Though concentrated efforts have focused on scientifically based instructional skills compulsory for reading development, they have failed to address the relationship between reading attitude and reading performance. Literacy experts have widely acknowledged the importance of ongoing efforts towards instilling and maintaining a positive attitude and motivation for reading, especially as it pertains to struggling readers. Investigators sought to examine reading specialists' perspectives of struggling readers' attitudes towards reading and their teaching practices used to bolster students' attitudes and abilities to read. This case study investigation involved 10 reading specialists who reported explicit instruction of both decoding and comprehension skills was the most common contributor to students' negative attitudes about reading. Classroom teachers can combat this trend by implementing an array of reading strategies and providing more student-centered interventions from early grades through junior high school.

There is an increasing need for a minimum level of functional competence on the part of consumers and citizens. People must for the sake of their own, their families' and their communities' well‐being be able to read and understand information, 60% of which is communicated in print. They must also be able to decode and follow instructions and labelling, and above all react appropriately to warnings. In all parts of the world there is a growing recognition that reading can provide the key to consumer competence, and that the desire for such competence is often a major motivation in seeking out literacy. Unfortunately, much of the information imparted by governments, industries and the professions cannot be absorbed by the majority of people because it is not expressed in ways and terms which they can generally understand. This paper examines some of the failures in consumer communications, which particularly affect those of low reading ability, and points the way to improvement.