Home Reading Support in Grades Four, Six, and Eight: Does Student Reading Motivation Matter?

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between the home literacy environment and reading motivation; however, their results are inconsistent. Limitations to previous studies include relying on parents’ input concerning students’ reading motivation, looking at only a few components of reading motivation, and focusing primarily on the characteristics of the home environment before children entered school. The aim of our research was to investigate how the active components of the home literacy environment in school-age children develop with age and to explore the relationship of these components with reading motivation. Our cross-sectional study included students in grades four, six, and eight and their parents (N = 729). We used a parent questionnaire to collect information on the home literacy environment, and a student questionnaire to collect data on reading motivation. In addition, the students completed a reading test. Our results showed a steady decline in the frequency of parents’ reading support activities in higher grades and age differences in the range of factors that influenced the frequency of these activities. Performance goals predicted parental support to a small extent in grade four, and poor reading performance played a statistically significant yet minor role in grade six. In grade eight, parents shaped reading activities based on their own attitudes and habits. In general, weak correlations were found between parents’ reading support activities and students’ reading motivation in the studied grades.