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Book Reading
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IATROGENIC EFFECTS OF A BOOK READING PROGRAMIN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLM Cecil SmithDepartment of Educational Psychology,Counseling, and Special EducationNorthern Illinois UniversityDeKalb, IL 60115-2854815/753-8448fax 815/753-2100David AbhalterForest Hills Elementary School5020 CentralWestern Hills, IL 60558708/246-7678
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the College Reading Association, Arlington, VA,October 31-November 3, 1991.
 
 
Book Reading
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Abstract
This study is a field-based investigation of children’s book-reading activities basedon a curricular intervention in an elementary school. In the first year of the study, childrenwere provided with rewards, such as pins and certificates, for reading books. The school-wide goal was for each child to read 30 books during the school year. Concerns aboutadverse effects of providing extrinsic rewards for book reading led to removal of thecurriculum the following year. Instead, students were asked to keep reading logs whichfocused on the volume of reading completed as well as the children’s reasons for selectingthe books they choose. Further, children’s motivational orientations were examined. Thereward-based program appeared to have a debilitating effect on students’ participation in acommunity library summer reading program, as 10% fewer students from the schoolparticipated as compared to the previous summer. Because students read, on average, 73books each during the course of the extrinsic rewards curriculum, they were likelysuffering from an overexposure to reading that may have long-lasting effects.
 
 
Book Reading
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IATROGENIC EFFECTS OF A BOOK READING PROGRAMIN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
There are a number of studies in the literature which have attempted to increaseelementary school children’s motivation for reading literature (Greaney & Clarke, 1975;Morrow & Weinstein, 1986), attitude toward reading (Dwyer & Reed, 1989; Healy,1965), and subsequently, to increase their reading activities in terms of numbers of booksread. Other research has examined the relationship of children’s reading activities bothoutside of and within school to reading achievement (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1989;Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990). The field study reported here is an extension of theseprevious investigations, and is part of a long-term project to determine the most effectivecurricular intervention for promoting literacy in young children.The study began as a curricular intervention by the second author (DA), a principalat the school in which the study is currently being conducted. Following the initialintervention, the first author (MCS) assisted in the development of a program to shift thefocus of students’ reading behaviors from the receipt of external rewards to intrinsicmotivational factors. The purpose for changing the nature of the curricular interventionwas because of the principal’s concerns about the long-term effects of providing childrenwith “rewards” for reading. Also, the children were found to have engaged in anextraordinary amount of reading over the school year.Further inquiry led to the discovery that the children in the school appeared tohave suffered some “ill effects” from reading. Many of the students in the school alsoparticipated in a summer reading program conducted at the local community library.Participation among students in the target school decreased dramatically following thereward-based intervention as compared to the previous year. This discovery suggests thatthe school reading program had an
iatrogenic
effect. That is, the intent of the schoolreading program was to promote reading activity--which was accomplished in the shortterm, but the end result may be that students actually do less reading over the long term.
Method
The investigation has been conducted over the course of two full school years and iscurrently in its third year. The curriculum has varied each of the three years.
Sample
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