Abstract of

Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School

Richard C. Anderson, University of Illinois

Paul T. Wilson, Western Michigan University

Linda G. Fielding, State University of New York at Albany

Few studies have provided precise data on how much reading school children do. Fewer still have examined the relation between amount of reading and reading achievement. In the studies reported here, 155 fifth-grade students wrote down every day on activity forms how many minutes they spent on a wide range of out-of-school activities. Forms were completed for periods ranging from 8 to 26 weeks. The distribution of times for most activities was positively skewed. Among all the ways children spent their time, reading books was the best predictor of several measures of reading achievement, including gains in reading achievement between second and fifth grade. However, on most days most children did little or no book reading.

Abstract from Anderson, R.C., Wilson, P.T., & Fielding, L.G. (1988, Summer). Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School. Reading Research Quarterly, 23(3), 285–303. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.23.3.2