Purposes Behind Summer Reading Assignments.
This study attempted to better understand the purposes behind assigning summer reading lists to students. It addressed four research questions, considering the reasons behind summer reading lists, who helps create the lists, how the criteria for book selection and additional assignments support the purposes, and how the lists and purposes are communicated to students and parents. The researcher interviewed a sample of educators in North Carolina who help create the summer reading lists at their schools, then created transcripts of the interview recordings and analyzed the transcripts qualitatively. The results showed that, contrary to the literature, educators use many different purposes in concert when they assign summer reading. The primary purpose appeared to be encouraging leisure reading. A variety of school community members contribute to the list creation, and a great deal of thought, shown by the large number of criteria, goes into the book selection. The interviews revealed that two possible areas for improvement of the use of summer reading lists are the formulation of goals before creating the lists and increased collaboration within the school community and with the public library.
School:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School Location:USA - North Carolina
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Keywords:reading—aims and objectives reading—educational aspects reading incentive programs evaluation school libraries—book lists libraries—reader guidance
Date of Publication:03/28/2008