Understanding Reading Motivation for At-Risk Adolescent Girls

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between adolescent girls who identify themselves as possessing delinquent characteristics and how that identification corresponds to their reading motivation. Four 8 th grade girls were interviewed to ascertain the link between attitude, self, identity building activities, resistance, and reading motivation. Discourse analysis was used to thematically connect these ascribing characteristics. The understanding of this connection is essential to promoting academic achievement in students who act in resistance toward the established authority of the school house culture. This study is framed through a post-modern understanding of transactionalism and demonstrates how, through a blended approach, the concept of transactionalism can be used to understand the interaction between delinquent girls, school authority, and the act of reading.