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teachers as they work to change negative attitudes into positive ones. Researchers recommended that teachers take responsi-bility to understand the reasons behind the struggles their students are having in order to meet the students’ academic needs (Hall, 2005; Lenters, 2006; Shaw & Disney, 2012). At this point, in order to provide better instruc-tion, it becomes crucial to properly evaluate not only the students’ academic abilities but their attitudes regarding reading (Givens, 2010; Hall, 2005; Shaw & Disney, 2012).
Procuring information about students’ attitudes toward reading and its relationship to reading abilities may not be commonplace, but carries just as much impact, if not more than other data this is routinely gathered (Alexander & Cobb, 1992; Tullock-Rhody & Alexander, 1980). According to Paulson (2011), understanding how college students conceptualize “reading and writing can help teachers meet students where they are and guide them to where they need to be” (p. 494). Givens (2010) found that affective assess-ments are “particularly important for the area of developmental reading” because “success rates (as defined by persistence) are low for students who take developmental reading courses” and because “reading is the foun-dation for accessing most any college course” (p. 7). Studies have shown that it is just as important to assess students’ attitudes as it is to assess their academic abilities (Givens, 2010; Paulson, 2011). Knowing students’ attitudes toward reading and being more attuned to their needs assists teachers in designing instructional strategies that help students experience more success and reach their highest level of achievement (Givens, 2010).
Alexander and Cobb (1992) stressed that students’ attitudes play a critical role in their literacy education, and that negative attitudes may be the “determinant of whether students
will approach or avoid subject-area textbooks and the subject itself” (p. 148). It has also been noted that attitudes are developed over time, both positive and negative, making it important to take note of the quality of education students are receiving, especially for those students who may be struggling (Lenters, 2006; Nash-Ditzel, 2010; Wigfield & Eccles, 1994). Students who enter develop-mental reading classrooms every semester because of their low reading abilities, may come with a storehouse of negative attitudes toward or misconceptions about reading that can present difficulties for them to achieve success in the reading course (Paulson, 2011). Using research-based instructional strategies with struggling readers, particularly with adolescents, has shown that students are experiencing more success, their attitudes about reading are improving, and these strategies can be applied within the commun-ity college classroom as well (Bingman & Ebert, 2000; Nash-Ditzel, 2010).
Methodology
A total of 29 college students participated in the study, all of whom were enrolled in developmental reading classes taught in the fall 2013 semester. A comparison was made of the archival data, which were in the form of the participants' beginning-of-semester and end-of-semester scores from their ACT Compass (2014) reading tests and their Rhody Secondary Reading Attitude Assessment (Tullock-Rhody & Alexander, 1980) surveys. Completing pre- and post-class attitude assessments provided insights about students' perspectives on reading and the probable connection between their attitude and their achievement.