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Academic personal initiative (API) has rarely been studied with regard to literacy development. The purpose of this longitudinal study was therefore to examine the unique effects of API on the development of word comprehension as an indicator of word reading. To this end, the effects of previous word comprehension, intrinsic reading motivation, and basic cognitive ability (i.e., processing speed) were controlled for. A total of 1,515 German students participated in a longitudinal assessment starting in Grades 1 to 3, with a second point of measurement nine months later. Latent change score analyses revealed positive associations between API and gains in word comprehension, both in the total sample and at all grade levels. These relations were robust against the effects of previous word comprehension and intrinsic reading motivation. The findings suggest that children play an active role in their own reading development. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
There is broad agreement among researchers to view mind wandering as an obstacle to learning because it draws attention away from learning tasks. Accordingly, empirical findings revealed negative correlations between the frequency of mind wandering during learning and various kinds of learning outcomes (e.g., text retention). However, a few studies have indicated positive effects of mind wandering on creativity in real-world learning environments. The present article reviews these studies and highlights potential benefits of mind wandering for learning mediated through creative processes. Furthermore, we propose various ways to promote useful mind wandering and, at the same time, minimize its negative impact on learning.
This study addressed the role of elementary school teachers' classroom management and mastery-oriented instructional practices as mediators of the effects of teacher motivation on student motivation. The sample comprised 110 teacher-class pairs (1731 students). The results from multilevel regression analyses revealed that teacher educational interest contributed to student reports of teachers' instructional practices. These practices, in turn, were significant predictors of students' subject interest and mastery goals at both the student and the class level. Finally, teacher educational interest showed significant and substantial indirect relations to student motivation that were mediated by teachers’ instructional practices.
Grounded in the expectancy-value and hope theories, the present
study was conducted to examine the extent to which self-efficacy,
task value, and academic hope predict persistence among science
teacher-trainees in Uganda. The sample consisted of 278 undergrad-
uate science teacher-trainees selected from a large public university
in northern Uganda. Data were collected using several scales from
the modified Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire,
Academic Hope Scale, and College Persistence Questionnaire and
analyzed using structural equation modeling. Task value and aca-
demic hope significantly predicted students’ persistence. Academic
hope made a greater contribution to students’ persistence compared
to task value. The combined effect of task value and academic hope
did not make any significant contribution to students’ persistence.
The study highlights the need to strengthen students’ hopeful think-
ing and task value in order to increase their chances of completing
their studies. Implications of the study findings for educational practice and for the training of science teacher-trainees are elaborated in the article.
Inspired by the results from the PISA study and based on previous intervention programs, the reading competence training LEKOLEMO (Program for Fostering Reading Literacy and Reading Motivation) for 7th-grade students was developed. The training differs from existing programs in two aspects: (1) It comprises tasks pertaining to the PISA reading dimensions retrieving information, text-related interpretation, and reflection and evaluation, and (2) explicitly aims at fostering reading motivation. The present study examined the revised version of LEKOLEMO in a sample of 235 seventh graders. The results confirmed the effectiveness of LEKOLEMO and showed significant effects of medium size on reading competence at the follow-up test. However, effects on intrinsic reading motivation and on self-concept of reading were small and unstable.
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.
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.
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 investigated predictors of mind wandering during reading and their effects on comprehension in a sample of secondary school children. One hundred and twenty-five eighth-graders read either an easy, moderately difficult, or difficult version of an expository text and subsequently answered a number of comprehension questions. Students were asked about their thoughts during reading, their propensity to mind wander in various life situations, as well as their interest in the topics of the text. Overall, the results were consistent with the general mind wandering literature: More difficult texts were associated with lower topic interest, more mind wandering during reading, and worse comprehension. Topic interest was negatively related to mind wandering during reading. Furthermore, the propensity to mind wander in daily life had both a positive effect and a negative effect on comprehension, the latter being mediated by mind wandering during reading. Based on these results, it is argued that mind wandering may benefit school children's reading comprehension if it is applied in appropriate situations and for activities that promote comprehension.
Although self-regulated learning has received much attention over the past decades, research on how teacher education students regulate their own learning has been scarce, particularly in third world countries. In the present study, we examined the structural relationships between motivational beliefs, cognitive learning strategies, and academic performance among teacher education students in Uganda. The sample comprised of 1081 students selected from seven universities. Data were collected using several subscales from the modified Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Cognitive learning strategies fully mediated the relationship between motivational beliefs and academic performance. Motivational beliefs contributed to students’ academic performance mainly through influencing their critical thinking and organizational skills. Therefore, interventions to improve teacher education students’ academic performance should focus not only on boosting their motivation but also on enhancing their use of cognitive learning strategies.
Motivation
(2009)
For life-long learning, an effective learning strategy repertoire is particularly important during acquisition of knowledge in lower secondary school—an educational level characterized with transition into more autonomous learning environments with increased complex academic demands. Using latent profile analysis, we explored the occurrence of different secondary school learner profiles depending on their various combinations of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategy use, as well as their differences in perceived autonomy support, intrinsic motivation, and gender. Data were collected from 576 ninth grade students in Uganda using self-report questionnaires. Four learner profiles were identified: competent strategy user, struggling user, surface-level learner, and deep-level learner profiles. Gender differences were noted in students’ use of elaboration and organization strategies to learn Physics, in favor of girls. In terms of profile memberships, significant differences in gender, intrinsic motivation and perceived autonomy support were also noted. Girls were 2.4–2.7 times more likely than boys to be members of the competent strategy user and surface-level learner profiles. Additionally, higher levels of intrinsic motivation predicted an increased likelihood membership into the deep-level learner profile, while higher levels of perceived teacher autonomy predicted an increased likelihood membership into the competent strategy user profile as compared to other profiles. Further, implications of the findings were discussed.
Previous research suggests that children's growth in reading abilities is positively related to their intrinsic reading motivation and the amount of spare time reading. Furthermore, a number of previous studies point to the possibility that spare time reading amount mediates the positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension. However, to date, most of the available evidence for a mediation model is either cross-sectional and/or limited to late elementary and secondary school students, whereas the early elementary grades have only rarely been targeted in longitudinal studies. Accordingly, the present study investigated longitudinal relations between intrinsic reading motivation, reading amount, and reading comprehension in the early elementary grades with a particular focus on the potential mediator role of reading amount. Evidence was found for partial mediation by reading amount between reading comprehension and later intrinsic reading motivation. However, there was no evidence for (partial or full) mediation by reading amount between intrinsic reading motivation and later reading comprehension. It is concluded that in the process of becoming more sophisticated readers, early elementary students read more frequently in their spare time, and this makes reading more rewarding for them in the long run. In contrast, the potentially positive effect of spare time reading on later reading comprehension seems to be either non-existent or too weak to be reliably detected over longer time frames.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Background Boredom during learning activities has the potential of impeding attention, motivation, learning and eventually achievement. Yet, research focusing on its possible antecedents seems to have received less attention especially within the physics domain. Based on assumptions of the Control Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (CVTAE), this study aimed at examining gender differences and structural relationships between students' reported perceived teacher autonomy support (PTAS), cognitive appraisals (self-efficacy and task value) and learning-related boredom in physics. A sample of 375 (56% females) randomly selected 9(th) grade students (mean age = 15.03 years; SD = 1.02) from five secondary schools in Masaka district of Uganda took part in the study. Results Data collected from students' self-reports using standardised instruments revealed that higher levels of PTAS, self-efficacy, and task value were significantly associated with lower levels of boredom during physics learning. Females reported significantly greater task value for learning physics than the males. Self-efficacy (beta = - .10, p < .05) and task value (beta = - .09, p < .01) partially mediated the relationship between PTAS and boredom. PTAS showed significant direct negative contributions to boredom (beta = - .34, p < .001). Conclusion These findings provide support for theory and practice about the importance of promoting autonomy among students by adjusting instructional behaviours among teachers of physics. Teacher autonomy supportive behaviours influence formation of students' beliefs about ability, subjective value and learning-related boredom in physics. Implications and suggestions for further research are also discussed in this paper.
Engeser (2012) argued that the experience of flow is multifaceted and can only be measured validly by taking into account all relevant components. Although the possibility that flow includes several components cannot be excluded, there is weak evidence for Engeser's proposition. In support of a unidimensional interpretation of flow, theoretical, methodological, and empirical arguments are presented.
For efficient and effective pedagogical interventions to address Uganda's alarmingly poor performance in Physics, it is vital to understand students' motivation patterns for Physics learning. Latent profile analysis (LPA)-a person-centred approach-can be used to investigate these motivation patterns. Using a three-step approach to LPA, we sought to answer the following research questions: RQ1, which profiles of secondary school students exist with regards to their motivation for Physics learning; RQ2, are there differences in students' cognitive learning strategies in the identified profiles; and RQ3, does students' gender, attitudes, and individual interest predict membership in these profiles? The sample comprised 934 Grade 9 students from eight secondary schools in Uganda. Data were collected using standardised questionnaires. Six motivational profiles were identified: (i) low-quantity motivation profile (101 students; 10.8%); (ii) moderate-quantity motivation profile (246 students; 26.3%); (iii) high-quantity motivation profile (365 students; 39.1%); (iv) primarily intrinsically motivated profile (60 students, 6.4%); (v) mostly extrinsically motivated profile (88 students, 9.4%); and (vi) grade-introjected profile (74 students, 7.9%). Low-quantity and grade-introjected motivated students mostly used surface learning strategies whilst the high-quantity and primarily intrinsically motivated students used deep learning strategies. Lastly, unlike gender, individual interest and students' attitudes towards Physics learning predicted profile membership. Teachers should provide an interesting autonomous Physics classroom climate and give students clear instructions in self-reliant behaviours that promote intrinsic motivation.
In the present study, we examined the relationships between motivational beliefs (self-efficacy, task value, and control of learning beliefs) and use of metacognitive learning strategies among teacher education students in Uganda. The sample comprised of 649 students selected from seven universities. Data were collected using several scales from the modified Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. Task value and self-efficacy independently and significantly predicted students’ reported use of metacognition. Students’ self-reported self-efficacy and task value explained 38% of the variance in their use of metacognition. The evidence suggests interventions aimed at improving teacher education students’ metacognitive skills to focus on enhancing their efficacy and value beliefs.
SKILLS-DEMANDS COMPATIBILITY AS A DETERMINANT OF FLOW EXPERIENCE IN AN
INDUCTIVE REASONING TASK
(2011)
The skills-demands fit hypothesis of flow theory was examined. Based on the earlier finding that high demands in a game situation do not reduce the experience of flow, a cognitive task paradigm was used. The effect of skills-demands compatibility on the experience of flow but not of other, similar psychological states (i.e., concentration, negative and positive activation) was also investigated. Participants were 89 undergraduate students who worked on a number of inductive reasoning tasks in four successive trials with or without skills-demands compatibility. The results clearly supported the skills-demands fit hypothesis; concentration and activation were affected only by the tasks’ difficulty. Inductive reasoning tasks are a useful tool for the experimental analysis of flow, and skills-demands compatibility is a significant and powerful condition of flow, but not of other, similar psychological states.
This study examined the relations between teacher-reported classroom management self-efficacy, stu-dent-reported teaching quality and students' enjoyment in mathematics. Data were collected from German ninth and tenth-grade students (N = 779) and their teachers (N = 40) at the beginning and the middle of the school year. Multilevel models showed that teachers' self-efficacy at time 1 significantly and positively related to class-level monitoring and relatedness at time 2. Class-level relatedness at time 2 was significantly and positively associated with enjoyment at time 2. Teacher-reported self-efficacy at time 1 was indirectly related to enjoyment at time 2 through relatedness at time 2.
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.
Teacher motivation
(2021)
The present article deals with the question of how the difficulty of a text affects a reader's tendency to engage in task-unrelated thinking (mind wandering) during reading, and the potential role of topic interest as a mediator of the relation between text difficulty and mind wandering. Two-hundred and sixteen participants read three texts with each text either being easy, moderate, or difficult in terms of readability and cohesion. From time to time during reading, participants were interrupted and required to indicate whether they were voluntarily or involuntarily engaging in mind wandering. After reading each text, they rated their interest in and familiarity with the topic, and subsequently answered a number of comprehension questions. The results revealed that reading difficult texts increased both voluntary and involuntary mind wandering and this increase partially explained the negative relation between text difficulty and comprehension. Furthermore, topic interest fully mediated the effect of text difficulty on both forms of mind wandering.
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.
The present study employed a longitudinal person-centered approach to examine the profiles of reading motivation in a sample of 405 elementary school students who were tested in grades 3 and 4. Two dimensions of intrinsic reading motivation (involvement and curiosity) and two dimensions of extrinsic reading motivation (recognition and competition) were considered. Latent profile analyses revealed the same set of four profiles across third and fourth grades: high intrinsic (i.e., high on involvement and curiosity, low on recognition and competition), high involvement (i.e., high on involvement, low on the remaining dimensions), high quantity (high on all dimensions), and moderate quantity (low to moderate on all dimensions). Further results showed that 35% of the students changed their profile membership from third to fourth grade. We particularly observed an increased probability of students in the high-quantity, moderate-quantity, and high-involvement profiles to move to the high-intrinsic profile. Finally, the moderate-quantity profile proved to be significantly lower in reading amount than the other groups that did not differ significantly. Pertaining to reading comprehension, however, the two intrinsic profiles outperformed both the high- and moderate-quantity groups. The latter finding emphasizes the particular importance of intrinsic reading motivation.
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.
The relation between executive functions and reading comprehension in primary-school students
(2018)
Higher-order cognitive skills are necessary prerequisites for reading and understanding words, sentences and texts. In particular, research on executive functions in the cognitive domain has shown that good executive functioning in children is positively related to reading comprehension skills and that deficits in executive functioning are related to difficulties with reading comprehension. However, developmental research on literacy and self-regulation in the early school years suggests that the relation between higher-order cognitive skills and reading might not be unidirectional, but mutually interdependent in nature. Therefore, the present longitudinal study explored the bidirectional relations between executive functions and reading comprehension during primary school across a 1-year period. At two time points (T1, T2), we assessed reading comprehension at the word, sentence, and text levels as well as three components of executive functioning, that is, updating, inhibition, and attention shifting. The sample consisted of three sequential cohorts of German primary school students (N = 1657) starting in first, second, and third grade respectively (aged 6-11 years at T1). Using a latent cross-lagged-panel design, we found bidirectional longitudinal relations between executive functions and reading comprehension for second and third graders. However, for first graders, only the path from executive functioning at T1 to reading comprehension at T2 attained significance. Succeeding analyses revealed updating as the crucial component of the effect from executive functioning on later reading comprehension, whereas text reading comprehension was most predictive of later executive functioning. The potential processes underlying the observed bidirectional relations are discussed with respect to developmental changes in reading comprehension across the primary years.
Motivation and interest affect students' learning especially in Physics, a subject learners perceive as abstract. The present study was guided by three objectives: (a) to adapt and validate the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ-II) for the Ugandan context; (b) to examine whether there are significant differences in motivation for learning Physics with respect to students' gender; and (c) to establish the extent to which students' interest predicts their motivation to learn Physics. The sample comprised 374 randomly selected students from five schools in central Uganda who responded to anonymous questionnaires that included scales from the SMQ-II and the Individual Interest Questionnaire. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analyses, t-tests and structural equation modelling in SPSS-25 and Mplus-8. The five-factor model solution of the SMQ-II fitted adequately with the present data, with deletion of one item. The modified SMQ-II exhibited invariant factor loadings and intercepts (i.e. strong measurement invariance) when administered to boys and girls. Furthermore, motivation for learning Physics did not vary with gender. Students' interest was related to motivation for learning Physics. Lastly, although students' interest significantly predicted all motivational constructs, we noted considerable predictive strength of interest on students' self-efficacy and self-determination in learning Physics. Implications of these findings for the teaching and learning of Physics at lower secondary school are discussed in the paper.
Teacher self-efficacy and teacher interest are two key facets of teacher motivation that are important for highquality teaching. Little is known about the relative strength of the effects of teacher self-efficacy and interest on teaching quality when compared with one another. We extend previous research on teacher motivation by examining the relations linking mathematics teacher self-efficacy and interest with several relevant dimensions of teaching quality as perceived by teachers and students. Participants were 84 mathematics teachers (61.2% female) and their students (1718 students; 48.5% girls). Based on doubly latent multilevel models, we found that teacher-reported self-efficacy in instruction was positively related to teacher-reported cognitive activation, classroom management, and emotional support in mathematics classrooms. Teacher-reported educational interest showed positive associations with both student- and teacher-perceived emotional support. Future research is advised to focus more strongly on the unique relations between different teachers' motivational characteristics and relevant dimensions of teaching quality.
According to influential accounts of mind wandering (MW), working memory capacity (WMC) plays a key role in controlling the amount of off-task thought during the execution of a demanding task. Whereas WMC has primarily been associated with reduced levels of involuntarily occurring MW episodes in prior research, here we demonstrate for the first time that high-WMC individuals exhibit lower levels of voluntary MW. One hundred and eighty participants carried out a demanding reading task and reported their attentional state in response to random thought probes. In addition, participants' WMC was measured with two common complex span tasks (operation span and symmetry span). As a result, WMC was negatively related to both voluntary and involuntary MW, and the two forms of MW partially mediated the positive effect of WMC on reading performance. Furthermore, the negative relation between voluntary WM and reading remained significant after controlling for interest. Thus, in contrast to prior research suggesting that voluntary MW might be more closely related to motivation rather than WMC, the present results demonstrate that high-WMC individuals tend to limit both involuntary and voluntary MW more strictly than low-WMC individuals.