Young Children's Attention to Textual Context when Reading

An attempt was made to measure children's attention to text when reading. Attention was measured by observing the children's ability to reflect on text during and after the reading task. Questions were asked to determine how far children had assimilated new information from the text. It was felt that perhaps children do not know why they have learned to read and regard competent performance rather than understanding or personal gain as the object of reading, especially when reading aloud to the teacher. Children were, therefore, also asked why they thought they had been taught to read. The possibility of a relationship between the degree of attention manifested and the number of purposes for reading nominated was also considered. The results revealed no relationship between individual's ability to attend to text and to nominate a greater number of purposes for learning to read. However, the evidence suggested that the ability to attend to text and the understanding of the uses of reading might both be improved.