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Purpose – This chapter describes a university-based reading clinic for struggling readers. Created over 40 years ago, this reading clinic continually evolves as it is founded on well-grounded theory and the most current research. The purpose of the chapter is to explain this foundation and how it has informed the structure and day-to-day operations of a successful clinic program.

Methodology/approach – The reading clinic described in this chapter is based largely on the theoretical premises of self-determination theory. This theory has been widely researched in a variety of fields and contexts, including educational settings. Self-determination theory research and reading research, conducted from a multitude of perspectives, provide support for appropriate practices designed to create a motivating classroom environment.

Practical implications – The ideas presented in this chapter show how research and theory can be successfully applied to classroom settings. The author describes various ways in which the theory and research have led to specific, practical decisions in the reading clinic setting. Broadening the use of these practices to regular classroom contexts is also discussed.

Social implications – Despite research that has established how teachers can create a meaningful, motivating classroom environment, unsound practices continue to be used in classrooms everywhere. If, as most educators claim, we want students to become independent thinkers who are able to contribute meaningfully to society, then we need to seriously examine the controlling, performance-oriented, competitive practices that are typical in many classrooms today. We must move toward creating classrooms where the focus is on learning and where children enjoy ownership of the learning process. This chapter describes a program for struggling readers that operates from this stance.

Using the case of social reading via WeChat in China, this paper aims to explore adolescents’ social reading motivation and behaviour. It also examines how the specific dimensions of reading motivation contribute to the different aspects of social reading behaviour.

This study used survey approach, which gathered 1,039 valid responses from a cluster sampling in 14 middle and high schools in Shanghai, China.

The results indicated that social reading motivation was a multidimensional construct, which included the dimensions of social interaction, self-development, peer recognition, information acquisition, personal interests and time killing. The research also found that different motivational dimensions exerted different influences on adolescents’ social reading activities. Specifically, the motivations of time killing and self-development are significant predictors of both the reading act and socializing act. However, information acquisition and personal interests were significant predictors only of the reading act, while social interaction and peer recognition significantly predicted the socializing act.

The findings would be valuable for those who develop reading programs or administer adolescents’ reading practice. This study can help them understand the complexity of adolescents’ social reading motivation and distinguish between its different dimensions.

The study provides important insights into the nature of adolescents’ social reading motivation and how it relates to their social reading behaviour. It not only confirmed the multidimensionality of social reading motivation as a construct but also expanded the exploration of reading motivation and behaviour to the social media arena.

This qualitative descriptive study seeks to understand how the reading motivation of three Chinese students from different reading achievement groups evolved as they moved from the fourth to the sixth grade. This study is informed both by Tierney's framework of global meaning making and Chinese relational epistemology. We recruited these students from a representative K-9 public school located in a metropolitan city in China and conducted two semistructured interviews, the first in fourth grade with a follow-up in sixth grade, during which we asked the same three students to share their stories about their reading experiences and what motivated them to read. Using the constant comparison method and thematic analysis, we analyzed the data and identified critical themes related to the factors that shaped the students' attitudes and motivation toward reading and literacy. This study uncovers several unique patterns of motivation development among Chinese early adolescent students in different achievement groups. Our findings also resulted in a new relational model of reading motivation development within the Chinese sociocultural context.

We describe the development and various implementations of a reading comprehension instruction program called Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI). CORI was designed to enhance students’ reading motivation and reading comprehension, and has been implemented at both elementary and middle school, with a particular focus on science information text reading.

We overview Guthrie and Wigfield’s (2000) reading engagement model, which provides CORI’s theoretical framework. Then we present the major implementation of CORI at elementary school and middle school.

CORI teachers in elementary school focused on five teaching practices to foster motivation: (1) providing thematic content goals; (2) optimizing choice; (3) hands-on activities connected to reading; (4) providing interesting texts; and (5) fostering collaboration. Teachers also taught six reading strategies recommended by the National Reading Panel. Results of several studies showed that CORI students had higher reading motivation and better reading comprehension than students receiving only strategy instruction or traditional reading instruction. We next describe three implementations of CORI at middle school. The motivational instructional practices at this level included (1) thematic contact goals; (2) emphasizing the importance of reading; (3) showing how reading is relevant to student lives; (4) fostering collaboration; (5) optimizing choice; and (6) enabling success. Results of several studies again documented CORI’s success at boosting students’ motivation and comprehension.

The studies carried out show the success of CORI and the paper closes with suggestions about the next steps for the program.

This paper aims to provide insights into the characteristics of avid non-fiction book readers, exploring their typical demographic characteristics in relation to reading volume and frequency. It also investigates their comparative library usage in relation to avid fiction readers, as well as their motivation to read, and barriers to reading. Findings from the subset of self-identified avid non-fiction readers from the 2015 International Study of Avid Book Readers are interrogated to provide insights into this under-researched group.

The authors have used a single-stage mixed-methods approach, using data from both qualitative and quantitative items in an international survey.

The quantitative data analysis of this study suggests that avid non-fiction book readers were more likely to be men and older than avid fiction readers, and that they also tended to read less frequently, though avid non-fiction readers tended to read a greater volume of books. Avid fiction readers reported greater library usage, and thus unsurprisingly were found to have a greater borrowing tendency than non-fiction readers. Our qualitative findings around reading motivation identified a range of recurrent themes. The authors also found three key barriers to reading: time, book access and concentration.

The findings of this study provide unique insights into the characteristics, preferences and motivation of avid non-fiction readers, with the relationship between pleasure and the reading of non-fiction of particular interest.

Purpose – To provide classroom teachers with the rationale and methods necessary to grow the engagement of struggling readers.Design/methodology/approach – The chapter is organized as a series of mini case studies.Findings – Provides a comprehensive description of the methods/practices used with each student or group of students in order to encourage methodological replication.Research limitations/implications – This is not an exhaustive overview of engaging methods, but the case studies should be familiar to classroom teachers and reading specialists. The authors carefully explain how the methods were differentiated for each student or group of students. In addition, the methods are described in sufficient detail so as to ensure that readers can utilize the methods and/or practices with their struggling readers.Practical implications – The chapter advocates that classroom teachers and/or reading specialists carefully consider motivation when planning intervention. The crafted case studies illuminate how such planning and delivery might be implemented.Originality/value of chapter – In order for struggling readers to engage with text for purpose and pleasure, a responsive approach is necessary. Such an approach considers motivation as a critical competent of effective intervention.

The present study focused on examining the effects of a multimedia-based Internet extensive reading program on promoting the receptive skills of Iranian university students.

In the quantitative section of this explanatory sequential mixed-method study, a pretest-posttest design was used to compare the performance of three groups of Iranian university students in terms of their degrees of improvement in receptive proficiency. Besides, the differences in the levels of motivation among the learners were sought. The three classes under study included linear text extensive reading for the first experimental group, a multimedia-based Internet extensive reading group for the other and a control group. The qualitative phase of this study included a semi-structured interview and an open-ended questionnaire.

Analysis of the results revealed that the multimedia-based Internet extensive reading group outperformed the two other groups in terms of proficiency in receptive skills. They also had a higher level of motivation for reading. The findings of the qualitative phase showed that the participants preferred working with multimedia material rather than working with linear texts, or, in other words, printed books. University EFL instructors may be the most beneficiaries of the present study, as they can gain insights into applying Internet-based extensive reading programs into their courses.

Although some studies have been carried out in this area, the paper provides its readers with a new procedure and methodology.

The purpose of this paper is explain how the advent of the internet not only affects the way in which newspapers work, but also has an impact on readers' behavior. This research seeks to identify the readers' motivations as the key determinants of the attitude towards digital newspapers, and to analyse their impact on that attitude.

Qualitative studies are necessary to identify the motivations and establish the hypotheses, and a survey is applied to a representative sample of users. The scales are validated and refined, after which the hypotheses are tested by way of a structural equation model.

The results confirm the existence of positive significant relationships between motivations related to the knowledge of current news, search for specific information and search for updated news, with the favourable attitude to digital newspapers. However, entertainment as a motivation for reading impacts negatively on the readers' attitude. Also, habit as a motivation is more and more positively associated with the attitude towards the digital press.

The main motivations that influence the attitude to the new electronic dailies should be considered by the management with the aim of differentiating the digital channel. Thus, it could be possible to calm some fears re the cannibalism between digital and traditional channels in the journalistic sector. Accordingly this research points out that the knowledge of readers' needs and motivations could be a starting‐point for developing marketing strategies.

The research is one of the first studies that analyses internet user behavior on the part of press readership and employs the uses and gratifications theory for the journalistic business.

Providing equal opportunities in class as well as at home does not ensure equal promotion of leisure reading among girls and boys. Gender differences have wider impacts on their reading development. The purpose of this paper is to find out gender differences in leisure reading habits among children.

The search process was conducted during Aug.–Sept. 2019 using Scopus database. A total of 41 studies were selected for the review. The systematic review used Cochrane Methodologies reported as per preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines for identification, evaluation and selection of studies. The studies that dealt with leisure reading, reported gender difference of reading, had age group of 4–18-year children, were in English language and were accessible to the researchers were selected for review.

The results were presented in terms of identified reading factors including reading frequency, reading choice, reading time, reading media, reading influence, reading value and library use. The girls were more frequent readers than boys. The girls were in favor of fiction, while boys were interested in reading nonfiction. Girls preferred online materials but boys were in favor of printed materials. The boys were influenced by their fathers and peer groups’ reading, while girls were influenced by their mothers’ reading habits.

The study provided better understanding of boys’ and girls’ reading differences and required the librarians, teachers and academic policymakers to deal with them accordingly.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first kind of systematic review reporting difference of reading on the basis of gender and inferred reading factors. It will be helpful for librarians, teachers and academic policymakers to consider these differences while dealing with boys’ and girls’ reading choices and interests.

The development of digital technology and digital resources have influenced one’s reading habits. This paper aimed to study undergraduate students' reading in digital sphere at universities in Vietnam.

A focus group study with 31 undergraduate students of six groups at six public universities was conducted to get their perspectives on reading preference, strategies, effectiveness and psychological factors influencing reading ability.

The results confirmed that bachelor students' reading preference for document formats depended on their reading purposes. They used different reading strategies for digital and traditional reading, for instance, keyword searching, taking note, skimming, scanning, need-based reading, selective reading, comparison, evaluation and criticism. Students had faster reading speed for digital texts; however, they had better concentration and memorization in printed documents. When students have motivation, good attitudes and emotion, they could be motivated to read more.

These findings were useful in enhancing the understanding of digital reading competence and help stakeholders find out solutions to improve reading capacity of Vietnamese students in digital space.