A Book Club's Impact on Parent Support of Adolescent Reading

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate, both before and after intervention, parents' perceptions of their abilities to impact their children's literacy attitudes and activities. The intervention will take the form of a book club conducted by the researcher with parents. This book club will include discussions on current authors and books for adolescents, as well as demonstrations of literacy activities parents can incorporate into their daily lives. The following research questions will be addressed. First, how do parents perceive their abilities to support their sixth grade students in the area of reading? Second, what happens to these perceptions when parents participate in a parent book club and how does this effect home literacy activities? Procedures I will design each meeting's discussions and demonstrations based on parent reports of student interest, and current literature and research regarding appropriate literacy activities for adolescent students. Parents and I will meet once per week for five weeks. Each meeting will be approximately one hour long. During this time parents will participate in direct instruction, open discussion, role playing opportunities, and exploration of book recommendations. In order to assess my research questions, I will administer a qualitative survey at two points during the book club; one at the beginning, and one at the midpoint. I will also administer a phone interview one week after the end of the book club. Throughout this process, I plan to keep a teacher journal in which I will record any observations during book club meetings. Through this study, I hope to arm parents with information about activities, authors, and books that will help them support their adolescent readers. I hope to share my findings with my school colleagues, administrators, and other parents.