Abstract
Conducted at 10 schools in four communities, this study investigated relationships of young adolescents’ reading motivation, reading preference, and reading engagement as influenced by their English Language Arts teachers’ use of instructional strategies. Students in eight sixth grade (N=196) and nine seventh grade (N=218) classes completed a post Reading Behavior Survey and the Motivation to Read Questionnaire (MRQ) and a Class Strategies Checklist at the beginning and end of the academic year. The 17 teachers also completed a pre/post Strategies Checklist and a Survey. Mean MRQ difference scores were averaged by ELA class group. Scores in nine MRQ dimensions revealed a decline except for Challenge with a slight positive increase for seventh graders. These results confirm prior research findings that as adolescents move along in grade level their reading motivation decreases. However, 11 of the 17 class groups indicated some positive change in one or more MRQ dimensions with five classes revealing positive reading motivation growth in four dimensions. Enjoyable reading activities noted by all students involved receptive and expressive oral language. Such preference may have been due to large class populations of Hispanic, subsidized lunch, and limited English proficient students who found that oral language interaction helped them understand and enjoy the readings. The most preferred reading activity during out-of-school time was that of a social nature involving text messaging. Both this current and prior research suggest that successful teachers motivate their students through classroom interaction, challenging literacy activities and discussion about what was read.
Highlights
Often voiced by many educators is the comment, “This student is just not motivated,” to describe a student’s behavior, when he/she is not achieving well in academic areas and/or performing below what the teacher expects the student can achieve
Based on the literature review, this study focused on the following research questions: (1) Do individual ELA class groups, taught by the same ELA teacher, indicate change in motivation as measured by the Motivation to Read Questionnaire (MRQ; Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997) over one academic year?
The mean difference subscale scores of the MRQ were examined for all 17 class groups (N = 414 students), for the eight sixth grade class groups (N = 196 students), and for the nine seventh grade class groups (N = 218 students)
Summary
Often voiced by many educators is the comment, “This student is just not motivated,” to describe a student’s behavior, when he/she is not achieving well in academic areas and/or performing below what the teacher expects the student can achieve. The construct of motivation has been theorized to exist at two levels- either intrinsic or extrinsic- both of which effect an individual’s goals, self-efficacy, and external social influences (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Guthrie, Wigfield, Metsala, & Cox, 1999). Intrinsic motivation includes such activity as involvement, curiosity, social interaction, and challenges while extrinsic motivation is characterized by compliance, recognition, and getting good grades (Guthrie, Wigfield, & VonSecker, 2000; Sweet & Guthrie, 1996). The problem for educators becomes one of developing both levels of motivation to achieve maximum student learning success in structured settings
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