The Power of Choice: the Implementation of a Free Choice Reading Program in an Eighth-Grade English Classroom

Abstract

Many of the titles on contemporary middle school reading lists across the country fail to appeal to the interests of today’s adolescents. Oftentimes, this shortfall negatively affects students’ attitudes toward reading and voluntary reading behaviors. A review of relevant research points to the incorporation of choice as a source of motivation and engagement for middle schoolers’ reading apathy. In this mixed-method study, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of several surveys administered at the conclusion of two reading units; one in which all students read the same assigned text and another in which students chose their own text; examines changes in the reading attitudes and behaviors in 57 students following the implementation of a free choice reading program in an eighth-grade English classroom. The quantitative analysis of the Teale-Lewis Reading Attitude Scales revealed a positive correlation between the implementation of the free choice program and increased student reading attitudes, particularly among female students. Voluntary reading behaviors, as measured by the Reading Behavior Profile and student-completed reading records of non-school-related reading, however, did not increase as a result of the free choice unit. The results of this study reveal that while the implementation of a free choice reading program may not increase the reading attitudes and behaviors of all middle school students, the incorporation of choice into the reading curriculum can have a positive impact upon select students and groups and is therefore worthy of a place in the middle school English classroom.