Television-Based Reading Instruction, Reading Achievement, and Task Involvement

The major question in this study was: Does media with high potential for motivational effects lead to increased task involvement or increased achievement in the classroom or both? Specifically, does reading instruction based on popular youth-oriented television programs increase involvement on task associated with reading achievement or increase reading achievement scores or both? Randomly assigned classes in two major urban cities used their normal reading instruction while treatment classes used, in addition, nine sets of reading exercises based on current prime-time youth-oriented TV programs. After an academic year of instruction, treatment class means on a reading achievement test were significantly higher than controls. Systematic observation confirmed increased involvement (e.g., instructional time on task) of the treatment group.