A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RE A DING INTERESTS OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR STUDENTS IN TEN TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS APPROVED: jor Professor Dean of the School of Education Deux of the Graduate School A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE READING INTERESTS OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR STUDENTS IN TEN TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Aubrey Thera Mitchell, B. S. Denton, Texas May, 1955 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page, LIST OF TABLES v Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem Related Studies Purpose of the Study Sources of Data Limitations Method of Procedure Reading Interests, Based upon Literature Organization of the Study II. READING INTERESTS OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR STUDENTS OF THE NOCONA HIGH SCHOOL COMPARED WITH THOSE OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR STUDENTS IN NINE OTHER TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS 22 Time Spent in Outside Reading Favorite Types of Reading Membership in Book Clubs Favorite Books ©f Fiction Favorite Fiction Writers Favorite Non-fiction Books Favorite Non-fiction Writers Reading of Pocket-book Editions Reading of Book Digests Favorite Newspaper Writers Magazine Articles Read Recently Number of Books Read in a Two-month Period Favorite Books Read Within a Two-month Period Availability of Encyclopedias in the Homes of Students m Chapter Page Types of Encyclopedias Available in the Homes of the Students Students' Desire to Read More Reasons lor Not Doing More Reading Voluntary Reading of Magazines Favorite Magazines Favorite Newspapers Frequency with Which Certain Parts of Newspapers Were Read by Students Favorite Comic Strips Magazines Named by Students as Those to Which They Would Subscribe If They Could Take Only One Magazine Magazines Recommended for School libraries IU. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMEN- DATIONS .251 Summary Conclusions Re commendations APPENDIX 259 BIBLIOGRAPHY 262 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page I. Number ef Junior and Senior Students from the Respective Texas High Schools Who Partici- pated in the Study. ..... 24 II. Time Spent in Outside Reading Per Week by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools ....... 27 III. Favorite Kinds of Reading Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools ....... 34 IV. Membership in Book Clubs Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools ....... 39 V. Favorite Fiction Books Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . .43 VI. Favorite Fiction Writers of Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 60 VII. Favorite Non-fiction Books of Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 72 VIII. Favorite Hon-fiction Writers of Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 87 IX. Reading of Pocket-book Editions of Books as Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . .95 X. Reading of Book Digests as Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 100 Table Page XI, Favorite Newspaper Writers Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls ia Ten Texas High Schools . , .105 XII. Magazine Articles Read Recently by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls ia Ten Texas High Schools . .114 XIII. Number of Books Read ia a Two-month Period by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Tern Texas High Schools . 132 XIV. Favorite Books Read within a Two-month Period by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . .133 XV. Availability ol Encyclopedias in the Homes of Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . .15? XVI. Types of Encyclopedias Available in the Homes of Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 162 XVII. Answers to the Question, "Would You Like to Read More?" As Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 170 XVIII. Reasons for Not Doing More Reading as Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . .175 XIX. Magazines Which Students Have Been Required to Read in School Which They Now Read Volun- tarily, as Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 181 XX. Favorite Magazines Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 188 X XI. Favorite Newspapers Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Tea Texas High Schools . 200 vi Table Page XXII. Frequency with Which Certain Sections of Newspapers Were Read by Junior and Senior Bays and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools .... 206 XXIII. Favorite Comic Strips Reported by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools . 218 XXIV . Magazines Selected by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools as the Ones They Would Choose If They Could Subscribe to Only One Magazine . 229 XXV. Magazines Which School libraries Did Not Take Which Were Recommended as library Additions by Junior and Senior Boys and Girls in Ten Texas High Schools ...... 241 vu CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION T he Problem The problem undertaken in this study was that of making an ef- fort to determine, in so far as was possible, the reading interests of the students enrolled in the high school at Nocona, Texas, during the 1954-1955 school session. A secondary phase of the problem was to compare these reading interests with those of students enrolled in nine other typical high schools of comparable size in other sections of Texas, as determined by means of a questionnaire survey. Related Studies In a study of related literature, it was discovered that only a few studies have been conducted by students at North Texas State Col- lege in relation to reading interests, only one of which deals with the interests of high school students. Thus, they are only remotely re- lated to the problem of the present study, but perhaps it would be worth-while to note some of the principal findings developed in these surveys. The only study which has been conducted at North Texas State College in relation to the reading interests of high school students was that by Young. * She, in a survey of the reading interests of students enrolled in the Newsome Dougherty Memorial High School, Gainesville, Texas, during the school year 1944-1955, collected data from the cir- culation records of the library of the school, classified according to the Dewey Decimal System, and by means of a questionnaire submitted to the entire student body. £ighty-three per cent of the students enrolled in the student body stated that they enjoyed reading. Eighty-six per cent of the girls and 78 per cent of the boys indicated that they often did reading volun- tarily, in addition to required reading in connection with their class work or assignments. There was a tendency for the more advanced students to enjoy reading more than did those of lower academic clas- sifications. Most of the students indicated that, for recreational reading, they selected books because of special interest in the subject matter dealt with, and secondarily because of the author. Stories of adven- ture ranked first with the boys, whereas romantic fiction was most popular with the girls. Among magazines that tMfe students read regularly, both boys and girls gave first rating to Life and second to The Reader's Digest. ^Martha Ruth Young, "Reading Interests of Students of Hew- some Dougherty Memorial High School, Gainesville, Texas, in the School Year 1944-1945," Unpublished Master's Thesis, School of Edu- cation, North Texas State College, August, 1946. Little interest was shown by members of either sex in articles and books about hobbies. A majority of the students preferred to read articles and short stories rather than novels, because of the length of time required to read the latter. About three fourths of the students read, or at least looked at, a newspaper each day. The comic section was the most popular fea- ture of the newspapers among these students. Short stories were read by the students snore than any other part of magazines. Recreation and relaxation were the principal reasons for read- ing as mentioned by this group of high school students. In a study of the reading interests of students enrolled in North Texas State College in the first semester of the session of 1942-1943, Knox analyzed book withdrawals by all students, classified according to the ten major subject areas included in the Dewey Decimal System 2 of library classification. No effort was made to determine which books were withdrawn for recreational reading and which were taken from the library as required or recommended reading for class work. Related research consulted by Knox indicated, however, that for rec- reational reading college students tend to select fiction in books and comics and humor in periodicals. For more serious reading, they 2 Liois Bennett Knox, "Reading Interests of Students of North Texas State Teachers College in the First Semester of the Year 1942- 1943," Unpublished master's thesis, School of Education, North Texas State College, June, 1944. gravitate toward history, biography, human relationships, and national and world affairs. Knox noted, alter an analysis of all book withdrawals for the semester included in her study, that fiction was far in advance of all other types of literature in terms ©f the number of books withdrawn. This fact probably implies a high degree of recreational reading on the part of the students. English and American literature were highly popular, but withdrawals in other national literatures were somewhat insignificant by comparison. Education, history, general literature, fiction, fine arts, and useful arts were the outstanding fields of interest indicated by the stu- dents' use of books in the various divisions of the Dewey Decimal Sys- tem.