This review of research examines the constructs of reading motivation and synthesizes research findings of the past 20 years on the relationship between reading motivation and reading behavior (amount, strategies, and preferences), and the relationship between reading motivation and reading competence (reading skills and comprehension). In addition, evidence relating to the causal role of motivational factors and to the role of reading behavior as a mediator of the effects of motivation on reading competence is examined. We identify seven genuine dimensions of reading motivation: curiosity, involvement, competition, recognition, grades, compliance, and work avoidance. Evidence for these dimensions comes from both quantitative and qualitative research. Moreover, evidence from previous studies confirms the positive contribution of intrinsic reading motivation, and the relatively small or negative contribution of extrinsic reading motivation, to reading behavior and reading competence. The positive contribution of intrinsic motivation is particularly evident in relation to amount of reading for enjoyment and reading competence and holds even when accounting for relevant control variables. However, the causal role of reading motivation and the mediating role of reading behavior remain largely unresolved issues.
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.
Reading motivation of Sixth-Grade Elementary School Students - results from an interview study
(2013)
Based on research by Wigfield and Guthrie (1997), Moller and Bonerad (2007) as well as Schaffner and Schiefele (2007) have developed questionnaires to assess students' reading motivation. The goal of the present study was to examine whether these instruments coincide with students' subjective views of their own reading motivation. In order to clarify this question, we conducted interviews with 26 elementary school students and applied content analysis to examine the interview protocols. Although the results support some of the theoretically postulated components, they suggest that questionnaire measures have neglected some important aspects of reading motivation (e. g., reading to regulate one's feelings, reading to relax). Finally, consequences for the revision of reading motivation questionnaires were discussed.
This study examined the role of reading amount as a mediator of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on higher order reading comprehension (comprised of paragraph- and passage-level comprehension) in a sample of 159 fifth-grade elementary students. A positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading amount was assumed, whereas a negative contribution to reading amount was expected for extrinsic reading motivation. As control variables, lower order reading comprehension (comprised of word- and sentence-level comprehension), gender, and social desirability were taken into account. Structural equation analyses indicated that reading amount fully mediated the positive effect of intrinsic reading motivation on higher order comprehension, whereas extrinsic reading motivation exerted both indirect and direct negative effects on comprehension. Additional analyses confirmed a suppression effect and showed significant negative contributions of extrinsic reading motivation to reading amount and reading comprehension only when intrinsic reading motivation was simultaneously included as a predictor.
This article examines the relationships between family background and reading motivation (RM) as well as reading frequency in a sample of 156 high school students. To test the effects of family background (migration status, books at home, parents' appreciation of reading, parents' motivating practices), hierarchical regression analyses were applied. In these analyses, students' perceptions of reading incentives provided by the school and peer group were taken into account as control variables. Parents' learning-oriented appreciation of reading and motivating practices emerged as important predictors of intrinsic and extrinsic RM. Reading frequency was predicted by the number of books at home and parents' motivating practices. The effects of family background on extrinsic RM and reading frequency remained stable, even after controlling for reading incentives provided by the school and peer group.
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.
Diese Studie untersuchte die vermittelnden Prozesse, die den Effekten familiaerer Strukturmerkmale (soziooekonomischer Status, Bildungsniveau, Migrationshintergrund) auf das Lernen eines Textes zugrunde liegen. Es wurde ein Pfadmodell getestet, das familiaere Prozessmerkmale (z.B. Besitz von Kulturguetern) und individuelle Faktoren (z.B. Lesemotiva-tion) als Mediatoren beruecksichtigt. Als Indikator fuer das Textlernen diente die mittels Verifikationstest erfasste situative Textrepraesentation. Das Modell wurde anhand einer Stichprobe von 414 15-jaehrigen Schuelerinnen und Schuelern ueberprueft und weitgehend bestaetigt. Mit wenigen Ausnahmen waren die angenommenen Mediatoren an der Vermittlung familiaerer Einfluesse auf das Textlernen beteiligt. Als besonders einflussreiche Mediatoren erwiesen sich der Besitz von Kulturguetern, die kognitive Grundfaehigkeit, die intrinsische Lesemotivation, das Vorwissen und das metakognitive Strategiewissen.
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.