Developing a reading programme through an action research in a secondary school

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that could promote interest and motivation in reading among the non readers as part of Ping Yi Secondary School Media Resource Library's activities. It is an attempt to improve the current practice of reading enrichment programme by conducting a school-based action research, using technology to promote screen and conventional print-based reading. There are three tasks involved in this study. The first task is to investigate the reasons as to why students are not keen to actively read during the library's enrichment reading programme. The second task is to explore the factors and the context that would motivate students to read. This is achieved through the review of literature and interview with students and teachers. Based on the findings of these two tasks, an alternative enrichment reading programme is developed and implemented. The final task is to evaluate and analyse the outcomes of the implementation of alternative reading programme called the Striving for Total Achievement and Responsibility (STAR) and to report the research project. A random sample of 65 students from Secondary two, three and four were selected to participate in the STAR project. The project became the platform for students to hone their reading interests, and acquire and develop multi-literacy skills. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of data, it was found that while participating students began to read more, maintaining the momentum to read remained a real challenge to the teacher librarian. The data gathered showed that there was modest gain in the areas of cognitive, social and technical knowledge among the participants. The research highlights the fact that it is critical for a teacher designing a reading programme to share his or her goals with the participants at the onset; to provide participants with critical support to facilitate the construction of their own learning processes and to relate their learning journey to the demands of the workplace so that they could find relevance and meaning in what they learn and study in school. Although limited in scope and focus, the larger underlying concern of this study is to propel further research on the relationships between reading interests and academic performance among students of different levels, ethnic groups, gender and academic abilities.