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Reading attitudes reported by twelfth-grade students in Jordan
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes toward reading held by twelfth-grade students in Jordan. Also examined were possible differences in attitudes toward reading according to gender and branch of study (scientific or literary). The twelfth grade is the end of secondary-level education in Jordan; scientific branch students focus their studies on subjects such as mathematics and physics, while those in the literary branch focus on subjects such as language and social studies. The students involved in this study were selected from eight gender-segregated secondary schools in the city of Irbid, located in northern Jordan. A total of 368 twelfth-grade students served as the sample for this study, including 204 females and 164 males, and 179 scientific branch students and 189 literary branch students. A 24-item Jordanian version of the Teale-Lewis Reading Attitude Scales, which asks the respondant to rate agreement with a given statement along a 4-point Likert scale, was administered to the sample. This Jordanian version of the Teale-Lewis instrument provided data concerning the three factors of attitude: Individual Development, Utility, and Enjoyment. A 2 x 2 analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then performed on the scores for each factor and on the combined scores of all three factors in order to test the associated null hypotheses at the $\alpha$ =.05 level of significance. The analyses found significant differences between scientific and literary branch students on the Individual Development and Utility factors, and on the combined factors as a whole, and significant differences between males and females on the Enjoyment factor, favoring literary branch students and females, respectively. Overall, the respondants were found to have neutral attitudes toward reading on each factor and on all three factors; the sole exception was for literary students, who scored a slightly positive rating on the Utility factor. Based on the findings of the present study, a number of recommendations were addressed to teachers, administrators, and researchers.
Subject Area
Literacy|Reading instruction
Recommended Citation
Alhaddad, Abdelkareem Saleem, "Reading attitudes reported by twelfth-grade students in Jordan" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9623617.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9623617