The role of academic self-determined reading motivation, reading self-concept, home reading environment, and student reading behavior in reading achievement among American Indian and Hispanic students

Abstract

Although an increasing body of reading research explores motivation among students from underrepresented racially minoritized groups in academic settings, the research tends to either lump students into an “underrepresented racial minority” (URM) or an “Other” category or focus on students from specific racial backgrounds (e.g., White, Asian, or Black students). This approach results in students too few in number being overlooked (e.g., American Indian students). However, these students represent an important part of the U.S. culture and school population. The scarce research available focuses on achievement gaps, rather than studying factors such as reading motivation and reading self-concept, which have been suggested to contribute to reading success among American Indian students. Therefore, this study explored self-determined reading motivation, reading self-concept, home reading environment, and student reading behaviors in the prediction of reading achievement among American Indian students representing 19 American Indian Tribes (in comparison to Hispanic students) from one Southwestern State and explored the interrelations between these variables. In a sample of 343 grade 5–8 students (n = 219, 63.8%, American Indian students; n = 124, 36.2% Hispanic students) multiple-group path analyses in Mplus revealed differential relations among the variables: Whereas reading self-concept was the strongest predictor of reading achievement for both groups of students, intrinsic motivation was negatively related to reading achievement for American Indian students. Potential explanations of the observed interrelations are discussed.