Teachers’ reading promotion activities: variation, structure and correlates

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine which different forms of reading promotion activities teachers perform in fifth and sixth grade in The Netherlands and whether different forms of reading promotion activities are acted out independently or cluster into meaningful categories of reading promotion behavior. A survey was administered to 194 teachers and data was analyzed using Principal Component Analyses (PCA). Based on the results of the PCA thirteen different types of reading promotion behavior can be distinguished. Specific teacher and class characteristics are connected with the different types of reading promotion activities teachers perform. Teachers seem to be mainly focusing on promoting the reading of fictional texts. Free reading happens most often, and teachers frequently use comics and short stories in class. Most daily activities take little or no preparation. Correlations are small but do suggest that teachers act out more different forms of reading promotion activities when there are more girls are in class than boys. Also, classes with more girls act out more activities concerning new media and nonfiction.