Report Sample on Gender Differences in Reading Ability and Attitudes

Assistance on Research Report

Introduction

            Attitude has been identified as an important factor in context to reading.  Consistent findings suggest that girls are most likely to take interest in reading as compared to their male counterparts.  This gap is wider and it increases with age. Logan and Johnston (2009) assert that “There is evidence that for both boys and girls, attitudes to reading become more negative as children get older (Kush & Watkins, 1996; McKenna et al., 1995; Sainsbury & Schagen, 2004), although girls’ attitudes have been found to be more stable across time (Kush & Watkins, 1996)”(p.200). This indicates that there is a disparity is found between the two genders in terms of reading ability and attitudes.  The aim of this paper is review existing literature on gender differences in reading ability and attitudes in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources.

Overview

Attitude is considered to be an essential factor, which is responsible for developing the reading skills of the child(Howie, 2008). Furthermore, it influences their participation in reading activities in class room, selection of the topic for reading and contributes towards their ongoing development.  In terms of reading, attitude is considered to be the condition of the human mind, which allows the reader to enjoy reading or make it less probable, depending on the emotions and feelings(Howie, 2008).  In simple terms, attitude is considered to be a complete set of emotions and feelings, which are related to learning. These feelings influence the reader to either love reading or to avoid it completely.  From this definition, it is seen that positive attitude plays an important role in determining the reading skills of the child.

Logan and Johnston assert that “positive attitudes to reading have consistently been found to be associated with higher reading achievement and more frequent reading. In addition, the development of a positive attitude to reading has been associated with sustained reading throughout the lifespan” (p.200).  Logan and Johnston (2009) concentrated on studying the gender differences in terms of reading ability and attitudes. From their research, it was found out that female students were better readers as compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, they exhibited more positive attitude towards reading and school as compared to boys.   The findings from their research showed that the differences found between the two genders were significant but relatively small.