Development of a Habit of Reading Tool – Experience from a large-scale pilot in Vietnam in 2022

• In Event: Reading in Motion: Book Supply, Book Use and Assessment of Habit of Reading

Proposal

This fourth paper builds upon previous arguments acknowledging the benefits of reading to more deeply investigate how children and family interact with books. This study closely examines implementation of a school library program. To better understand the impact of its library programming and to help fill the larger measurement gap on children’s habit of reading, the implementer developed a Habit of Reading assessment tool. This tool aims to reliably measure primary grade students’ reading behaviors at school and at home, their joy of reading and their intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation. Furthermore, a companion parent/primary caregiver tool aims to corroborate the data reported by children and to explore the role of the home literacy environment. These tools were pilot tested in a very small sample of schools in Sri Lanka in 2019. Building on the results of this study, the implementer further refined and adapted the tools to conduct a larger exploratory study in Vietnam in June – July 2022. This presentation will present the findings from this larger pilot study, which aims to address the following research questions: 1) How can we assess the habit of reading among primary school students in Vietnam; 2) what are Grade 3 and 5 students’ self-reported reading behaviors, attitudes and motivations towards reading in Vietnam; 3) what are the key individual, household and school-level factors that may influence students’ habit of reading that should be explored as a part of future studies; and 4) is there are any relationship between children’s habit of reading and the type of support sampled libraries are currently receiving from the implementer in Vietnam?
To answer these exploratory questions, the implementer collected data from 30 primary schools across five provinces in Vietnam (Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Quang Nam, Dong Nai, and Dong Thap) drawn from its three models for program support (demonstration, collaboration and expansion schools). The Habit of Reading assessment tool was administered to five Grade 3 and five Grade 5 students per school, for a total sample of 300 children. Data was also collected from 150 primary caregivers, or approximately half of sample of Grade 3 and 5 children. In addition to these tools, the implementer collected program implementation data from each of the sampled schools through surveys with Grade 3 and 5 teachers, librarians, and the school leadership.
While the data analysis is currently underway, the implementer hypothesizes that the Habit of Reading assessment tools may offer practitioners a reliable and valid way to assess primary grade students’ reading behaviors and attitudes and provide a new approach for linking them with students’ literacy skills that is both relevant for its own programming and for operating in the Global South.

Authors

• Pinaki Joddar, Room to Read

• Rebecca Alice Westbrook, Room to Read