Attitudes toward reading, reading self-confidence, family involvement and reading comprehension in the second grade

Abstract

Introduction. In literate societies, reading is a key cultural instrument that must be mastered. This process involves cognitive, affective-motivational and contextual aspects. However, we find little research internationally on the relationship between reading comprehension, atti-tudes toward reading, reading self-confidence and family involvement in the first two grades of primary education. Furthermore, there are no studies in Spain that address these variables concurrently. Method. Our study investigates the relationship between these four variables in Spanish sec-ond-graders using a quantitative (descriptive and correlational) study with the participation of 181 boys and 167 girls. Results. Attitudes towards reading and writing were very positive, and confidence was high. The girls obtained higher scores than the boys. Reading self-confidence and family involve-ment showed significant correlations with reading comprehension. Discussion and conclusions. It is important to foster the involvement of families in their childrens' acquisition of reading and writing, to maintain the learners' self-confidence, and for teachers to understand early differences between boys and girls in their attitudes and prefer-ences.