INDEPENDENT READING

RESEARCH FINDING:

Children improve their reading ability by reading a lot.  Reading 
achievement is directly related to the amount of reading children 
do in school and outside.

COMMENT:

Independent  reading increases both vocabulary and  reading  flu-
ency.   Unlike  using  workbooks and performing computer  drills, 
reading  books  gives  children practice in the  "whole  act"  of 
reading,  that is, both in discovering the meanings of individual 
words and in grasping the meaning of an entire story.  But Ameri-
can  children  do not spend much time  reading  independently  at 
school or at home.   In the average elementary school,  for exam-
ple,  children  spend just 7 to 8 minutes a day reading silently.  
At  home,  half of all fifth graders spend only 4 minutes  a  day 
reading.   These  same children spend an average of 130 minutes a 
day watching television.

Research  shows that the amount of leisure time spent reading  is 
directly related to children's reading comprehension, the size of 
their  vocabularies,  and  the gains in  their  reading  ability.  
Clearly,  reading  at home can be a powerful supplement to class-
work.   Parents can encourage leisure reading by making books  an 
important  part  of  the home,  by giving books or  magazines  as 
presents, and by encouraging visits to the local library.


Another  key  to promoting independent reading  is  making  books 
easily available to children through classroom libraries.   Chil-
dren  in  classrooms that have libraries read more,  have  better 
attitudes about reading,  and make greater gains in reading  com-
prehension than children in classrooms without libraries. 


Allington,  R.  L.  (l984).   "Oral Reading."  In P.  D.  Pearson 
(Ed.),  Handbook of Reading Research,   (pp. 829-864).  New York:  
Longman.

Anderson,  R.  C.,  et al. (l985).  Becoming a Nation of Readers:  
The Report of the Commission on Reading.  Urbana, IL:  University 
of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading. 

Dishaw,  M.  (l977).   Descriptions  of Allocated Time to Content 
Areas  for the A-B Period.   San Francisco:   Far  West  Regional 
Laboratory  for Educational Research and Development.   Beginning 
Teacher Evaluation Study Tech. Note IV-11a.

Fielding,  L.  G., Wilson, P. T., and Anderson, R. C. (in press).  
"A New Focus on Free Reading:  The Role of Trade Books in Reading 
Instruction."  In T.  E. Raphael and R. Reynolds (Eds.), Contexts 
of Literacy.  New York:  Longman.



Heintze,  R.  A.,  and Hodes,  L.  (l98l).   Statistics Of Public 
School Libraries/Media Centers,  Fall  l978.   Washington,  D.C.:  
National Center for Education Statistics.