Effect of booktalks on adolescent reading attitudes

Promoting positive reading attitudes in young adults has long been a goal of librarians and educators. Booktalking, which is one widely accepted means of motivating adolescents to read for personal enjoyment, has been adapted to many settings, including the classroom, yet little empirical data exist to prove its claims. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of booktalks used within the classroom setting on adolescent reading attitudes. Two hundred eighty-seven adolescent subjects in three seventh grade English classrooms participated. Two of the three classroom teachers were trained as booktalkers; the third teacher and her classes served as the control group. Quantitative data in the form of pre- and post-test surveys and circulation data were collected. Qualitative data from random interviews and checklists were also collected. The results indicated that the circulation of booktalk titles increased significantly after treatment and remained over time for the adolescent subjects hearing booktalks (p =.0002) when compared to the no booktalk group; however, results from a three way split plot analysis of the pre- and post-test attitude survey did not support an attitude change due to booktalk treatment (p =.0642). Thus, it appears that the booktalks might have changed student behaviors toward specific books, but the change did not carry over into the overall attitude toward reading for pleasure. The significant increase in circulation was limited only to booktalk titles and did not extend to other books by authors of the booktalk titles (p =.7212). In addition, a t-test of the responses on selected survey items revealed no significant evidence (p =.259) linking booktalks to broader reading interests. Finally, the results suggested that the adolescent male subjects (M = 70.2252) were not as positive toward reading as the adolescent female subjects (M = 76.4917) were, though those positive attitudes could not be attributed to the booktalk condition