Investigation of Book Reading Habits of Secondary School Students Living in Ankara in Terms of Some Variables

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, it was aimed to examine the reading habits of secondary school students living in Ankara in terms of the number of books read, reading time, library status, library membership, e-book reading, type of books read, and reading purpose. Method: The research is conducted using a descriptive and survey model. A total of 387 students, 215 girls and 172 boys, living in Ankara and attending secondary school, selected by convenient sampling method, were included in the study. Of the students included in the study, 27.6% were attending sixth grade, 27.1% were attending seventh grade, 26.6% were attending eighth grade, and 18.6% were attending fifth grade. 'General Information Form' and Secondary School Book Reading Habit Scale were data collection tools. After obtaining ethical approval, the data were collected online via Google Forms. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way analysis of variance and LSD test were used to analyse the normally distributed data. Findings: The findings show that students' reading habits differ significantly according to the number of books read, daily reading time, library status, library membership, e-book reading, type of books read and purpose of reading. Implications: In the study, it was determined that the students who read two books a month, allocate time for reading books every day, have a library, have a library membership, read ebooks, prefer novels, science/technical books, etc., and read for information, self-improvement and entertainment had high levels of reading habits. In addition, it was determined that these students had high levels of behaviours and skills for reading, writing and speaking, establishing close and positive relationships with books and enriching their expressions. Originality: The unique aspect of this research is to provide a basis for the precautions and studies that can be taken to reinforce and sustain the reading habit acquired in primary school, to determine the factors affecting the reading habits of secondary school students and to make some suggestions to parents, experts and researchers by taking a picture of the current situation.