Abstract :
Primary school period, is a stage in which the child’s interest in reading arises and the fundamentals of reading habit is set, as the child learns how to read. It is of significant importance to have the children gain a concern and fondness in reading in order to ensure the children acquire reading as a habit. With in this context, it is aimed to examine the reading habits of primary school students in their spare time and their attitudes toward reading. In the study a descriptive research design is implemented. The working group is comprised of 208 children attending to primary school in the city center of Antalya, Turkey. In the study, “Individual Information Form” prepared by the authors, in order to collect socio-demographic data of the children; a questionnaire form prepared by the authors in order to assess the students’ reading habits in their spare time and “Reading Attitude Survey for 1-6th Grade Students”, adapted into Turkish by Kocaarslan (2016), to assess the students’ attitudes towards reading, were administered. As a result, it was seen that children’s reading habits differed according to their gender, frequency of reading books, their parents’ frequency of reading books and buying books for their children, children’s frequency of going to library with their parents, making discussions about the books they read with their parents and teachers and the children’s reasons for reading. In accordance with the results of the study, suggestions are brought up for the researchers, teachers and parents.
