Abstract

Reading attitudes and beliefs about reading competency are thought to affect reading frequency and thus exert an indirect influence on reading achievement This study examines student attitudes and beliefs concerning recreational and academic reading among a large sample N 14 315 of urban middle and high school students grades 7 to 12 Contrary to previous findings on elementary age students the present study found that positive attitudes toward reading do not appear to decline as students get older nor does the gap in positive attitudes widen between good and poor readers Consistent with other research beliefs about reading competence were stable or rising in high school Girls were found to have more positive attitudes toward reading than boys and students with higher self-reported English reading grades had substantially higher levels of reading motivation and reading self-efficacy Implications for theories of reading attitude formation reading self-efficacy and reading instruction are discussed