Children's Reading Motivation Research Articles

How parenting styles affect the development of language skills and reading comprehension in primary school students.

This study examined how parenting styles influence children's language skills and reading comprehension. Six hundred and eighty-five Chinese-speaking third graders (Mage = 9.23 years, SD = .66; 341 girls) were randomly recruited from eight primary schools. We measured students' primary caregivers' parenting styles, parental education, family income, migration status, number of children's extracurricular books in the home and family cohesion at Wave 1 (i.e. grade 3). We also assessed students' reading motivation, language skills (i.e. vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness) and reading comprehension at Wave 2 (i.e. grade 4). The structural equation model analysis revealed that parenting styles indirectly affect language and reading comprehension development, with authoritative and authoritarian parenting exerting different influences on the two outcomes. Specifically, authoritative parenting was positively related to the number of children's books, which in turn was directly, or indirectly through reading motivation, associated with children's language skills and reading comprehension. In contrast, authoritarian parenting was negatively related to family cohesion, which was associated with children's reading motivation, and consequently, their language skills and reading comprehension. The multigroup analysis showed that the indirect pathways varied slightly across parental migration statuses. These findings enhance the global understanding of the pathways linking parenting styles to children's language skills and reading comprehension, suggesting that educators and researchers should not overly emphasize the direct role of parenting styles in children's academic performance.

Improving Children’s Reading Motivation and Skills Through Read Aloud: A Mixed-Method Study in Orphanage Context

Generally speaking, children's reading motivation and skills are low, notably those in orphanages requiring solution, one of which is through reading activities applying read-aloud method. Most studies on the read-aloud method were qualitative. This study attempted to address the gap by employing a mixed-methods design with 10 foster children from an orphanage chosen using purposive sampling technique. Observations, tests, and interviews were used to collect the data. Quantitative data from observations and tests were statistically analyzed and reported in frequency and percentage to determine the difference in the number of children who improved following the program. Additionally, interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative data on children's and orphanages' perspectives of the program and its impacts, and the results were assessed using qualitative data analysis including data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analyzed concurrently. They were then merged and interpreted through a side-by-side comparison approach. Finally, convergence or divergence between the two sources of data was determined. The findings show that quantitative and qualitative data confirm each other, demonstrating that the read-aloud method improved children's reading motivation by significantly increasing the length of time for reading and the number of books read, as well as a slight increase in children's reading comprehension and confidence. In addition, the children's reading fluency improved substantially, while their reading accuracy and clarity improved slightly. Future research should focus on areas that need the most improvement and entail a larger sample size. Additionally, reading assistance for foster children is always recommended.

Active Home Literacy Environment: parents' and teachers' expectations of its influence on affective relationships at home, reading performance, and reading motivation in children aged 6 to 8 years.

Studies highlight the benefits of active Home Literacy Environment on learning and reading habits. This model is based on harnessing family involvement, resources and capabilities to create learning opportunities around reading, engaging in practices related to written language at home. However, it is less common to find applied research with children from the age of six, with older ages and already initiated in reading decoding. The aims are confirming and improving the expectations of families and teachers of a group of children (6-8 years old) regarding the effect of an active Home Literacy Environment program on the improvement of affective relationships between parents and children, reading performance, and children's reading motivation. The method and procedure followed included carrying out an active Home Literacy Environment program for 18 months with a group of children (aged 6 to 8 years), their families and their teachers, and measures of all variables were collected at four times, using an Ad Hoc instrument designed for families and teachers. The results show that participants had high expectations about the influence of the Home Literacy Environment on the improvement of all variables even before the implementation of the program, improving their expectations about its effects on positive affective relationships at home and on reading achievement after the intervention. In conclusion, we suggest the need to continue investigating the effects of the active Home Literacy Environment program applied to children aged 6 to 8 years, older than those traditionally investigated. As well as their effects on family relationships, reading ability, and reading motivation.

A Chip Off the Old Block: Do Reading‐Motivated Parents Raise Reading‐Motivated Children?

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between parents' reading motivation and leisure reading frequency and their children's reading motivation. Secondary data analysis was used to examine a sample of almost 330,000 Chilean adolescents. The results of multilevel regression models revealed that parents' reading motivation and frequency were significantly and positively associated with adolescents' reading motivation, even after controlling for their classmates' and their own previous reading achievement. Furthermore, the negative and significant association found between students' reading motivation and their socioeconomic status was smaller in effect size than that of parents' reading motivation and frequency combined. The implications and limitations of these findings are also discussed.

Relations Between Reading Motivation and Reading Efficiency—Evidence From a Longitudinal Eye‐Tracking Study

AbstractStudies on the relation between children's reading motivation and early developmental stages of reading competence are rare and have neglected on‐line measures of reading skill (e.g., eye movements indicating word decoding). For this reason, we investigated the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on the efficiency of reading processes based on eye‐movement data. Moreover, we examined reading efficiency as a mediator of the relation between motivation and comprehension. German elementary school students in Grades 1–3 (N = 131) were tested on three measurement occasions. Specifically, we assessed reading motivation, reading amount, and sentence comprehension at Time 1, reading efficiency at Time 2 (2 months after Time 1), and all of the variables again at Time 3 (10 months after Time 2). Reading efficiency was assessed while children read age‐appropriate sentences and comprised measures of first‐fixation duration, gaze duration, total reading time, forward‐saccade length, and refixation probability. Linear and cross‐lagged panel models showed significant favorable relations between intrinsic reading motivation (operationalized as involvement and enjoyment of reading), but not extrinsic reading motivation (operationalized as striving to outperform one's peers), and most measures of reading efficiency, while controlling for gender, grade level, and reading amount. The reverse effects of reading‐efficiency indicators on intrinsic reading motivation were all significant. Moreover, the test of the mediation model revealed a significant indirect effect of Time 1 intrinsic reading motivation on Time 3 sentence comprehension mediated by Time 2 reading efficiency. We concluded that intrinsic reading motivation, in contrast to extrinsic reading motivation, facilitates reading comprehension through its effect on reading efficiency, independent of variations in reading amount.

Newspaper Reading in Families with School-Age Children: Relationship between Parent-Child Interaction Using Newspaper, Reading Motivation, and Academic Achievement.

The present study aims to observe the patterns of newspaper subscription and reading and further explore the structural relationship between parent-child interactions, children's reading motivation, and academic achievement in families with school-age children. Online surveys were administered to 1361 parents of elementary students from grade 1 to 6 across South Korea. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS to conduct frequency analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping analysis. Results showed the following. First, 17.0% of households subscribed to a newspaper, 28.5% of parents read paper newspapers, and 97.1% of parents read online newspapers. Second, parent-child interaction using newspapers had an indirect effect on children's academic achievement through the mediating effect of reading motivation. Overall results revealed the functions of newspaper as part of home literacy environment and the newspaper's positive contribution to a child's reading motivation and academic achievement.

Computer‐supported knowledge building to enhance reading motivation and comprehension

AbstractReading motivation can greatly impact reading comprehension, but it tends to diminish in and beyond elementary school. This study employs knowledge building pedagogy to advance reading motivation and comprehension in an elementary Chinese language arts class. Participants were twenty‐four third graders who spent one class period (ie, 40 minutes) for 18 weeks in Knowledge Forum to study 10 lessons in a reading textbook. Data mainly came from: a reading motivation questionnaire, online interaction logs, online discourse and PILRS reading comprehension assessments. It was found that knowledge building enhanced children's reading motivation (particularly in terms of reading competence) and reading comprehension (especially at the higher levels). Most students demonstrated spontaneous engagement in advanced online activities demanding high‐level agency. A correlation was also identified between children's motivation to read and more advanced online discourse behaviours requiring higher agency, leading to a deeper understanding of reading. Implications for fostering a motivated reading community that values collective knowledge advancement are discussed.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Innovating classroom‐based instruction for enhancing learners' reading motivation and comprehension has been an important challenge in reading education. Reading motivation is positively associated with reading comprehension but tends to diminish in and beyond elementary school. Technology‐supported reading and learning are further enhanced by interactive online discussions among learners. Engaging learners in collective knowledge building activities can facilitate their reading comprehension. What this paper adds Learner engagement in knowledge building activities, particularly advanced online activities, is associated with higher reading motivation (especially intrinsic reading competence). The process analysis shows that learners' online discourses focus more on higher‐level reading comprehension with extended use of knowledge building pedagogy. Learners exhibit better reading comprehension across all levels of reading comprehension with the implementation of knowledge building pedagogy. Implications for practice and/or policy Knowledge building pedagogy, featuring assuming agency, working with ideas, and fostering community practices, can be a viable approach to reading motivation and comprehension. The design of digital platforms should aim not just to foster knowledge‐acquiring and ‐sharing from reading but also to extend reading into knowledge building activities that highlight idea improvement.

Contribution of children's reading motivation and prosocial efficacy to reading growth

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among summer reading camp participants' initial prosocial efficacy, reading motivation, and their reading skill changes. Despite the theoretical explanation of social and emotional learning (SEL), there is a lack of empirical studies demonstrating the complex relationships and processes among students' social-emotional competencies and beneficial academic learning outcomes. The Freedom Schools reading camp provides learning opportunities during the summer vacation for children primarily from low-income families and minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds. This study tested the linear relationship between students' initial reading motivation and reading growth with prosocial efficacy as a moderator (n = 67). We found that initial intrinsic regulation was related to students' reading comprehension skill growth, and prosocial efficacy moderated the relationship between reading skill changes and intrinsic regulation. Results provided clues about how students' efficacy for prosocial behavior could explain the relationship between students' reading motivation and reading growth.

Secondary illiteracy is a consequence of the reading crisis

A peculiar trend of the recent years is the loss of the prestigiousness and the exclusive role of reading in society.
 The reading crisis is observed in all industrially developed countries. In this regard, secondary illiteracy began to spread among the population. The emergence of the phenomenon of secondary illiteracy leads to a number of negative social and economic consequences.
 An extensive experience has been gained in solving the problems of the reading crisis throughout the world. Countries around the globe are implementing a variety of measures to support reading. State and public support for reading and book publishing is provided, national programs and initiatives to support children's and family reading are legislated.
 The article addresses the problem of reading of the younger generation as a social problem of modern society. The importance of reading as a basic competence of the younger generation is emphasized. The necessity of the special programs development, as well as the projects for improving children's reading motivation is substantiated. An analysis of the projects implementation experience supporting reading in developed countries, in consideration of the approaches in compiling a new strategy and plans to support reading in Ukraine, is completed.

Secondary illiteracy is a consequence of the reading crisis

A peculiar trend of the recent years is the loss of the prestigiousness and the exclusive role of reading in society.
 The reading crisis is observed in all industrially developed countries. In this regard, secondary illiteracy began to spread among the population. The emergence of the phenomenon of secondary illiteracy leads to a number of negative social and economic consequences.
 An extensive experience has been gained in solving the problems of the reading crisis throughout the world. Countries around the globe are implementing a variety of measures to support reading. State and public support for reading and book publishing is provided, national programs and initiatives to support children's and family reading are legislated.
 The article addresses the problem of reading of the younger generation as a social problem of modern society. The importance of reading as a basic competence of the younger generation is emphasized. The necessity of the special programs development, as well as the projects for improving children's reading motivation is substantiated. An analysis of the projects implementation experience supporting reading in developed countries, in consideration of the approaches in compiling a new strategy and plans to support reading in Ukraine, is completed.

Relations between children's reading motivation, activity and performance at the end of primary school

BackgroundThere is increasing recognition of the contribution of affective factors such as motivation to the development of reading competence. Reading activity is theorised to mediate associations between motivation and achievement, but this has been tested empirically only rarely.MethodThis study employed structural equation modelling to test a hypothesised model of relations between the reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation, activity and achievement of a sample of 4,067 grade 6 students in Ireland and to explore whether the relations were moderated by gender or socioeconomic status (SES).ResultsIntrinsic motivation and self‐concept were significantly associated with reading activity, which, in turn, significantly predicted reading achievement. Girls had higher intrinsic motivation and reading activity than boys, but there was no gender difference in reading self‐concept. High‐SES students had higher reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation and activity than low‐SES and medium‐SES students. The strength of the associations among the constructs under study did not vary by gender or SES.ConclusionsFindings suggest that efforts aimed at increasing students' intrinsic reading motivation may lead to increased reading activity and reading competence, irrespective of gender or SES.

Enhancing motivation to read and reading abilities in first grade

This study examined changes in reading motivation and reading achievement among Hebrew-speaking first graders following an intervention program designed to increase intrinsic reading motivation. The program was delivered by the class teacher and focused on choosing relevant reading materials, providing choices for reading and encouraging social collaboration. Twenty-nine children in the intervention group (IG) were compared with 29 children in the control group (CG) who followed the official reading instruction program. During the year, the IG improved their reading motivation, while the CG declined in self-concept as a reader. Reading achievement improved more in the IG than in the CG. These findings suggest that a reading motivation program should be embedded in the regular reading acquisition curriculum to enhance children's reading motivation and improve their reading skills. Special attention should be paid to prevent a decline in young children's motivation as it may predict their future involvement in reading.

Effect of Parents' Encouragement on Reading Motivation: The Mediating Effect of Reading Self-Concept and the Moderating Effect of Gender.

Previous research has found that parental encouragement is associated with children’s motivation to read. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this association or factors that might strengthen or weaken these processes. The current research scrutinized a moderated mediation model that comprised of parental encouragement (predictor variable), reading self-concept (mediator), gender (moderator), and reading motivation (outcome variable) simultaneously. A total of 254 Chinese students (Mage = 11.35 years, SDage = 0.87) completed the Parents’ Encouragement of Extracurricular Reading Questionnaire, Reading Self-Concept Scale, and Pupil Reading Motivation Scale. Path analysis revealed that parents’ encouragement was associated with children’s reading motivation both directly and indirectly via reading self-concept, and the effect of parents’ encouragement on children’s motivation was more positive for boys than girls, while the effect of reading self-concept on children’s motivation was more positive for girls than boys. Our results highlight the importance of parental encouragement in improving children’s reading motivation, and the findings and their implications are discussed.

Beyond Cognition: Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension.

The authors review research on children's reading motivation and its relation to their reading comprehension. They begin by discussing work on the development of school motivation in general and reading motivation in particular, reviewing work showing that many children's reading motivation declines over the school years. Girls tend to have more positive motivation for reading than do boys, and there are ethnic differences in children's reading motivation. Over the last 15 years researchers have identified in both laboratory and classroom-based research instructional practices that positively impact students' reading motivation and ultimately their reading comprehension. There is a strong need for researchers to build on this work and develop and study in different age groups of children effective classroom-based reading motivation instructional programs for a variety of narrative and informational materials.

Parent-child Interactions during Co-reading Natural Science Storybooks

In an age with rapid development of science and technology, how to cultivate the young generation's scientific literacy becomes extremely important. The study aims to investigate the dynamic process of parent-child co-reading natural science storybooks. Through children's exploring and experimenting daily life science with parents' scaffolding in five reading strategies, including Predictive Strategies, Connective Strategies, Summary Strategies, Summary for Them Strategies, and Note Taking Strategies, the integrated information and analysis results were as follows: First, children with different learning styles had different strategies to read science books. Next, parents need to select appropriately tailor-made reading strategies to enhance children's reading motivation. Thirdly, parent-child co-reading strategies do help improving the children's scientific literacy; children hence had higher interest in absorbing and applying to natural science knowledge, ability as well as more positive attitude towards exploring science.

Operating Classroom Aesthetic Reading Environment to Raise Children's Reading Motivation

This research aims to explore how preschool educators understand about raising children's reading motivation through operating classroom aesthetic reading environment. With one year qualitative research, sixteen 4-6 years old young were observed and interviewed. The first stage interviews were undergone with environmental guidance. After the physical class reading environment was adjusted into aesthetic perspective, children's reading motivation and attitudes were triggered. The second stage involved themed reading activities, including the child-centered extended reading activities, arranging parent-child and peers shared reading time, designing borrowing books home activities, promoting peers and parent-child shared reading, and classroom hot-popular reading books selection ballot. Data collection methods included observation, interviews, children's relative documents, drawings, and hands-on works. Based on analysis of research data, main results were extracted as below: young children's reading motivation including interest, perceived control, collaboration, involvement, and efficacy were promoted through classroom aesthetic reading environment and parent-child shared reading promotion activities. Finally, according to conclusion of this research, suggestions for relative teaching application and subsequent research were proposed as reference.

Teacher Perceptions Affect Boys’ and Girls’ Reading Motivation Differently

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and children's reading motivation, with specific attention to gender differences. The reading self-concept, task value, and attitude of 160 fifth and sixth graders were measured. Teachers rated each student's reading comprehension. Results showed that for boys, teacher expectations had no influence on the three constructs of reading motivation measured, whereas for girls, teacher expectations did predict reading self-concept and value of reading. The results provide evidence that the relationship between motivational factors and teacher perceptions is different for boys and girls. The implications for educational practice are addressed.

Ever Try Teaching a Dog To Read? Implicit Theories of Reading Ability

ABSTRACTWhen explaining academic outcomes in specific content areas, people reveal their implicit theories of academic ability. Those who hold an entity theory generally attribute differences in achievement to stable, uncontrollable factors. In contrast, those who hold an incremental theory take into account controllable psychological or environmental variables. Implicit theories affect motivation and are expected to crystallize by about fourth grade. This research examined changes in southwest suburban third graders' implicit theories of reading ability for self, others, and other species in a quasi-experimental, crossover design employing entity and incremental treatments. Seventy-one third-graders completed a 16-week reading program teaching a dog tasks that supported and challenged entity theories of what dogs can do. A therapy dog acted as our confederate because reading to dogs has been shown to improve children's reading skills, but not necessarily change their beliefs about reading ability, because beliefs are resistant to change and require personal experiences that encourage revision. Repeated measures analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant change in students' theories of reading ability (F(1, 59) = 60.61, p < 0.001). Students' incremental scores increased following the entity condition (F(1, 64) = 1.165, p < 0.02); their entity scores decreased following both conditions (F(1, 59) = 21.90, p < 0.001). Students' implicit theories of reading ability for self, other, and other species did not differ; a significant effect of belief in dogs' reading ability (F(1, 59) = 29.04 p < 0.001) was observed. Implications for increasing children's reading motivation and achievement are discussed.

Promoting Reading Motivation by Reading Together

In the present project we tested the hypothesis that tutorial situations with peers would benefit children's reading motivation. Participants were from elementary school—80 fourth-graders and 80 second-graders. We used a questionnaire to assess reading motivation. In the tutorial sessions we developed a Paired Reading Program. The children who were to be tutored (second grade) were each paired with a helper from the fourth grade. There were statistically significant results favoring the children who participated in the reading program. They show significant increments in the levels in the different domains of reading motivation, for tutors and tutees.

Sex or gender identity? Understanding children's reading choices and motivation

The extent to which children's reading choices could be predicted by their motivation and gender identity was examined. Two hundred and twenty‐three children (average age 9 years 11 months) completed questionnaires measuring book reading choices, reading motivation, gender identity (identification with masculine and feminine traits) and a standardised reading assessment. Sex differences were found in children's reading motivation and reading choices. In addition, feminine traits were more closely associated with reading motivation and engagement with neutral books compared to masculine traits. Whilst children's sex predicted their choice of reading male‐ or female‐orientated books, the extent to which they identified with feminine traits was a better predictor in choice of neutral books. Results are discussed in relation to previous research examining sex differences in children's reading choices. In addition, implications for reading activities and choice of books available at school are discussed.