and girls in reading literacy.