In order to initiate more research on the role of reading motivation during the initial stages of learning to comprehend texts, we developed the Reading Motivation Questionnaire for Elementary Students (RMQ-E). The sample comprised 1497 elementary students in Grades 1-3. By means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, three factors were determined: Curiosity, involvement and competition. The three-factor structure of the RMQ-E was found to be invariant across grade levels (scalar invariance) and across female and male students (strict invariance). As was anticipated, students in higher grades and male students were lower in curiosity and involvement than students in lower grades and female students. Whereas competitive reading motivation did not differ across grade levels, it was higher for boys than for girls. Moreover, the contributions of involvement and competition to reading amount and reading competence were in accordance with the hypotheses. The predictive validity of curiosity, however, was not confirmed.
This study addressed the role of reading motivation as a potential determinant of losses or gains in reading competence over six weeks of summer vacation (SV). Based on a sample of 223 third-grade elementary students, structural equation analyses showed that intrinsic reading motivation before SV contributed positively to both word and sentence comprehension after SV when controlling for comprehension performance before SV. These effects were mediated by reading amount. Extrinsic reading motivation did not show significant associations with end-of-summer comprehension scores. Taken together, the findings suggest that intrinsic reading motivation facilitates students’ development of reading comprehension over SV.
Reading motivation has been defined consistently as a multidimensional construct. However, there is some disagreement regarding the number and nature of the dimensions of reading motivation. In particular, there is a lack of studies investigating the dimensional structure and measurement invariance (e.g., across gender) of reading motivation questionnaires. Based on earlier instruments, qualitative findings referring to students’ reasons for reading, and theoretical considerations, we developed the Reading Motivation Questionnaire (RMQ). A sample of 883 sixth-grade students was presented with 34 reading motivation items pertaining to seven dimensions. Five of these dimensions (i.e., curiosity, involvement, grades, competition, social recognition) referred to Wigfield and Guthrie's Motivations for Reading Questionnaire, whereas two dimensions (i.e., emotional regulation, relief from boredom) were based on recent qualitative findings. The results from confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized factor structure. In addition, three higher order factors were identified: intrinsic, extrinsic, and regulatory reading motivation. Moreover, strict measurement invariance across female and male students and across groups with low versus high reading competence was established. Construct validity of the RMQ was supported by the contributions of the RMQ factors to reading amount, fluency, and comprehension and by the predicted gender differences in the dimensions of reading motivation.
In this study, we examined the associations of intrinsic (i.e., involvement-oriented) and extrinsic (i.e., competition-oriented) reading motivation with reading amount and reading comprehension (at the word, sentence, and text level) in a sample of second- and third-grade elementary students (N = 1053). Cognitive ability and socioeconomic status were taken into account as control variables. Reading amount was assumed to mediate the relation between reading motivation and reading comprehension. Moreover, the potentially moderating role of gender was explored. Structural equation analyses revealed that involvement contributed significantly to reading comprehension, and this relationship was mediated through reading amount. Competition oriented reading motivation was directly and negatively related with reading comprehension. The predictive contributions of reading motivation were confirmed in an alternative model with text-level comprehension as the dependent variable and both word- and sentence-level comprehension as additional predictors. Finally, gender did not moderate the obtained relations. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Previous research has demonstrated positive relations between intrinsic reading motivation and reading competence. However, the causal direction of these relations and the moderating role of relevant background variables (e.g., students' achievement level) are not well understood. In the present study, a cross-lagged panel model was applied to academic track and nonacademic track fifth grade students (N = 396) to test whether intrinsic reading motivation and reading competence are reciprocally related depending on the students' achievement level (indicated by school track affiliation). According to expectations, the cross-lagged effect of intrinsic reading motivation on reading competence was only significant for academic track students. In the nonacademic track group, neither the effect of intrinsic reading motivation on reading competence nor the reverse effect proved to be significant. Thus, the nature of the relation between intrinsic reading motivation and reading competence seems to depend on students' school track affiliation.
This study addressed the role of elementary school teachers' motivation as predictors of instructional practices and student motivation. The sample comprised 110 teacher-class pairs (1731 students). The results showed that teachers' didactic interest and self-efficacy predicted teacher reports of instructional practices. In contrast, student reports of instruction were significantly associated with teachers' educational interest and mastery goals. Moreover, student motivation was only related with student reports but not teacher reports of instructional practices. In particular, mastery-oriented practices contributed strongly to student motivation. Teacher educational interest predicted mastery-oriented practices and also showed a significant direct relation to student motivation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Studies on habitual reading motivation (RM) indicate positive relations between intrinsic RM and text comprehension. Extrinsic RM in contrast is not or negatively correlated with text comprehension. However, it is unknown on which sub-dimensions - in particular of intrinsic RM these relationships are based and whether they apply to the understanding of literary and expository texts equally. Therefore, we examined in a sample of 1500 9th graders whether there are differential relationships between single subdimensions of intrinsic RM (object- vs. experience-related) and extrinsic RM (competition- vs. achievement-related) and comprehension of literary and expository texts. Results indicate that both dimensions of extrinsic RM are negatively (competition-related RM) or not significantly (achievement-related RM) associated with comprehension of literary and expository texts. While object-related RM has equally strong positive effects on both types of text comprehension, experience-related RM is exclusively associated with literary, but not with expository text comprehension.
This study examined the unique contributions of various predictors to reading comprehension measured either without or with access to the text during testing. Reasoning ability, prior knowledge, and decoding skills were assumed to have stronger contributions to comprehension without text access than with text access, whereas current motivation should be more strongly associated with comprehension measured with access to the text. Metacognitive strategy knowledge and test anxiety were expected to be equally associated with comprehension in the two test conditions. Participants were 424 eighth- and ninth-grade students. They were presented with several instruments measuring cognitive and motivational predictors and read a text on a mathematical topic; then half of them took a test on comprehension either without or with text access. Based on multiple-group structural equation modeling, results indicated that reasoning ability, decoding ability, and metacognitive strategy knowledge significantly predicted comprehension only in the without-text condition, whereas achievement motivation and test anxiety significantly predicted comprehension only in the with-text condition. The unique contributions of intrinsic motivation to comprehension were significant, but did unexpectedly not differ between the without-text and the with-text condition.