الملخص الإنجليزي
The aim of the study was to identify secondary school students' reading preferences in Islamic Education in the Sultanate of Oman. More specifically, the study sought answers for the follwing questions: 1- What are the reading preferences of secondary school students in the Sultanate of Oman ? 2- What variables affect the reading preferences of secondary school students in the Sultanate of Oman ? 3- Are there any statistically significant differences which could be attributed to the gender of the students in the reading preferences of secondary school students in the Sultanate of Oman, and the variables which affect them? The population of the study consisted of 27383 male and female students in the secondary level of the government school system, from the following regions : Muscat , Dhufar , Musandam , Batinah, - Batinah South , Dhahirah , Al-Sharqiyyah , Al-Sharqiyyah North , and Al-Wusta . The sample of the study consisted of (1415) students (M=676, F=739). It was a stratified random sample .
The instrument of the study was a questionnaire which consisted of two main parts . The first part dealt with the reading preferences, and this was divided into the following sixteen categories : The Holy Quran , The Hadith ( Sayings of The Prophet), Al-Aqidah ( Islamic Doctrine ) , Fikh ( Islamic Legislation ), Sirah ( The Biography of The Prophet ), Islamic systems , The Biography of The Companions , Islamic History , Islamic Civilization , Islamic Philosophy , Sophism in Islam, Moral Values in Islam, Islamic Literature , Islamic Minori ties , Scientific Progress in Islam , Health and Environment, and Com parative Religions. These sixteen categories contained (79) items . The second part of the questionnaire dealt with the variables which af fect the reading preferences, and this was divided into the following six categories : the family, friends , the school, the school library book exhibitions, and informational venues . This part had (25) items .
The validity of the questionnaire was determined by a committee of specialists. The questionaire was also found to be valid in that it made it possible to detect a significant statistical difference between the upper (27%) and the lower (27%) of the sample of the study. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by two methods . The first method was the computation of Cronbach Alpha which yielded a coefficient of (0.97). The second method was the test - retest method, which yielded a Pearson correlation coefficient of (0.86). The questionnaire was administered in its final form in the first se mester of the academic year 1994 - 1995 . The results of the study showed that the reading preferences in the sixteen categories attained an average above (60) except for Islamic philosophy. All the varia bles which were included in the questionnaire were considered impor tant by the subjects of the study. They were ranked according to their importance as follows: the family, the school library, friends , book exhibitions, the school, and informational venues .
The results of the study also showed that there were significant statistical differences in eleven categories of the reading preferences between male and female students , and in ten of these categories, dif ferences were in favor of female students . Significant statistical differ ences were detected in three variables which affect reading preferences, and these were also in favor of female students . As for the effect of the major variable (arts and science majors), the results showed that there were significant statistical differences in seven cate gories of the reading preferences , and these were in favor of the arts major, but it had no effect on the variables which influence the read ing preferences.
