There are many factors that affect reading attitude, such as gender, ethnicity, reading ability, and home and school environment, but there is not much research on the role of community size in reading attitude. This study answered the question: “Are there differences between third, fourth, and fifth grade students' attitudes toward reading in relation to community size?” Two sub-questions were considered: (1) Does community size affect reading attitude scores? and (2) Does the grade level of third, fourth, and fifth grade affect reading attitude scores? These questions were examined in relation to (a) academic reading, (b) recreational reading, (c) total attitude, and (d) additional questions.
This study used the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna and Kear, 1990) to survey 179 students. The survey was given to 12 classrooms. Two third grade, two fourth grade, and two fifth grade classes from a small city school and a rural school participated in this study. This research design also included three unfinished sentences to which the students responded to collect qualitative data as well. The primary results were derived from a t-Test of Independent Samples and an ANOVA. The t-Test showed that there was no significant difference between the rural and small city school students in the area of reading attitude. Analysis demonstrated that there was a significant difference found in the grade levels. As the grade level increased the reading attitudes decreased. The conclusions that were drawn were that while community size did not affect reading attitude, grade level does in that students in higher grades had significantly lower reading attitude. Educators and parents need to be aware of this and work on promoting positive reading attitudes because this is an indicator of future reading attitude and reading ability.