This critique is based on Literacy as a Leisure Activity: Free-Time Preferences of Older

Children and Young Adolescents, a survey research published on May 2005 and ascribed
to the University of Oregon. It was carried out by Nippold, Duthie and Larsen that aimed
at examining young peoples preferences respect to reading as a leisure-time activity in
relation to other free-time options that are likely to compete for their attention.
This paper is split up in three main sections: clinical implications, method and results.
The purpose of this critique is to consider how researchers determined the survey
design, formed questions, chose the population, collected data and statistically analysed
it.
In the clinical implications, this study is grounded in a solid hypothesis that specifies the
relevance of the current research stating that reading should be promoted as a leisure
activity in youngsters whose deficits in this skill and in lexical development lead to
language disorders. Moreover, It is incredible how well-built the literature review is that
assembles theory and previous studies in favour of literacy in the development of
language and new vocabulary acquisition in youth. The researchers endorsed their study
with a list of authors who had a valuable expertise in this area.
For example, Nagy and Herman (1987) estimated that one half of student vocabulary
growth may result from reading encountering 15,000 to 30,000 unfamiliar words a year.
Miller and Gildea (1987) added that students who had the reading habit tended to
acquire larger vocabularies and increased word knowledge leading to stronger reading
comprehension, which, in turn, leads to further lexical expansion ( Sternberg & Powell,
1983 ).
In the method section, it was stated that there were 200 participants (100 male and 100
female) with a mean age of 13;3 from sixth and ninth grade of a western Oregon public
school located in in a lower middle-income neighborhood. Regarding the participants
size, the researchers should have precisely relied on one thousand students not only
from public schools but taking into account the perspective of those who attend private
academic establishments in order to have a larger and flawless picture of reading as a
leisure activity.
It was really impressive how the whole community concerning the academic
establishment, from students parents to teachers, got involved in this research. For
example, on teachers part, they volunteered their classes. And on parents part, they
were informed and provided a letter of consent indicating that it was an optional activity
where students individual performance would remain confidential.
The procedure to implement the Student Questionnaire was appropriate because the
investigators were in the classroom guiding the sections of the two-page survey. Thus,
they read aloud each question to ensure that all participants were understanding to
consciously mark their own answers.
The participants required approximately 10 min to complete the survey that consisted
of three main questions. Related to the Question 1 that looked for identifying the
activities students did in their free time, it is considered that a list of activities should
have not been provided because these options became overlapping for limiting and
influencing directly in students responses.
Regarding the Question 2, the question is unclear. It is supposed that the question is
how much time do you spend reading in your free time? But indeed, some vague and
unnecessary words are employed extending the length of the question too much.
However, the Question 3 was formulated in such a remarkable way that some options
were given to answer it. Options that were necessary due to students context that may
not have the idea of grouping common reading material such comics, newspapers,
poems.
In the results section, the researchers made use of tables to present the three main
results. But this resulted to be overwhelming mainly because of the overuse of numbers.
At first sight, the reader will not know where to start reading. And the worst part was
that the results got lost in a vast sea of numerals. It is strongly advised to have presented
the results in a form of table but specifying the most representative of each section.
Thus, instead of submitting twelve options, they should have put three: the most and
the less important and where reading would have been ranked. Also, they should have
divided the participants in grades and gender in regards of a better organization.
Nevertheless, it should be highlighted that the main intension of this survey research
was completely satisfied making use of percentages to explain the consistency of
students when reading each type of material. It was mesmerizing to know youngsters
reading preferences such as magazines (63%), novels (52%), and comics (41%); and the
least popular were plays (12%), technical books (15%), and newspapers (16%). Including
books and themes that called participants attention, in these, adventure, science
fiction, sports
In the final part of the study, it is really thought-provoking how the researchers raised
discussion through a statement that will surely generate debate towards the decline
interest in reading as a free-time activity because of the influence of new technologies
mainly used to socialize with peers in the transition phase to adolescence.
Writing by : Angela Andrea Prez Roa