The Missouri Reader Vol. 35, Issue 1 | Page 70

Interest surveys. The interest surveys were given before the first session and after the final one. The beforeand after- versions each contained the same questions about reading, the latter omitting questions about television viewing and other non-book information. The before- and after- surveys reflected each participant’s attitude changes. Andrew indicated on each version that he liked to read. However, his daily reading time increased from 60 to 120 minutes per day. Even if that were an exaggeration, the researcher found that his latter response was more specific in terms of books read. He listed a series title and a genre as his favorites in the initial inventory, but he listed specific books on the final questionnaire. Billy’s results were similar. While he indicated each time he enjoyed reading, his reported reading time increased from 20 to 90 minutes a day. His desired book to own changed from his favorite series to his most requested genre during the sessions: horror. His selected genres increased from three favorites before the readalouds to eight, post-session. Charlie changed his basic attitude toward reading during the read-aloud sessions. On the first survey, in response to the question, “Do you like to read?” he circled “Sort of,” giving the reason, “because I [sic] kind of hard to find a book.” The response had changed to “Yes” by the end of the sessions. His reading time had increased from 20 to 30 minutes a day. Charlie told the researcher, “I just have too many fun things to do at my house.” On both the first and final questionnaires, Charlie listed substantive books as those recently read. However, on the final inventory was one read-aloud, from which he had read aloud to the group, and which he had then borrowed to finish on his own. That book was also listed as one of his favorites on the second inventory. His response to a question about books he would like to own changed from a general “easy chapter books” to a futuristic series from which the researcher had read to the students. He circled 12 favorite genres in the post-session survey, as opposed to three on the pre-session questionnaire. Evaluation form. The second attitude-gauging instrument was a researcher-created student program evaluation, asking questions specific to the read-aloud content and procedures. For this questionnaire, the boys wrote definite ideas about the sessions’ content. Both Charlie and Andrew explained their preference for humor, Charlie writing of his fondness of an author, while Andrew listed a specific book by that author. Both Billy and Charlie a