Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 56(7) April 2013 doi:10.1002/JAAL.183 © 2013 International Reading Association (pp. 565–576) 565 Measuring Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Reading A CLASSROOM SURVEY Kristin Conradi, Bong Gee Jang, Camille Bryant, Aggie Craft, & Michael C. McKenna Motivating adolescents to read is an attainable goal. The first step is assessment. This article offers teachers and researchers a new tool for planning instruction and gauging its impact. “A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.” —Mark Twain N ora, an eighth grader, relaxes on a sofa while reading The Hunger Games. Deftly, she “turns” page after page on her tablet and sometimes uses the built-in glossary to explore the meaning of a word. Although she might have selected this book because her Facebook friends had already posted that it was a great read, Nora is in fact working with her classmates on an inquiry project (e.g., Simmons, 2012). Using a laptop that rests on the arm of the sofa, she makes notes and explores Internet sources suggested by her teacher. These sources include video clips from the movie and the podcast of an interview with the director. From time to time, she uploads her thoughts—just a few bullets and phrases at this point— to a cloud, where members of her group can access them. The next day in class, Nora will collaborate face to face with group members, distilling common insights as they pursue the goals of the project. Much is happening here. Technology has become a catalyst influencing not only the medium, but also the variety of texts that adolescents encounter. It blurs the standard distinction between in-school and out- of-school literacies and fosters an interplay of reading for recreational and academic purposes. How students feel about reading remains an important question, to be sure, but the answer must become more nuanced to reflect the realities of the new literacies. In our work with middle and high school teachers, conversations often turn to the problem of motivating adolescents to read. We all agree that proficiency is Kristin Conradi is an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA; e-mail keconrad@ncsu.edu. Bong Gee Jang is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA; e-mail bgjnf@virginia.edu. Camille Bryant is an assistant professor at Columbus State University, Georgia, USA; e-mail bryant_camille@columbusstate.edu. Aggie Craft teaches at Charlottesville City Schools, Virginia, USA; e-mail acraft1@gmail.com. Michael McKenna is a professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA; e-mail mcm7g@virginia.edu. Authors (left to right) FEATURE ARTICLE