USING INTEREST INVENTORY WITH STRUGGLING FOR READING ABILITY
USING INTEREST INVENTORY WITH STRUGGLING FOR READING ABILITY
By Nilatus Sa’adah
2013-B/1371516
A.
Background
Many
struggling readers do not like to read because classroom reading material is
too difficult, they don’t want to be embarrassed or the task is just not
enjoyable. Other children have the reading skills, but choose not to read.
Reading may not be as much fun as other activities, it might seem “whimpy” or
they just don’t derive any pleasure from it. We know that children, who read
independently, are practicing their reading skills, and motivated readers
become better readers.
“Reading is a basic life skill. It is a
cornerstone for a child's success in school, and, indeed, throughout life.
Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal fulfillment and
job success inevitably will be lost.
--Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on
Reading”( Richard Anderson,-)
For
many years, three basic definitions of reading have driven literacy programs in
the United States (Foertsch, 1998). According to the first definition, learning
to read means learning to pronounce words. According to the second definition,
learning to read means learning to identify words and get their meaning.
According to the third definition, learning to read means learning to bring
meaning to a text in order to get meaning from it.
Understanding read according to klein ( farida
the uterus , 2005: 3 suggested that the definition of reading include: 1.the
reading is a process , 2.the reading is strategic , and 3 ) reading is
interactive .Reading is a process intended information from the text and
knowledge possessed by the readers have a major role in forming the meaning of
.Reading is strategic means that the reader is effective use of a variety of
reading strategies in accordance with the text and context in order to mengkonstruk
meaning when he read. This strategy varies according to the type of text and
the purpose of reading .Reading is an interactive is the involvement of the
reader with the text dependent on context. People who love reading the text
will be useful to meet some purpose who want to rise. Text read someone should
be easily understood ( readable ) so there an interaction between the reader
and the text.
Among the many
definitions of reading that have arisen in recent decades, three prominent
ideas emerge as most critical for understanding what "learning to
read" means:
1. Reading is a process undertaken to reduce uncertainty about
meanings a text conveys
2. The process results from a negotiation of meaning between the text and its
reader
3. The knowledge, expectations, and strategies a reader uses to uncover
textual meaning all play decisive roles way the reader negotiates with the
text's meaning.
Reading does not draw
on one kind of cognitive skill, nor does it have a straightforward outcome—most
texts are understood in different ways by different readers.
So,
Reading is a way to get the information from the things which are written.
Read, reading is to see and understand the contents of ( by what is in my
heart, or only to enunciate) in addition to read, read or pronounced to be
defined as a spell out what written, saying, predict or assume.
Many
people say , the book is a window of world. Because with the verywide. not can
broaden the only information that is in the land which was obtained, but
information about the world, even the universe. The book is a window of the
world, who can bring us to another
country without having to set foot in the country, we can know how the state
itself with the reading. The book is a window of science. Various kinds of the
science was written into a book. If the writer able to write science well in a
book, then anyone who read his writings will be enlightened , and get new
knowledge of what the writing. Can of his life experiences, can also about the
things he liked and controlled .If the writer wrote them with carefully, and
based on research or research , that book into a quality book and should be read
by many people. Just the problem, the culture of reading had not become our
cultural community. Not wrong if a lot of filming the author of books to the
contents of his book until the message.
These are crucial years also because many previously avid readers
begin to lose interest in reading as a leisure activity as their attention is
diverted to other activities such as sports, computers, and fantasy games
(Martin, 1984). High ability readers also tend to prefer reading materials of
their own choosing and may abandon reading if they grow to resent the types of
reading assigned in the classroom (Halsted, 1988). Teachers, media specialists,
and children's librarians should be aware of the needs of these students in
order to provide them with appealing books that will allow them to continue to
enjoy reading and encourage them to reach their full potential.
Because so little research has been done to determine the needs
of high ability
readers,
it is difficult to know exactly what those needs are. How do the reading
interests of high ability readers compare to those of other students? Are they
satisfied with the books written for their age group, or do they tend to seek
out books written for older audiences? How do they select the books they read?
These were some of the questions that I hoped to answer when I began this
project, in which I attempted to determine the reading interests of high ability student readers and the
influences on their reading choices.
B.
The factors that support and hamper reading interest
Whether
the child is a struggling reader or an unmotivated reader, finding his/her
independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels, is just the first
step in motivating him/her to read. We must also find out his/her interests.
Administering an interest inventory at the beginning of the school year can
help you locate materials for each child, select books for your classroom
library, and help you form literary circles, book clubs, and research groups.
One way to find children’s interests is to interview them. Since this can be
time consuming, you might consider a paper-and-pencil survey. Very young and/or
struggling readers may need to have the survey questions read aloud to them.
You might also conduct a survey of reading interests in small groups. Collect
five or six titles from your library from a few different genres (folk tales,
humor, fantasy, realistic fiction, etc.). Display the books in front of the
group and tell them you’re going to read the title and first page to see if
they would be interested in reading the story. After you read the title and
first page, simply ask them to raise their hands if the story interests them.
You could also use the Fist to Five technique where a fist means “not
interested” and five fingers raised means “very interested.”You can find many
interest inventories on the Internet and a few forms follow. As interest
inventories are not specific to a particular grade level, you can usually find
one already developed that would be appropriate for your students. An excellent
reading attitude survey for the primary student is the Elementary Reading
Attitude Survey by McKenna and Kear (1990). Once students complete a
survey, you should examine each inventory, collate the information and file
each child’s interests on an index card or data base. With their independent
reading level and reading interests now known to you, you have a higher
probability of putting a book into their hands that they want to read
and can read without assistance.
There are several factors that influence and can hamper the community to
love the book as sources of information and estimating like reading newspapers and magazines, they are:
The first ,
cultural heritage of parents or genetic determinism .Culture read never
inherited ancestors .From small since we only used to hear various fairy tales
, the story , customs told by parents , grandma , community leaders and only
orally or verbal only .Too often we listen to , that no learning whatsoever in
writing that can inflict the habit of reading . The habit of reading is highly
influenced by a factor of the genetic determinism .Someone who was raised by
parents who love reading will have read indulgence .On the contrary , if
someone bred from parents who do not love reading then the person will not have
favorite read .Nearest environment is parents .This will affect someone to
commune with reading. In the advanced state, like the Japanese, the culture of
reading is a habit that has become a necessity for people. Read them ibaratkan
sandang, food and board, reading is a part of their lives every day. Sajidiman
Surjohadiprojo, when it served as the Japanese ambassador said that most
distinguish the nation of Indonesia by the Japanese is the ability adaptifnya,
including the ability to read and learn the culture of other nations. Not found
the Japanese are preoccupied and had a conversation on the subway, activities
if they don't sleep of course reading.
Second, determinisme environment. The environment
referred to here is a friend to play, the community around, colleague, and
teacher. People don't love reading also caused by the environment are not big
reader, the neighborhood where he socialize every day. In addition to that also
in the community, in the office, at school not provided the library and there
is no regulation company/institution that requires someone to read.
Third, a system of learning and curriculum in
Indonesia has made the students tend to be passive and just listen to the
teacher taught in class than to find information or knowledge more than what's
taught in school. Rare teacher who gave the assignment to read the book as many
as we can. For example all the HOMEWORK given by the teacher, most of the
HOMEWORK the shaped working on about-about in the book the package or student
worksheet. And the answer was must be in worksheet or book a package. Should
the HOMEWORK given more of a project that's fun, where children claimed to read
more of a variety of literature. With that insight, they will evolve and will
create a climate to read. Reading is not considered as it is boring and not
interesting, but rather as a nice thing.
Fourth, a lot of appeared a variety of technology and
amusement places. The game (games) are more sophisticated and variatif as well
as the television is more interesting, has distracted the children from the
book. Getting many of the mall, where karaoke, park and rec. Place
entertainment that was founded to make children more spare time to a place of
entertainment than reading a book in the library or the park read.
Fifth, minimnya means for obtaining a reading. If we
have to buy the book reading, the price of books in the market are relatively
expensive. This causes the parents don't buy the book reading extra than to put
the books required by the school. Moreover economic conditions of society are
less able, jangankan bothered to buy the book readings, to eat day-to-day
sometimes be an obstacle for them. The government as policy makers who set this
thing especially the one related like the Department of Education, did not have
a policy to make the people feel the need to read.
Sixth, the laziness that is rampant. Now is the age of
the modern, with an environment that modern anyway. But not with itself we as
human beings could be said to be modern. We can say modern if you can change
the thought patterns and behavior. Description modern human is if he is open to
new experience, and innovation. Not just a loaf.
C.
The Effort to improve reading Interest with “Interest Inventor”
Build
reading habit is nor easly work, not only enough with bought a book and go to
library, butbalso to build reading habit should be started from individual
porsonality, and if they want to see a community grow read aspecially for
students and collage student have to do an effort that massive and simulation
in building individual personality or culter of other poeple into society avid
reader.
To
cultivate interest a person or some of the pleasure of a person at the activity
of read, then that someone should be able to and a pleasure to read, because
recite as interest has the goal to infuse habits and read some of the pleasure
on the self seseorang.semakin they were aware that the community is reading (
reading society ) was required in realizing the community is fond of learning (
learning society ) who was one of the characteristics of the community forward
and beradab.membaca is the key in learning and by reading, we can deprive of a
taste curiosity us against information and knowledge contained in reading we
read about.
Some
research suggests that providing high
ability readers with materials that
interest
them is vital in order to encourage and maintain their love of reading. In
designing her questionnaire to determine what distinguished gifted students
from their classmates in regular classes in terms of reading interests, library
use, and early childhood experiences, Susan Swanton (1984) included a question
asking students to recommend methods that teachers, parents, and librarians
should adopt in order to encourage reading. Gifted students frequently
suggested that educators should "supply more books of interest to
kids," while students in regular classes suggested assigning reading
homework and "showing more what can be learned from reading" (p. 102).
Swanton obtained similar results when she asked students why they liked to
read. For the students in the gifted classes, freedom and flexibility was the
most common response, while students in regular classes more often cited the
educational value of reading as the thing they liked best. When she shared her
results with a group of gifted students, they confirmed this opinion, advising
educators to "go by what kids like to read; don't force or assign a
particular book." They said they liked to have a choice of books to
complete reading assignments and were resistant to parental selections.
There
are three basics to increasing student reading motivation:
1. Give students time to read.
It doesn’t matter if it’s called DEAR (Drop
Everything
and Read), SSR (Sustained Silent Reading), or Quiet Reading Time. You should schedule a regular time each day
when students can quietly read their chosen materials.
2.
Give
students access to a wide choice of reading material and allow them to
choose
what they want to read. Provide a classroom library which has books on many
reading levels, as well as magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, and comic
books. If you don’t have an extensive classroom library, schedule a weekly trip
to the school library for students to select and check out books.
3.
Read aloud to your students daily. Be a good
model of oral reading. Get your friends to tape record books and have students
check out the book and the audio tape. Invite your administrators, counselors,
and ancillary teachers (physical education, art, music, etc.) to read to your
students. They need to see and hear good role models engaged in reading.
Many ways to increase interest in reading students, one of them is
interest inventory. A Reading Interest Inventory is a way to
provide feedback to the teacher, from the student. Students are asked a series
of questions: from their feelings about reading to the different types
(genres) they enjoy reading. Reading interest inventories can assist teachers
and students in setting goals for reading. Students with similar interests may
form groups to discuss a common reading. Teachers may design activities with
specific topics based on areas of high student interest. Media specialists may
assist students in locating books in their identified areas of interest.
Parents can be included in the reading experience through the Parent Reading
Questionnaire. Interest inventories are a fantastic classroom tool to help
teachers begin to understand students and their reading background. It used
them in the classroom at the beginning of the year, however, this past year the
results were rather upsetting. The students
worked with were below level readers which caused them to become
reluctant readers. The responses that received to questions like “What kind of
books do you like to read?” were “None, I don’t like to read” or “I don’t
read.” After doing some exploring and looking at various interest inventories,
it started to understand it’s all in the wording. To start, don’t need to find
out what exact books students like, but what subjects do
they enjoy gaining information about or involving themselves in. Understanding
the subjects they enjoy (and of course their independent reading levels) will
help open up doors and allow them to be successful with reading. These
reluctant readers are automatically turned off by the mention of “reading” and
“books” that they often don’t open up. It have to find ways to get them
interested and engaged in reading to where they become more likely to want to
read. Therefore, after taking these students into consideration, created the
following interest inventory:
1.
Interest-Inventories
A
2.
Interest-Inventories
B
3.
Interest-Inventories
C
4.
Parent
Reading Questionnaire
INTEREST
INVENTORY-A
Name Date
of Birth Age
Grade School Sex Date
(This is
not a test. If you have a question, feel free to ask your teacher.)
A.
RECREATION AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
1. If you
have some time to spend as you choose, what do you like to do?
_______
2.What do
you usually do—
after
school? _ _ in
the evening? _
on
weekends?
3.What game
do you like best to play? _____
4. Do you
like to make things? If
so, what things have you made? _ ___
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. What
tools do you have at home? ____
6. Do you
have any pets? If
so, what? ____
7. Do you
collect things? If
so, what things? ___
8. Do you
take lessons, such as music, dancing? If
so, what? __
__________________ _____
9. Do you
have any hobbies? If
so, what? ___
10. If
you could have one wish come true, what would it be? _
_____
11. Are
there some things you fear? If
so, what?
______
B.
TELEVISION, RADIO, AND MOVIES
12. How
much time do you spend watching TV?
On a school
day? hrs.
On a
weekend? __ hrs.
13. What is
your favorite program? _
14. How
much time do you spend listening to the radio?
On a school
day? hrs.
On
weekends? hrs.
15. How
often do you go to the movies? ___
Name the
movie (s) you have liked best:
_
C. READING
16. What is
the best book you have ever read? ___
Name other
books you have liked:
_
17. Name
some books of your own: ____
18. Do you
go to the public library often? Seldom? Never
19. What
magazines do you read? ___
_
20. Do you
read a newspaper? Which
parts? ___
_
21. What
kind (s) of books do you like to read? __
_
D.
VOCATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS
22. What
kind of work do you want to do when you finish school? __
23. Have
you done any reading about that kind of work? __
For
example?
24. Have
you seen anyone on TV or in the movies who does the kind of work you want to
do? __
Who?
25. Do you
plan to take any further training or education after high school? __
If so,
where?
(If you do
not know an answer, or you would rather not answer it feel free to leave that
one blank.)
INTEREST
INVENTORY-B
Name:
_______________________Date: _______________ Age: _______
Please help
me to get to know your better by completing the following sentences:
1. I
collect….
2. My two
favorite books are….
3. Books
are….
4. My
favorite character from a book is …..
5. When I
read, I….
6. I like
to read about…..
7.
Libraries are…..
8. In my
free time, I ….
9. School
is ….
10. My
favorite activity in school is….
11. My
favorite T.V. program is….
12. My
favorite movie is….
13. My
favorite song is….
14. My
favorite singer or group is….
15. I like
to listen to….
16. I like
to play…..
17. My
hobbies are….
18. I like
to write about….
19.The most
interesting person whom I have met is…..
20. My
friends are…..
INTEREST
INVENTORY-C
Name:
___________________ Date ________________________
What are
your best school subjects?
What do you
do for recreation or entertainment?
What are
your favorite TV programs?
If someone
handed you a newspaper, what sections would you be most interested in reading? (Circle)
|
front page news
|
comics
|
Youth Plus Section
|
|
|
product advertisements
|
employment ads
|
Weekend Section--movie, music reviews
|
|
|
Sports
|
Editorials
|
|
Does your
family take a daily newspaper?
If so,
which one?
Does your
family subscribe to any magazines?
If so,
which ones?
What
magazines do you enjoy reading?
What is the
best book you have ever read?
On a scale
of 1-10 how would you rate your interest in reading? (circle)
hate to
read = 1-------2---------3--------4-------5-------6--------7---------8--------9--------10
= love to read
What type
of books would you select to read? Circle as many as you like?
|
Mystery
|
Historical
|
Animals
|
|
Science
|
Supernatural
|
teen
problems
|
|
Biography
|
science
fiction
|
Adventure
|
|
Music realted-rock stars
|
Romance
|
Animals
|
|
Humor
|
information
books on current interest
|
teen
problems
|
|
|
|
Adventure
|
Parent Reading
Questionnaire
The questions start off more geared toward personal
interests and then mixed in some that
are specific to reading and books. Hoping by putting the questions in this
order, they’ll be more likely to answer honestly and provide a foundation to
begin their year reading in a personal and positive manner.
Also like to send home a reading interest inventory
for parents to fill out to gather more background information on the student as
a reader at home.
Dear
Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to a new school year! I look forward to working with your student. Our class will be working on our reading skills all year, during school as well as at home. Your support is greatly appreciated at home. As we begin our school year, I would like to find out what kind of reading your student does at home. Please take a moment to fill out the survey below and send it back as soon as possible.
Welcome to a new school year! I look forward to working with your student. Our class will be working on our reading skills all year, during school as well as at home. Your support is greatly appreciated at home. As we begin our school year, I would like to find out what kind of reading your student does at home. Please take a moment to fill out the survey below and send it back as soon as possible.
1.
How much
time does your student spend (on average) reading at home during the week?
2.
What kind
of reading does your student do? (Books, magazines, websites, etc)
3.
Where does
your student get their reading material? (School library, Public Library, Home,
etc)
4.
What are
your student’s interests outside of school?
5.
Does your
student discuss books with you? What kind of discussion about books have you
had?
If you have any questions, please feel free to email
me or call the school directly. Thank you for your support and cooperation!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sprinkle
Mrs. Sprinkle
Using this letter, hope to make parents/guardians
aware of the importance of reading in our classroom and get them thinking about
their own involvement with their student’s reading. Both of these reading
interest inventories would be conducted at the beginning of the school year to
get started with finding books for independent reading. The first week of
school is always dedicated to getting to know the students and for them to
understand what is expected from them during the school year. This interest
inventory as well as classroom discussion the first week on activities outside
of class can lend an insight into what the students may prefer to read. By
understand what students’ interests are, “we can guide students to select books
from the classroom library that will allow them to become engaged readers”
D.
References
Brown,
H. D. (2007). Teaching by Principles. (3rd ed.). London: Longman.
Harmer, J. (2003). The Practice of English Language Teaching. (3rd
ed.). England: Longman.
Moss, B. & Young, T. A. (2010). Creating lifelong
learners through independent reading. Neward, DE: International
Reading Association
Rahim,
Farida. 2005. Pengajaran Membaca di Sekolah Dasar. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara
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