Examining the reading habits and reading attitudes of foreign students in terms of different variables

The purpose of this study is to examine the reading habits and attitudes of foreign students in the fourth grade of primary school in terms of different variables. A correlational survey model was used for this purpose. The research was conducted with fourth-grade students attending state schools in the Haliliye district of Şanlıurfa province during the 2024-2025 academic year. The data collection tools used in the research were the 'Personal Information Form,' the 'Reading Habit Scale for Primary School Students,' and the 'Attitude Scale Towards Reading.' Since the data collection tools used in the study had not been used before with foreign students at the primary school level, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the scales were conducted with 396 foreign students selected at random before proceeding to the main application of the study. As a result of the analysis, the main application data were collected from 427 foreign students selected at random. In the analysis of the data in the study, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk normality tests, independent sample t-test, ANOVA test were used, and Pearson correlation analysis was performed. According to the results obtained in the study, it was observed that students' reading habits were at a moderate level, while their attitude towards reading was positive. Students' reading habits showed significant differences according to variables such as gender, mother's education level, father's education level, frequency of watching TV, number of books read during the year, use of the classroom library, use of the school library, and use of digital tools (computer, tablet, phone, etc.) for reading; there were no significant differences in students' reading attitudes based on family economic level or whether students had received preschool education. In terms of gender, there are significant differences in students' reading attitudes in favour of female students, while there are no significant differences in terms of father's educational level, frequency of TV viewing, number of books read during the year, use of the classroom library, use of the school library, and use of digital tools (computer, tablet, phone, etc.) for reading. There were no significant differences based on the variables of mother's educational level, family economic level, and whether students had received preschool education. There was a moderate positive relationship between students' reading habits and their attitudes toward reading.