Description

The Reading Attitudes Scale (RAS-33) is a 33-item self-report questionnaire designed to assess children’s and adolescents’ attitudes toward reading. It provides a multidimensional assessment of how students perceive and experience reading, considering not only their enjoyment of reading but also their perceptions of its usefulness and contribution to personal development.

The scale comprises three distinct factors: Reading Enjoyment, Reading Utility, and Personal Development through Reading. This three-factor structure provides a differentiated perspective on students’ attitudes toward reading and allows researchers to examine specific aspects of their relationship with reading.

Responses are recorded on a four-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 = “Strongly Disagree” to 4 = “Strongly Agree.”

Dimensions

Reading Enjoyment reflects the extent to which students perceive reading as an enjoyable, interesting, and personally satisfying activity.

Reading Utility concerns students’ perceptions of the practical and educational value of reading and its usefulness in learning and academic development.

Personal Development through Reading reflects the perceived contribution of reading to personal growth and broader individual development.

Together, these dimensions provide a comprehensive profile of students’ reading attitudes rather than relying exclusively on a single overall measure.

Objective

The primary objective of the RAS-33 is to assess the attitudes of children and adolescents toward reading.

The instrument enables the evaluation of both overall reading attitudes and specific dimensions of students’ perceptions of reading. In this way, it can contribute to a more detailed understanding of how young people relate to reading and the value they attribute to it.

Scoring

The total RAS-33 score is calculated by summing responses across all 33 items. According to the source material, 15 items require reverse scoring before the total score is calculated.

The theoretical total score ranges from 33 to 132, with higher scores indicating a more positive attitude toward reading.

Where appropriate, scores relating to the three individual factors may also provide a more differentiated interpretation of students’ reading attitudes, provided that the scoring structure specified for the scale is followed.

Validity

Exploratory factor analysis reported for the instrument provides evidence supporting a three-factor structure, corresponding to Reading Enjoyment, Reading Utility, and Personal Development.

Factor loadings for items across the three dimensions are reported to range from 0.40 to 0.72, providing evidence concerning the construct structure of the instrument.

When the RAS-33 is applied to new populations or adapted to different linguistic or cultural contexts, additional psychometric evaluation may be appropriate to examine whether the proposed structure is maintained.

Reliability

The reported internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) for the three factors are:

Reading Enjoyment: α = 0.88
Reading Utility: α = 0.78
Personal Development: α = 0.72

These coefficients provide information regarding the internal consistency of the items within each of the three dimensions.

Data Analysis and Use

RAS-33 data can be analyzed using both the overall score and the three individual dimensions, providing a differentiated picture of students’ attitudes toward reading.

According to the source material, a positive reading attitude is associated with higher academic achievement, particularly achievement in language-related subjects. The three factors allow researchers to examine different aspects of reading attitudes and their relationship with school performance.

The instrument may also support comparisons between groups of students or investigations of relationships between reading attitudes and other educational variables, depending on the objectives and design of the study.

Applications

The RAS-33 can be used in educational research examining children’s and adolescents’ attitudes toward reading and their relationship with academic performance.

Its multidimensional structure makes it possible to distinguish between students who read because they enjoy the activity, those who primarily recognize its usefulness, and those who perceive reading as contributing to their personal development.

The scale may therefore provide useful information for studies investigating reading engagement and educational outcomes, as well as for research examining differences in reading attitudes across student groups.

Interpretation of results can consider both the total score and the profile of scores across the three dimensions, thereby providing a more detailed representation of students’ attitudes toward reading.

References

Lewis, R., & Teale, W. H. (1980). Another look at secondary students’ attitudes toward reading. Journal of Reading Behavior, 12, 187–201.

Lewis, R., & Teale, W. H. (1982). Primary school students’ attitudes towards reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 5, 112–125.

Malafantis, K., & Felouka, V. (in press). Enjoyment, utility, personal development: Children’s attitudes toward reading.

Malafantis, K. (2003). Reading and attitudes: Utilization and interpretation of data from primary school students.