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TABLE OF CONTENT
I INTRODUCTION 2
Data Collection
II ANALYSIS OF DATA 9
3.1 Interpretation 21
3.2 Suggestions 23
3.3 Conclusion 24
BIBLIOGRAPHY 26
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION:
IMPORTANCE OF READING
“Art is long and Time is short, endless is learning and numerous are the impediments.
One should, therefore pick only the essence just as a swan extracts milk from the mixture of
The above wisdom aptly suits to the art of learning reading skill. Reading proficiency
is the royal road to knowledge. Reading is essential to the success in all academic subjects.
In modern life, learning depends largely upon ones ability to interpret the printed page
accurately, effectively and fully. A junior high school youngster summed it up in this way:
“You could list hundreds of reasons why being a good reader is important, but I guess I’d put
it in this way. Reading is the key to learning and personal enjoyment.” Another said,
“Reading to me is a way I can find out as much or as little as I choose to know or learn about
something. And the more reading, the more learning takes place.”
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We have seen the importance of reading in human life but the reality is that the
reading habit is the flower which doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden of life. We observe that
there is very little experience of reading in the secondary school or junior school. The
research done for the schools council project, ‘Effective Use of Reading’ is really quite
devastating. One particular eleven year old was observed by the researchers, on a 35 minute
‘reading comprehension test’. The teacher had said, “This is a reading lesson – 35 minute of
reading.” But the pupil, timed, spent only a minute and three quarters reading: the rest was
writing answers to the comprehension exercise in rough and then copying them out in best.
The second frightening fact is that, where as one might have thought that we teachers
fell into the trap of expecting too much from reading, the teachers when actually questioned
didn’t even expect the pupils to get anything mush from their reading. The third worrying
aspect is the continuity of reading. Reading is an affair of length. But we have already seen
above that a boy spends just a minute and three quarters out of 35 minutes.
A report released in July 2004 by the US National Endowment for the Arts says the
number of people who read no literature increased by more than 17 million between 1992
and 2002. There is an enormous shift from print media to electric media and we see the
unintended consequences of that shift. The drop in reading is widespread. Secondary school
children are also part of this survey and environment around them also affects their reading
habit.
Therefore the researcher as a teacher has a concern for the students and felt the need to
investigate the reading habit of secondary school children in order to know the reality and
find out possible ways to motivate the students for effective reading. The key areas for
investigation are perceived importance of reading, uses of reading, resource material for
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reading, the role of the family, school and society and attitudes towards reading in a
changing world based on secondary school children’s opinions. It is to know how these
students spend their leisure time, what kind of materials interest them most, how members
influence their reading habit, what difficulties they face in cultivating right reading habits
etc.
students for reading at the secondary level where the child grows emotionally, physically and
those are involved in educational work and if so, of what kind and how are they different in
different descriptions? The researcher is keen on finding out all these and hence has taken up
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
Reading can be defined in many ways. It has been defined as the act of responding to
printed symbols so that meaning is created. Bringing meaning to the printed page indicates
more accurately the reciprocal process between the printed symbols and the mind of the
reader. Reading is also a from of thinking, problem solving or reasoning which involves
analyzing and discriminating, judging, evaluating and synthesizing. All these mental
processes are found on past experiences, so that the present content of the reading matter
must be scrutinized in the light of the reader’s own experiences. Any definition of the
reading process therefore must include interpretation and evaluation of meaning as well as
construction of meaning. Finally we can say that reading is nothing but an ongoing process
2) To find out the opinions of Secondary School Children with regard to the news
3) To find out the reading resources available to the Secondary School Children.
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5) To study the influence of family members on reading habits of Secondary School
Children.
6) To find out the difficulties students face in cultivating right reading habits.
The sample of the study was selected based on availability of the students. Fifty two (52)
students of IX standard of age group 13-15 from Ideal High School and Junior College,
Mumbai – 88 were selected. Since it’s a Girls concentric school all these students included
only Girls.
The limitation of the study is that all the students are from one school i.e. Ideal High School
and Junior College, Mumbai – 88. All of them are IX Std. students of the same division i.e.
A questionnaire in English was used to collect data from the students. Based on the
objectives of the study 21 items were prepared in the questionnaire with the help of expert’s
advice.
Data were collected by the researcher by distributing the questionnaire among the students.
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1) Establishing rapport: The researcher gave a brief and suitable introduction of the
topic to the students. He creates a rapport with the students by motivating them
3) Carrying our response activity: The students read the questionnaire and wrote their
5) Sharing: The researcher shares about the importance of reading by sharing about
6) Motivation: The researcher motivates the students for maximum reading through
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The world is changing very fast. Today with the changing scenario in education, the
child has to groom and develop himself/herself so as to sustain his/her identity and to
perform better to meet the ever growing competition around him/her. In all the professions of
course, one must read a great deal to keep pace with new developments.
The researcher hopes that such kind of study may help students to become aware of
their own status as regard to reading habits and may stimulate them to be curious and
conscious about what they read which will help them in future studies. It may help them to
improve their communication skills such as writing, reading, speaking and listening which
are so obviously a requisite to face the challenges in present scenario and do their best in all
aspects of life. Writing skill may promote better Poets, Authors, Journalists, Thinkers,
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reformers etc. Speaking skill may create excellent orators. All the above skills may also help
them in their essay writing, project work in the future and will increase their general
knowledge.
The researcher also hopes that this study may help students to create love for regular
library reading which in turn can motivate students to perform better in curricular as well as
in co-curricular activities. And finally researcher hope and play that a study of such a nature
may motivate parents, schools, teachers to stimulate, shape and mould the students (the
future of India) to achieve their goals and create better citizens of India.
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CHAPTER II
ANALYSIS OF DATA
The content analysis was carried out of the students’ responses. The closed ended
questions data were analyzed quantitatively. With respect to quantitative analysis, it was the
calculation of percentage for different aspects as per requirement. The data obtained through
open ended questions were analyzed qualitatively with respect about importance of reading,
The analysis and findings of the data are presented in tables and graphical form
question wise. Each table and graph follows content analysis of a particular question which
is presented as follows under the titles Quantitative and Qualitative analysis of data.
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QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF DATA
In these sectors we would be pleased to ask the question which could basically reveal their
reading habits. The question would be on their daily life’s, concentrating on what major parts
are the students more focuse upon. So on basis of that we would be able to come to a better
and calculated data as in what measures should be implemented for the betterment of student
in reading habits.
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CHAPTER III
INTERPRETATION
About Students (motivation and volition). However, despite there being a universal
belief in the importance of reading, different students hold very different attitudes to reading
and have different reading habits. There are several reasons for it. The researcher feels that
motivation plays an important role in reading habits. Needs, wants, drives, interests, urges,
incentives, goals etc. are the causative factors of motivation. Higher the motivation greater
the reading habit. Pupil’s volition (will power) is also of major importance in reading habits.
Volition partly controls student’s attention and largely controls his or her practice exercises.
It is said where is a will there is a way. Student’s willingness to spend some regular time in
reading will automatically result in making progress in his or her reading habits. Volition
naturally comes from motivation and from interest. Therefore greater the will power higher
students for reading. Only verbal advice is not sufficient but they should try to find out the
obstacles students face in reading and should suggest concrete ways to overcome them to
Desire: - The desire to read is the result of present needs, past experiences and future
hopes. For the little child, desire for the approval of his teacher and his parents is a strong
motivation. However, intrinsic interest in the content is a more stable long run motivation.
For a teenager, a specific need sometimes awakens a desire to read better. The most
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persistent and pervasive influence is the individual’s self concept and self idea. The self
teachers often say, “They are just not interested in reading. They do not read voluntarily,
they show no enthusiasm for reading.” But it is important to find out the reality behind it.
Teacher’s most important task is to develop in his or her pupil’s love of reading. Teacher
should try to understand what stimulates the individual, what responses he or she has made
to such patters of stimulation, what consequences those responses had and what deprivations
he or she experienced.
conducive to success in reading (response to question no. 15). Parent child relationships and
parental attitudes towards reading have a strong influence on the child’s self concept and his
or her attitudes towards reading. Time to read and access to suitable reading materials are
important in building reading interest. This study also shows us the influence of the mass
media of communication on reading tastes (responses to question nos. 1, 12). The amount of
time that students spend in passively watching television, playing with computer can be
To be conducive to reading, the teacher should plan the activities to motivate the
reading and encourage and reward individuals. A teacher needs to show students how to
recognize and remember new words, how to read a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, how to
interpret a poem or a story, how to read critically and creatively. Teacher should go through
the process with the students as many times as they need in order to learn it thoroughly.
From then to the students apply the procedure regularly in their independent reading.
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Difficulties: - The fundamental and basic characteristic of reading disability appears
to be cognitive confusion and lack of system. Many students have said that while reading
they come across difficult words and that demotivates them to continue reading (response to
question no. 18). Others feel that reading is boring and so on. Therefore teachers’ efforts
should be directed more towards a concern for a child’s own ways of thinking in learning to
Schools: - Both the teacher and the school are directly involved in improving the
reading habits of the students. But fundamental questions are, “To whom are they
responsible, and to what extent are they accountable?” Tackling the issue of accountability is
like opening Pandora’s Box. Accountability can lead to opportunities for the teacher. It
SUGGESTIONS
Team work: - As we seen through the analysis of the data the great challenge
before us all is to make students read more. This requires a new team work. Schools,
teachers, parents and students should join hands together to tackle this issue. Only if schools,
teachers, parents create an atmosphere with team – specially motivating students for reading,
giving experience of reading and making reading resources available to them then we may
say that we are going to tackle the problems of secondary school children with regard to
reading.
the students’ researcher suggests that schools should make the best use of library period
given in the time-table. Schools needs to see the interest and needs of the students and keep
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the library up-to-date with required books and reading facilities for the benefit of the
students.
For Teacher: - A teacher is a guide, friend and a mentor and plays an important
role in motivating students for improving their habit of reading. A teacher needs to
lot of reading work. Teacher should encourage students to go back at home and read the
chapter and should give appropriate interesting assignments to the students and should keep
For Students: - Reading requires the reader to think, feel and imagine. The use
one make of this reading largely determines what he reads, why he reads and how he reads.
Therefore the researcher suggests that students should make efforts to commit themselves to
the task of reading. The concrete way would be students should read at least five pages a day
It is clear that we all use only a fraction of our potentials and that we all have got a
long way to go. The proper attitude a reader should have towards himself and reading might
of reading. In order to make my reading even more efficient, I only need to spent more time
and proper method of reading should be applied according to my own personal needs.”
CONCLUSION
“Learning stored in books and wealth deposited with others, do not stand in good stead
Observing today’s book stalls closely discover a flood of books, magazines and
periodicals. The mass media with their well planned sales, slogans are well equipped to
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spread their message. But what about the reader? Is he or she well trained to look after his or
Reading is a most rewarding use of the expanded leisure that comes as a result of
automation. “Reading may be one of life’s inexhaustible pleasure and blessings”, Walter De
La Mare said. The reader has time to reflect on the ideas he or she needs and give play to
their imagination. Reading often relives emotional tensions and gives insight into personal
problems. Reading provide experience through which the individual may expand his
horizons, identify, extend and intensify his interest and gain deeper understanding of himself,
of other human being and of the world. Reading organizes experience; it relates ideas form
many sources.
Reading is a path to new experiences. Using his or her own first hand experiences as a
point of departure, the reader reaches out to these of the author and transcends the limitations
of time and space. As Stephenson’s said, ‘reading takes us out of our country and us’.
Reading is a creative act. As the writer creates a structure of thought, so the reader recreating
the pattern of words discovers for himself the essence of the author’s idea.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Primary Sources
BOOKS
1. L. John Chapman, Reading From Process To Practice, Rout ledge and Keg an Paul
2. Venkata Iyer, Dynamic Reading Skills, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
1986.
Secondary Sources
Websites
1. www.readinghabits.com
2. www.readingskill.com
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