MS WEIRD: Reading Motivation

In a sample of 104 Norwegian ninth-grade students, we examined whether perceived reading efficacy and reading task value uniquely predicted the comprehension of a social studies text after variance associated with gender, achievement in the domain, topic knowledge, deeper strategies, and surface strategies had been removed through forced-order hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results showed that even after removing variance from these variables, the motivation constructs accounted for additional variance. However, only reading task value was a statistically significant positive predictor of reading comprehension, whereas the relationship between reading efficacy and reading comprehension did not reach statistical significance. Thus, reading task value seems particularly important because it can override the contributions of other important constructs. In terms of education, the findings suggest that an emphasis on cognitive constructs such as prior knowledge and strategic text-processing should not make us overlook the specific importance of promoting motivation for reading comprehension.

This study of adolescent boys' literacy builds on motivation theory and uses the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (Wigfield, Guthrie, & McGough, 1996) as a foundation. Survey and achievement data were collected from 330 students and eight teachers at a Catholic, all-boys high-school. Results suggest that the motivational constructs identified by Wigfield and colleagues for elementary students remain relatively intact with this sample, but that some motives for reading may change over time. For teachers, believing a student was a good reader was related to beliefs that the student read the assignments; believing that a student should try harder was related to beliefs about knowing what that student struggles with in class. Several modest relationships between questionnaire responses and student achievement scores were also found.

It is important to reveal strategies which foster students’ reading motivation in order to break through the declining trend in reading motivation throughout children’s educational careers. Consequently, the present study advances an underexposed field in reading motivation research by studying and identifying the strategies of teachers excellent in promoting fifth-grade students’ volitional or autonomous reading motivation through multiple case study analysis. Data on these excellent teachers were gathered from multiple sources (interviews with teachers, SEN coordinators, and school leaders; classroom observations; teacher and student questionnaires) and analysed. The results point to the teaching dimensions of autonomy support, structure, and involvement – as indicated by self-determination theory – as well as to reading aloud as critical strategies to promote students’ autonomous reading motivation in the classroom. A school culture supporting students’ and teachers’ interest in reading is also an essential part of reading promotion. The theoretical and practical significance of the study is discussed.

Research indicates the need to further examine the dimensions of reading motivation. A clear theoretical basis is necessary for conceptualizing reading motivation and considering contextual differences therein.
The present study develops and validates the SRQ-Reading Motivation, a questionnaire measuring recreational and academic reading motivation based on self-determination theory. The study clarifies the relation among reading motivation, reading self-concept, reading behavior (i.e., engagement and frequency), and reading performance (i.e., comprehension). Participants included 1,260 Flemish fifth-grade
students and their 67 teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that both recreational and academic reading motivation comprise 2 factors: autonomous and controlled motivation. This factor structure was found to be invariant across boys and girls. Comparisons of the SRQ-Reading Motivation with subscales of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire provide evidence for the construct validity of the instrument. Structural equation modeling confirmed that recreational autonomous reading motivation is associated with more positive reading behavior and better performance. In the academic setting, only the equivalent relationship between autonomous reading motivation and leisure time reading frequency could be corroborated. In this respect, the results confirm the independent contribution of recreational autonomous reading motivation and reading self concept to reading behavior and performance. No significant indirect relationship between reading motivation and reading comprehension through reading frequency or reading engagement was found. The theoretical and practical significance of the present study is discussed.

With more scrutiny, funding, and accountability surrounding student achievement, everyone from state government officials all the way down to individual classroom teachers have felt the pressure of trying to find a “silver bullet” reading intervention program that will increase students’ reading levels by the end of the academic year. As of July 1, 2014, the state of Tennessee implemented RTI2, which required public schools to provide all students with extra interventions and instructional time necessary to meet grade-level standards in both Reading and Math. Accelerated Reader and myON were two popular reading intervention programs that claimed to increase student reading ability by: identifying the current Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), suggesting “just right books” for independent reading, diagnosing comprehension and reading skills, and motivating readers through extrinsic rewards. This mixed-methods research evaluated the reading performance and motivation of third through fifth grade students in a rural Tennessee county who used either the Accelerated Reader or myON reading program to improve their reading skills in the 2014-2015 school year. Researchers compared Lexile and TCAP Reading scale scores of students from each program to determine significance. Analyses determined that students from the Accelerated Reader program reported higher Lexile scores, while students who participated in the myON reading program reported higher TCAP scores. Further, researchers analyzed the motivation of the myON participants from the beginning to the end of the 2014-2015 school year as measured by the intermediate Heathington Attitude Survey. Analyses determined that the students had no growth in motivation under the myON program. Qualitative analyses through student questionnaires, student focus groups, and teacher interviews revealed motivational factors for the participants and teacher perception of the reading intervention programs.

This study investigates the effects of learning progress assessment (LPA) combined with student-set goals on students’ reading achievement, reading motivation, and reading self-concept in fourth grade. Classes (n = 41) were assigned to either an LPA group with goal setting (LPA-G), an LPA group only (LPA), or a control group (CG). Students of both LPA groups completed eight LPA tests over a period of six months, and teachers received information about their learning progress. Students in the LPA-G group specified goals before the tests and reflected their goal achievement afterwards. Results indicate that growth in reading was higher for students in the LPA group compared to students in the two other groups. Unexpected negative effects of the goal-setting procedure were found on the development of intrinsic reading motivation and individual reading self-concept. The results are discussed with regard to teacher behavior and the use of diagnostic information for instruction.

This study investigates the effects of learning progress assessment (LPA) combined with student-set goals on students’ reading achievement, reading motivation, and reading self-concept in fourth grade. Classes (n = 41) were assigned to either an LPA group with goal setting (LPA-G), an LPA group only (LPA), or a control group (CG). Students of both LPA groups completed eight LPA tests over a period of six months, and teachers received information about their learning progress. Students in the LPA-G group specified goals before the tests and reflected their goal achievement afterwards. Results indicate that growth in reading was higher for students in the LPA group compared to students in the two other groups. Unexpected negative effects of the goal-setting procedure were found on the development of intrinsic reading motivation and individual reading self-concept. The results are discussed with regard to teacher behavior and the use of diagnostic information for instruction.

This study investigates the effects of learning progress assessment (LPA) combined with student-set goals on students’ reading achievement, reading motivation, and reading self-concept in fourth grade. Classes (n = 41) were assigned to either an LPA group with goal setting (LPA-G), an LPA group only (LPA), or a control group (CG). Students of both LPA groups completed eight LPA tests over a period of six months, and teachers received information about their learning progress. Students in the LPA-G group specified goals before the tests and reflected their goal achievement afterwards. Results indicate that growth in reading was higher for students in the LPA group compared to students in the two other groups. Unexpected negative effects of the goal-setting procedure were found on the development of intrinsic reading motivation and individual reading self-concept. The results are discussed with regard to teacher behavior and the use of diagnostic information for instruction.

This study investigates the effects of learning progress assessment (LPA) combined with student-set goals on students’ reading achievement, reading motivation, and reading self-concept in fourth grade. Classes (n = 41) were assigned to either an LPA group with goal setting (LPA-G), an LPA group only (LPA), or a control group (CG). Students of both LPA groups completed eight LPA tests over a period of six months, and teachers received information about their learning progress. Students in the LPA-G group specified goals before the tests and reflected their goal achievement afterwards. Results indicate that growth in reading was higher for students in the LPA group compared to students in the two other groups. Unexpected negative effects of the goal-setting procedure were found on the development of intrinsic reading motivation and individual reading self-concept. The results are discussed with regard to teacher behavior and the use of diagnostic information for instruction.

For most classroom teachers, recognizing when students are engaged in literacy activities – and perhaps more glaringly, when they are not – is a process that is key to evaluating the potential success of the instruction being offered. Students who are engaged have their eyes on what they are doing, are ardently attending to the teacher's read aloud or in reflective repose as they read independently. Moreover, students who are motivated to participate in literacy instruction are on task, cognitively and strategically engaged with the material, and perhaps affectively responding to the activity as well. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to report on an updated and more reliable revision of the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP-R) and to engage in a discussion of how periodic, class-wide administration of the MRP-R can inform practices to support motivating classroom contexts.

In an attempt to more clearly understand the erosion of motivation in some readers, a number of researchers and organizations have called for the investigation of gender differences in all readers, including young children. Consequently, this study focused on younger, average achieving readers. Specifically, 288 third-grade average readers were studied. Two constructs consistent with expectancy-value theory, self-concept as a reader and value of reading, were examined. The results suggest that third-grade boys and girls who are average readers are equally self-confident about their reading ability; however, boys value reading less than girls. This finding sheds new light on the complexities of motivation and gender differences.

Research suggests that children's motivation to read is influenced by their level of reading skill and reading self-concept. However, it is possible that characteristics unrelated to reading, such as underlying personality characteristics, may also influence children's motivation to read. The current study examined the extent to which children's intrinsic reading motivation was predicted by their reading skill, reading self-concept, and personality characteristics. Two hundred and ninety five children (aged 10–11) completed questionnaires measuring reading motivation, reading self-concept, personality characteristics, and also completed a reading assessment. It was found that personality explained significant variance in intrinsic reading motivation after accounting for reading skill and reading self-concept. Furthermore, personality factors accounted for similar amounts of variance in intrinsic reading motivation as reading self-concept and skill. The implications for improving children's motivation to read are discussed, in addition to the importance of tailoring educational and motivational strategies to individuals.

Research suggests that children's motivation to read is influenced by their level of reading skill and reading self-concept. However, it is possible that characteristics unrelated to reading, such as underlying personality characteristics, may also influence children's motivation to read. The current study examined the extent to which children's intrinsic reading motivation was predicted by their reading skill, reading self-concept, and personality characteristics. Two hundred and ninety five children (aged 10–11) completed questionnaires measuring reading motivation, reading self-concept, personality characteristics, and also completed a reading assessment. It was found that personality explained significant variance in intrinsic reading motivation after accounting for reading skill and reading self-concept. Furthermore, personality factors accounted for similar amounts of variance in intrinsic reading motivation as reading self-concept and skill. The implications for improving children's motivation to read are discussed, in addition to the importance of tailoring educational and motivational strategies to individuals.

This study examined the role of reading amount as a mediator of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on higher order reading comprehension (comprised of paragraph- and passage-level comprehension) in a sample of 159 fifth-grade elementary students. A positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading amount was assumed, whereas a negative contribution to reading amount was expected for extrinsic reading motivation. As control variables, lower order reading comprehension (comprised of word- and sentence-level comprehension), gender, and social desirability were taken into account. Structural equation analyses indicated that reading amount fully mediated the positive effect of intrinsic reading motivation on higher order comprehension, whereas extrinsic reading motivation exerted both indirect and direct negative effects on comprehension. Additional analyses confirmed a suppression effect and showed significant negative contributions of extrinsic reading motivation to reading amount and reading comprehension only when intrinsic reading motivation was simultaneously included as a predictor. 本研究在 159名小学五年级学生的样本中,审查阅读量作为中介变数,对较高层次阅读理解(包含段落和全文理解)的内在和外在阅读动机的影响作用。研究者假设内在阅读动机与阅读量之间存在正面的关联,并预期外在阅读动机对阅读量有负面影响作用。较低层次的阅读理解 (包含单词和句子的理解)、性别,以及社会期许,都被考虑为控制变量。结构方程式分析结果显示,阅读量能全面介导较高层次阅读理解的内在阅读动机的积极影响,而外在阅读动机则间接和直接对阅读理解有消极的影响。其他分析结果证实一种抑制作用,并显示只有当外在和内在阅读动机同时加进为预测因子作分析时,外在阅读动机才会对阅读量和阅读理解有显著的消极影响。

The importance of reading competence for both individuals and society underlines the strong need to understand the gender gap in reading achievement. Beyond mean differences in reading comprehension, research has indicated that girls possess specific advantages on constructed-response items compared with boys of the same reading ability. Moreover, it was shown that differences in intrinsic motivation in the tested domain might affect test scores. Differential item functioning was used to analyze the complex relationships among gender, item format, and intrinsic reading motivation in two samples taken from large-scale German assessments of reading comprehension (PIRLS 2011 and PISA 2009). In line with prior research, results showed that compared with equally skilled boys, both 10- and 15-year-old girls performed better on constructed-response items. Furthermore, findings suggest an advantage of 15-year-old but not 10-year-old students with high levels of intrinsic reading motivation when responding to constructed-response items. Results are discussed in relation to the design and interpretation of (large-scale) assessments, the increasing use of constructed-response items in new assessments in response to the Common Core State Standards, and gender-sensitive educational practice.

The aims of this study were, firstly, to identify different groups of teacher–child dyads on the basis of the longitudinal associations between teachers' individual support in reading and children's reading skills, and, secondly, to examine whether the groups thus identified differ with respect to various teacher- and child-related factors. A total of 372 teacher–child dyads were examined. The reading skills of 6- to 7-year-old Finnish-speaking children were measured at the beginning and end of Grade 1. The amount of teachers' support in reading for a particular child was gathered from teachers by questionnaires. Regression Mixture Modeling identified three latent groups of teacher–child dyads: Among 38% of the dyads, teachers' increased support in reading for a particular child positively predicted the development of the child's reading skills; among 13% of the dyads, teachers' support in reading had no association with the child's reading skills; and among the remaining 49% of the dyads, children acquired reading skills slowly irrespective of teachers' efforts to support their learning. Teachers' individual support in reading was positively related to the reading skills for children who were initially interested in reading, and who showed low levels of externalizing problem behavior. Moreover, teachers experienced less negative affect and reported less teaching-related stress when supporting children whose reading skills were developing faster in respect to reading instruction (vs. when working with children whose acquisition of reading skills developed more slowly).

In this study, we examined the associations of intrinsic (i.e., involvement-oriented) and extrinsic (i.e., competition-oriented) reading motivation with reading amount and reading comprehension (at the word, sentence, and text level) in a sample of second- and third-grade elementary students (N = 1053). Cognitive ability and socioeconomic status were taken into account as control variables. Reading amount was assumed to mediate the relation between reading motivation and reading comprehension. Moreover, the potentially moderating role of gender was explored. Structural equation analyses revealed that involvement contributed significantly to reading comprehension, and this relationship was mediated through reading amount. Competition-oriented reading motivation was directly and negatively related with reading comprehension. The predictive contributions of reading motivation were confirmed in an alternative model with text-level comprehension as the dependent variable and both word- and sentence-level comprehension as additional predictors. Finally, gender did not moderate the obtained relations.

Past research has failed to recognize motivation for its potential to produce instructional gains, especially for students with reading disabilities/difficulties (RD). To this purpose, a combined motivational intervention was administered to 80 second-grade through fifth-grade students in a randomized pretest–posttest control group design with three population groups and two conditions. The intervention condition described a positive label (e.g., “clever”) associated with specific reading behavior (e.g., answers questions) accompanied by a challenge to perform better than before and better than another (intrinsic and extrinsic goals). While controlling for initial reading differences, the intervention improved the fluency and comprehension for the RD group, with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), relative to the no disability (ND) group, even though the ND group also made gains. These findings documented a first-tier empirically based intervention with practical applications for elementary students with RD and their peers, although gains in reading for the ADHD group without RD were not significant.