Socio-demographic variables as correlates of reading interests and reception of literary works by primary school students

Starting from the observation that in the teaching of literature, the powers of literary art that could strengthen students' interest in reading and reception of works are insufficiently used, the authors examine the influence of socio-demographic factors on the characteristics of students' interest in reading (gender, academic achievement, educational status of mother and father, language of instruction). The research involved determining the connection between the understanding of unknown and lesser-known words and expressions in passages from literary works (epic-lyrical -folk ballad and epic genre -epic and novel) with socio-demographic factors. The research was carried out using the survey research method, the technique used was a survey, and the instrument was a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 478 5th-grade students from elementary schools in the Republic of Serbia, where classes are taught in Serbian and Hungarian. The following statistical tests were applied: the chi-square (ch²) test, one-factor analysis of variance, t-test (t) of independent samples, phi (Phi) coefficients and Cramer's V indicator within the program IBM SPSS 20.0. The research results showed that students' reading interests significantly correlate with socio-demographic factors, especially gender, academic achievement, father's and mother's educational status, while the mother's educational status is also related to library member-ship. It can be stated that students have difficulties with unknown and less familiar words and expressions (foreign words, dialectal words, localisms and archaisms) while reading literary works, and that the language of instruction is a significant socio-demographic factor that is related to the sum of perceived words and their understanding. It is concluded that it is possible to create an environment that stimulates students' reading interests, which opens up space for modern methodical systems and procedures for interpreting unknown words and expressions in the literary-communicative context of literature teaching.