Can We Talk? Teacher Booktalks as an Influence on Intermediate Readers’ Choice Reading Selections

This study investigated the impact of booktalks on 5th-grade students’ choice reading selections. The experimental design had 22 students in a treatment classroom where four booktalks across four distinct genres were delivered bi-weekly for an academic year (64 books in total) with opportunity for immediate checkout—three copies of each title were available. The same books in the same quantities were made available to students in the control classroom but no booktalks were provided to the students. Throughout the year, a growing positive climate of reading was observed in the treatment classroom with great excitement over the booktalks being demonstrated by the students who exhibited a strong desire to read the books. Observations and reporting from the control classroom did not yield a similar situation. A two-tailed t test showed a statistically significant difference in the circulation of books featured in booktalks in the treatment classroom over books simply displayed in the control classroom. Surveys indicated that the booktalks were particularly influential in the decisions made by 5th-grade students in the treatment classroom regarding their reading.