The Clearing House, 83: 168174, 2010 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0009-8655 print;

1939-912X online DOI: 10.1080/00098650903505340

The Value of Reading and the Effectiveness of Sustained Silent Reading

POH-CHUA SIAH and WAI-LING KWOK

Abstract: In this article, we explore the association between students value of reading and their behavior during a sustained silent reading (SSR) period, and their attitudes toward SSR and reading leisure books. 362 secondary students participated in this study and data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The results showed that more students in the high value of reading (HVR) group behaved better during SSR periods and had a more positive attitude toward SSR and leisure book reading than those in the lower value of reading (LVR) group. The value of reading was also found to be associated with the frequency of interaction with parents in reading activities, and we thus suggest that parents should be involved in the SSR program. Keywords: sustained silent reading (SSR), value of reading, parents any policymakers face the problem of empowering their nations to meet the challenges of a highly competitive globalized economy, and many believe that an important driver of growth is a quality education (Gurria 2007). One of the key elements in a quality education is reading prociency, which the United Nations Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organization (2005) has claimed to be one of the important foundations of a basic education. The National Institute for Literacy (2003) asserts that reading failure in children will create problems for them in developing self-condence and motivation to learn and in their later school performance. The lack of reading skills in high school students is a primary concern among educators and policymakers. In the United States, a study conducted by the Alliance for Excellent Education found that only 51 percent of

college-bound students who took the ACT college entrance exam were prepared for college-level reading (ACT, Inc. 2006). The U.S. Department of Education (2009) also found that the national average reading score of twelfth graders in 2005 was poorer than in 1992. Overall, it has been estimated that about 6 million middle and high school students cannot read at acceptable levels (Wise 2009). Many legislators, administrators, teachers, and parents have therefore emphasized the need for reading programs to improve childrens reading prociency (Faires, Nichol, and Rickelman 2000). In the United States, one target of the No Child Left Behind Act is to ensure that students can not only read, but also understand what they read (Fisher 2004). Some school improvement committees have suggested the need to design and launch effective interventions to improve student reading skills. One interventions is sustained silent reading (SSR). Sustained Silent Reading Sustained silent reading is dened as a period of uninterrupted silent reading. Many schools use SSR in place of other reading programs to promote reading (Bryan, Fawson, and Reutzel 2003). Often, a school will reserve approximately 15 minutes of each school day for SSR to allow students to read whatever they want. Students are not required to nish their selections and do not have to write book reports or assignments, and no grades are given. Library media specialists and teachers are also required to read a book for pleasure during the SSR period (Krashen 2006). Lyman Hunt of the University of Vermont proposed this program in the 1960s, and many public schools in

Poh-Chua Siah, PhD, is an assistant professor at the department of psychology and counseling at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Perak, Malaysia. Wai-Ling Kwok is a postgraduate student at Open University, Malaysia.
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the United States implemented it by the 1970s (Jensen and Jensen 2002). There are many different SSR programs designed to improve students reading habits and interests, such as Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), Daily Independent Reading Time (DIRT), and Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading (USSR; Gardiner 2001). All of these programs share common features such as letting students read silently, freely, and without interruption (Gardiner 2001). Nonetheless, debate exists regarding the effectiveness of SSR programs in encouraging students to read on their own (Edmonson and Shannon 2002). Some studies have found signicant positive effects from launching an SSR program, such as a close connection between SSR and students attitudes toward reading, and an improvement in vocabulary and reading skills (Gardiner 2001). However, other studies have not found these positive effects. A review conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000), for example, concluded that there was no clear evidence to support the claim that encouraging students to read more would improve their reading achievement. This conclusion, however, has been criticized as seriously awed. Independent analysis of the results of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study reveal that SSR is as good as traditional instruction (Krashen 2006). Among fourteen studies under review, four showed positive effects and ten showed no difference from traditional instruction (Krashen 2006). Some researchers and teachers have called for adaptations to the design of SSR programs to improve their effectiveness, such as removing the silence aspect (Parr and Maguiness 2005) and using the R5 approach (read, relax, reect, respond, and rap; Kelly and ClausenGrace 2005). Nonetheless, through a contextualist lens (McGuire 1983), we can conclude that SSR could be effective in some contexts but ineffective in others. Thus, it is important to understand the conditions that enable SSR programs to be effective so that program developers can apply SSR to more suitable contexts to create the expected outcomes. Reading Performance and Parental Involvement Studies have shown the important relationship between parental involvement and childrens reading performance. For example, Fiala and Sheridan (2003) found an improvement in childrens reading accuracy and rates after instructing parents to tutor their children via the paired reading method. Wood (2002) found improvement in reading attainment, vocabulary, memory, and aspects of phonological awareness in children who frequently engaged in joined activities with their parents, and Faires, Nichol, and Rickelman (2000)

found an improvement in childrens reading levels after encouraging parents to work together with children via a book in bag strategy. Moreover, a program that encouraged parents to spend more time reading with their children produced greater improvement in both parents and childrens attitudes toward reading compared with those who did not participate in this program (Kelly-Vance and Schreck 2002). Thus, it is not surprising to nd a signicant positive relationship between childrens reading habits in preschool years and their reading performance in elementary and high school years (Scarborough, Dobrich, and Hager 1991). Motivation and value of reading may be the mediators that link parental involvement and student reading performance. The high involvement of parents in their childrens reading activities cultivates a positive value of reading in children, which then motivates them to become active readers (Baker, Scher, and Mackler 1997; Gambrell et al. 1996). These children engage in reading more frequently than those who do not perceive reading as valuable (Ames and Archer 1988). Some studies have found that the high involvement of parents in their childrens learning processes not only improves childrens motivation to learn, but also improves the relationship between parents and teachers. In addition, parent-teacher cooperation makes the launching of reading programs much more efcient (Cairney and Munsie 1995; Tizard, Schoeld, and Hewison 1982). What, then, is the relationship between childrens value of reading and SSR programs? Although studies have shown a signicant relationship between parental involvement and childrens reading performance, and between parental involvement and childrens motivation to read, few studies have explored the relationship between the value of reading and SSR programs. In other words, few studies have addressed whether or not the effectiveness of SSR programs is associated with students value of reading. Study Aims The aim of this study was to examine whether or not students value of reading is associated with their frequency of joining in reading activities with their parents, and whether or not students value of reading is associated with their attitudes toward the SSR program and their behaviors during the SSR period. In other words, this study aims to nd out the factors that contribute to the success of SSR. The research questions in this study were: 1. Was there any signicant association between students value of reading and their frequency of joining reading activities with their parents? 2. Was there any signicant association between students value of reading and their level of engagement during SSR?

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3. Was there any signicant association between students value of reading and their evaluation of the effectiveness of the SSR program? Methods We conducted this study at a secondary school that had just launched the SSR program for the duration of six months. The schools reading committee launched the SSR program by setting up a twenty-minute reading period. The program was initiated during the rst period of every school day, and students chose their own books to read, although there were some limitations, such as no comic books or newspapers. All students, teachers, and staff were asked to do nothing during SSR except read books. Teachers in each class acted as role models and supervisors separately. Students were expected to read their books without interruption and were encouraged to write notes and reections for each book in their reading journals. We recruited 362 year-one (equivalent to grade 7) and year-two students from a suburban secondary school in Hong Kong where all students are Chinese and teaching is conducted in Putonghua (or Chinese). About 46 percent of the students sampled were secondary yearone students, and about 55 percent were male. All students had participated in the SSR program for around six months. We used a questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire included the following: 1. Background, such as level of study and gender. 2. Activities conducted together with parents. Students reported how often (never , seldom, sometimes, always) they played computer or TV games, watched TV

programs, read leisure books, and revised homework with their parents. 3. Reading-related interaction with parents. Students reported how often (never , seldom, sometimes, always) they interacted with their parents regarding four reading-related behaviors, such as how often their parents encouraged them to read leisure books and how often their parents bought them leisure books. 4. Attitudes toward reading leisure books. Students indicated the extent to which they agreed (disagree, somewhat disagree, neutral, somewhat agree, agree) with the four adjectives describing feelings about reading leisure books (useful, meaningful, happy, and enjoyable). 5. Attitudes toward the effectiveness of the SSR program. Students indicated the extent to which they agreed (disagree, somewhat disagree, neutral, somewhat agree, agree) with ve statements describing the effectiveness of SSR, such as cultivating their reading habit and encouraging them to visit libraries. They also reported the extent (never , seldom, sometimes, always) to which they read leisure books automatically during SSR. 6. Value of reading. Students responded to a value of reading subscale adapted from the Motivation to Read Prole (MRP; Gambrell et al. 1996) to assess their value of reading. The MRP has been used in prior studies to explore the use of incentives in changing students motivation to read (Edmunds and Tancock 2003). This subscale contains ten items. However, we excluded one item (I would like my teacher to read books out loud to the class) that did not apply to the SSR program in the measurement, because

TABLE 1. Association Between Value of Reading and Types of Activities that Respondents Sometimes or Always Conducted with Parents Value of Reading High (%) Playing computer or TV programs Father Mother Watching TV programs Father Mother Reading leisure books Father Mother Revising homework Father Mother Low (%) chi-square p-value

30.32 24.24 78.07 85.64 21.28 37.24 17.55 30.46

31.17 16.77 71.43 78.71 7.14 16.13 7.14 17.42

0.029 2.927 1.994 2.883 13.328 19.176 8.184 7.924

.865 .087 .158 .09 .001 .001 .004 .005

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TABLE 2. Association Between Values of Reading and Reading-Related Behaviors for Which Respondents Sometimes or Always Interacted with Parents Value of Reading High Buy leisure books Father Mother Tell parents about reading program at school Father Mother Ask about reading program at school Father Mother Encourage to read more leisure books Father Mother 40.96 64.80 35.83 52.55 29.95 45.64 63.39 72.96 Low 23.03 45.81 18.95 31.61 12.99 25.16 40.26 52.60 chi-square 12.233 12.693 11.825 15.455 14.024 15.614 17.950 15.519 p-value .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001

SSR asks all readers to be silent during the reading period. Data Analysis First, we ran the Cronbach reliability test and factor analysis to examine the internal consistency of the Value of Reading scale. Next, based on the scores in the Value of Reading scale, we categorized students into two groups: high value of reading (HVR) and low value of reading (LVR). Students whose Value of Reading scores were higher than the median score were assigned to the HVR group, and students whose Value of Reading

scores were lower than the median score were assigned to the LVR group. Finally, we ran the chi-square test to examine the research questions. Reliability First, the English version of the Value of Reading scale was translated into Chinese by using the forwardbackward method (Lubetkin, Jia, and Gold 2003; Ponce et al. 2004). Next, we recoded ve items with reversed scores in the scale and ran the Cronbach reliability test and found a reliability coefcient of 0.84. These results were similar to the reliability reported by Gambrell

TABLE 3. Association Between Value of Reading and Respondents Attitudes toward Reading Leisure Books Value of reading High (%) Useful Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Meaningful Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Happy Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Enjoyable Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed 84.42 15.58 84.92 15.08 75.88 24.12 83.42 16.58 Low (%) 31.17 68.83 29.22 70.78 23.38 76.62 22.37 77.63 chi-square 103.673 112.847 96.065 131.023 p-value .001 .001 .001 .001

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TABLE 4. Association Between Value of Reading and Respondents Attitudes toward SSR Program Value of Reading High Useful Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Meaningful Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Happy Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Enjoyable Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed 75.88 24.12 75.38 24.62 68.34 31.66 70.85 29.15 Low 31.37 68.63 28.10 71.90 25.00 75.00 20.92 79.08 chi-square 69.726 78.045 64.758 86.312 p-value .001 .001 .001 .001

et al. (1996), although we used the Chinese version with one inappropriate item deleted. We also ran a principal component factor analysis, which extracted one factor, for which the Eigenvalue was 4.08 and which explained 45.33 percent of the total variance. These analyses conrmed the internal consistency of this Chinese version of the scale. Therefore, we used the means of the nine items in the scale to indicate students values of reading. Results Activities Conducted with Parents The results of the chi-square test did not show a signicant association between the value of reading and

frequency of watching TV or frequency of playing computer games. Nonetheless, in contrast to students in the LVR group, more students in the HVR group reported that they sometimes or always read leisure books or revised homework with their parents (Table 1). Interaction with Parents in Reading Activities The results of the chi-square test indicated signicant associations between students value of reading and the frequency of interaction with their parents in reading activities. More students in the HVR group than in the LVR group reported that they sometimes or always interacted with their parents in these reading-related activities (Table 2).

TABLE 5. Association Between Value of Reading and Students Reports on the Effectiveness of the SSR Program Value of Reading High (%) Cultivated reading habit Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Improved interest in reading leisure books Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Encouraged library visits Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Encouraged afterschool reading Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed Encouraged leisure book reading during school holidays Agreed/somewhat agreed Neutral/somewhat disagreed/disagreed 66.83 33.17 73.37 26.63 50.75 49.25 71.36 28.64 67.84 32.16 Low (%) 19.69 80.31 24.18 75.82 15.69 84.31 23.53 76.47 20.92 79.08 chi-square 61.075 83.829 46.447 79.154 76.382 p-value .001 .001 .001 .001 .001

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Behaviors during SSR The results of the chi-square test showed that approximately 89 percent of the students in the HVR group reported that they were self-motivated to read leisure books during SSR, whereas only 71 percent of the students in the LVR group reported self-motivation, 2 (1) = 19.355, p < .001. Attitudes toward Reading Leisure Books The results of the chi-square test showed signicant associations between the value of reading and students attitudes toward leisure books. More students in the HVR group had positive feelings toward reading leisure books than did students in the LVR group (Table 3). Effectiveness of the SSR Program Again, the results of the chi-square test found signicant associations between the value of reading and students attitudes toward the effectiveness of the SSR program. More students in the HVR group had positive feelings toward the SSR program (Table 4) and its effectiveness (Table 5) than did students in the LVR group. Conclusion As childrens failure to read will create problems for them in developing self-condence and motivation in learning, as well as in their later school performance, many schools use SSR to promote reading. However, there are questions about the effectiveness of SSR in encouraging students to read on their own. This study aimed to explore the conditions that make SSR effective, rather than to examine whether or not SSR is effective. This study expected that SSR would be more effective for students whose parents hold a positive value of reading than for those students whose parents do not, because the high involvement of parents in their childrens reading activities would cultivate in their children a positive value of reading. These children might be more likely to enjoy and gain benets from SSR than children who did not hold such value of reading. This study explored three research questions. The rst examined the association between students value of reading and their frequency of joining reading activities with their parents. The results found that more HVR students reported that their parents not only sometimes or always read leisure books and revised homework with them, but also sometimes or always bought leisure books for them, encouraged them to read, and showed concern about their schools reading activities. The second question examined the association between students value of reading and their frequency of reading leisure books actively during the SSR period. The results showed that more students in the HVR group than in the LVR group reported that they were self-motivated to read leisure books during the SSR period. The third question

considered the association between students value of reading and their attitudes toward reading leisure books and the SSR program. Again, the results showed that more students in the HVR group than in the LVR group held positive attitudes toward leisure book reading, the setup of SSR, and the effectiveness of SSR. Based on the results of this study, we can say that the SSR program is more effective for students who have a high value of reading than for students who have a low value of reading. Thus, in order to create signicant impacts on students reading attitudes and behavior during the SSR period, we suggest that schools that run the SSR program encourage students parents to join reading activities frequently with their children at the same time. The more that parents are involved in their childrens reading activities, the more positive their childrens value of reading will be. In turn, their children will be more actively engaged in SSR and therefore more likely to enjoy and hold a positive attitude toward reading leisure books. Future studies can analyze the background of parents and their frequency of joining reading activities with their children. This information will be helpful for program developers to identify students with a low value of reading and to choose more effective strategies to encourage the involvement of their parents in reading activities. Moreover, future studies can further explore the relationship between students value of reading and value of learning, and how these two values interact with parents involvement in their childrens leisure reading. In addition, future studies can consider replicating this study with different cultures to examine the external validity of the results, as this study involves only one country and one culture. Finally, because this study cannot be applied to children who do not have any parental involvement in their schooling, future studies should consider how to implement SSR for these children. To improve the possible reporting bias and external validity of this study, future studies may include other measurements, such as observation and reports from teachers, and use time-series or multiple-baseline designs.
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