Investigation of Primary School Students'Book Reading Diaries

Abstract

When reading is considered as a lifelong learning activity, it is critical to diversify and expand the activities aimed at developing reading skills in primary school. Students are encouraged to keep reading diaries in order to help them develop reading habits, to give them the opportunity to reflect on the texts they read, and to record their personal reflections about the book. The aim of this study is to analyse primary school students' reading diaries. In this study, case study method, one of the qualitative approaches, was used. In this study, typical case sampling was preferred in order to select and analyse average examples of reading diaries. The study was conducted with the fourth grade students of a primary school in Şanlıurfa province and 37 students participated in the study. The data collection tool of the study was the reading diaries filled in individually by the students. The data obtained were analysed by content analysis. As a result of the research, the students wrote in their reading diaries the emotions generated by the book they read, basic information about the book, physical characteristics of the book, content characteristics of the book and their suggestions about the reading process of the book. Regarding the physical characteristics of the book they read, the students gave information about the size of the book and the visual features on the cover. It is noteworthy that students did not give information about the number of pages, page design and page structure of the book they read. Primary school students developed different suggestions for the book reading process in their diaries.