The effect of sustained silent reading and booktalks on high school students' attitudes towards reading

Abstract

The current study explored the effect of Sustained Silent Reading and booktalks on high school students’ attitudes towards reading. The mixed methods study used a survey made up of ten Likert style questions and one open ended question to examine 24 Grade 12 English students’ attitudes after participating in Sustained Silent Reading and two booktalks. Triangulation was used to analyse and compare the quantitative and qualitative data. The study found that the participants believed that it was important to participate in daily silent reading, to have time to read when they were finished class work, and to have a large selection of books to choose from, but did not find the same importance in booktalks. Although conclusive evidence that the Sustained Silent Reading and booktalks have an effect on students’ attitude was not established, participants believed that it was important to have time to read.