Deconstructing and developing the attitudes of primary school readers

Improving student attitudes toward reading remains of particular concern to elementary school teachers. The development of students demeanour toward reading is as important, if not more so, than skill enhancement. Unless reading attitudes are maintained and even bolstered, content instruction will not always reach the learner, nor will students use reading as an independent learning tool. Categorising attitudes is much more dynamic than grouping by those who like or dislike reading. Through discovery-oriented, naturalistic inquiry, data were collected and analysed, resulting in emergent themes of student attitudes toward reading. This article will discuss six clusters of reading attitudes/behaviours found in elementary schools, and provide practical teacher tips to be used for reading development with each type of learner.