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Reading Motivation

Sarah Eisenhauer North Carolina State University Reading Motivation Action Research Project May 8, 2012

Reading Motivation

Abstract Reading motivation theory is a topic that has come to the forefront of reading education fairly recently. Researchers have realized that giving students all of the materials necessary to read does not necessarily make them good readers. Students have different levels of motivation that make them strive to their best potential. It is a proven fact that students with lower levels of motivation do not necessarily like to read and have been struggling readers, probably all of their lives. However, students who have a higher level of motivation in reading have found that they are effective, proficient readers who tend to not struggle with all of the different aspects of reading, such as comprehension, fluency, prosody, etc. There will always be a mixture of students who have different motivations for reading within the same classroom.

Reading Motivation

INTRODUCTION Reading motivation theory states that a reader will be more motivated to read and be able to comprehend text easier if it is something that interests them. I decided to focus on this theory because of my classroom dynamics. This year, I have several students who not only are reading below grade level, but they also are reading several years below grade level. These individuals seem apathetic to learning in general, especially reading. They are still working on decoding basic words, still struggle to call out sight words, and rarely are able to comprehend the text they read because of their struggles. Therefore, I wanted to take a look at what would make students more motivated to read and actually help them to begin to enjoy reading. Currently, I have 4 kids who are reading on a first grade level. These students struggle to call basic words and have no word attack skills. They also do not enjoy reading. They have a low self-esteem when it comes to reading and they get embarrassed easily when asked to read. Interestingly enough, all of these students have been retained in the lower primary grades before (kindergarten through second grade). I decided to research what methods will encourage my students to read, knowing that the only way to get better in reading is to actually practice reading. Therefore, I decided to look at reading motivation theory and see if students are able to understand and comprehend texts easier when they are reading something of interest to them. I also wanted to see if students were more likely to pick up a book and read if there were materials that interest them readily available to them.

Reading Motivation

LITERATURE REVIEW What is Reading Motivation? Motivation is the willingness to do a particular task, and reading motivation is the likelihood of engaging in a literacy task and persisting in the activity despite challenges (Block & Parris, 2008). Motivation is developed in many different areas of life, but it seems to be one of the biggest challenges in reading. According to Guthrie, Hoa, Wigfield, Tonks, Humenick & Littles (2006), highly motivated students are able to see the value of the assignment and feel a sense of involvement and enjoyment while reading. These students are able to seek out different opportunities and express the desire to want to read (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling & Mazzoni, 1996). Teachers need to foster this kind of behavior and guide all readers to become motivated like these proficient readers. However, Gambrell (1996) says that we have run into the problem that many children do not think that reading is something that is needed within their lives and that it is not worth doing. In fact, there are many students who do not see themselves

as proficient readers and therefore, do not typically engage in reading activities without being asked to. Motivation is constructed in two different ways when we deal with reading motivation there is either intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where the student has an internal desire to do an activity. Doing this activity and being successful with this activity brings themselves pleasure they do it purely because they want to. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is when the student sets a goal and strives to achieve this goal because of rewards, recognition, and approval (Block & Parris, 2008). The desire to read, in this case, is because they want to achieve some sort of status. Many times extrinsic rewards are used to motivate students to read. However, as teachers, we want to motivate our students to

Reading Motivation

read because they like to read, not because of the rewards they may get for reading. Many different programs used to help struggling readers build motivation use both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards. However, Gurland and Glowacky (2011)suggest that using incentives and negative consequences for not participating in reading does not make students want to read independently. The self-determination theory suggests that people who appear to be equally motivated to engage in an activity can actually differ in how they experience the performance of this activity (Gurland & Glowacky, 2011). For example, these students actually want to do the activity and want to read. On the other hand, the students who do not show motivation to read do it simply because they feel that they have to. In the self-determination theory, a sense of wanting to is the ultimate goal for the reader. However, extrinsic rewards are not always a hindrance when it is reading-related. For example, Gambrell (1996) describes a program, the RS Program, that used extrinsic rewards to motivate students to read. They are given the challenge of reading 21 books while being given the opportunities to read together and book sharings. The reward at the end of the program allows for students to choose books to take home and to add to their home libraries if they were successful with the program (Gambrell, 1996). While we do not want to create senseless extrinsic rewards, this type of reward was still fostering the want and need to read. Other types of rewards that are not reading related, such as candy, computer time, stickers, etc. only motivate students to get the rewards, not necessarily to read. Several different aspects need to be included to help students develop a sense of motivation in reading. One of the most important aspects involves choice. This allows students to decide about what to read, thus feeling like they are in control of their reading and their reading success (Guthrie, Hoa, Wigfield, Tonks, Humenick & Littles, 2006). Students are more

Reading Motivation

motivated when they are allowed to choose the text that interests the students most. In fact, allowing students to choose their books fosters the intrinsic motivation that we want students to achieve as readers. Another important attribute of motivational reading is the idea of self-efficacy and selfconcept. Woolley (2011) says that this refers to an individuals knowledge of and perceptions about themselves in academic achievement situations. Ruddell and Unrau (2006) claim that It is what we think we are able to do and what we are able to do well. It is safe to say that students who do not have a strong sense of self-efficacy of themselves as readers struggle more with reading. They do not understand how to read well and are considered poorer readers. Students with reading difficulties have significantly lower academic self-concepts than their normally achieving peers (Woolley, 2011). On the other hand, students who do have a strong sense of self-efficacy know that they are good at reading and are motivated because they know that they read well. Students who have a strong sense of self-efficacy know that they are good readers. Thus, according to Woolley (2011), they are more willing to work harder on a task that is more difficult. In contrast, struggling readers have formed negative feelings towards reading and are less willing to struggle through assignments and tend to feel like they have failed at the task without even trying. This is the aspect of motivation that students tend to be most embarrassed about. Students do not want to be perceived by their peers as unable to read or as a struggling reader. It is interesting to note that in a study of fourth grade students on reading motivation, students were more concerned about reading correctly in front of their peers (saying words correctly, figuring out harder words) rather than comprehending the entire text (Guthrie, Hoa, Wigfield, Tonks, Humenick & Littles, 2006). Therefore, these students saw themselves as

Reading Motivation

having a low self-efficacy in reading purely because of the way that they struggled with reading in front of their classmates. Engagement in the actual process of reading is another important aspect that helps to foster intrinsic motivation within students. Teachers know that an engaged reader tends to be motivated and has a basic amount of knowledge about reading. They also have the skills and strategies to read (Gambrell, 1996). There are several different ways to keep students engaged and thus motivated in the reading classroom. Ruddell and Unrau (2011) give several examples of this on page 971 including activating prior knowledge within students and allowing them to construct an even deeper meaning of it. Teachers know that students who are motivated and who are engaged choose to read for different reasons, such as to learn something new and learning how to do a new task (Gambrell, 1996). For a reader to be truly motivated, they must be engaged in the reading and wanting to learn from the reading task. They are able to use what they know to do everything good readers do decode, comprehend, read fluently, etc. Engaged readers tend to be emotionally involved within the book that they are reading. By allowing students the choice of what to read in the classroom, students are able to be more engaged in the book. We know that if they are engaged, they are willing to struggle through difficult parts and to be successful in reading. Assessing Motivation Several different types of questionnaires have proven accurate indicators of reading motivation to students. Some are designed to be geared towards younger students, mostly in the younger primary grades. However, there are some designed to be used with upper level students. These questionnaires are used to help determine students self-efficacy and self-worth, their interests, and also the value of reading.

Reading Motivation

One type of questionnaire is the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP). This survey consists of two different sections. One is a reading survey, which is comprised of several multiple choice questions where students select the best answer depending on how they feel about a particular topic, and the second is the conversational piece where the student sits down with the teacher to talk about interests in reading. It is the goal of the conversational piece to provide the teacher information on what interests and motivates that particular student in reading (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling & Mazzoni, 1996). The survey portion of the assessment can be administered in any way whole class, small group, or individual student. However, the conversational piece must be done individually because it involves a conversation between the student and the teacher. The survey portion must be read aloud. When it is done this way, struggling readers are not hindered by the fact that they struggle to read the questions. They are able to focus solely on providing insight into their struggles. Each question is assigned a score of 1-4, with one being least positive response and 4 being the most positive response. The conversational aspect is just to be used to help gain insight on what students prefer to read. This will help them with their reading motivation if used appropriately to provide motivational materials to the student. Another questionnaire that was adapted from the MRP to fit adolescent students was the Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile (AMRP). Adolescents are even more difficult to help build reading motivation with because most of the struggle readers have been struggling for awhile and have created a sense of hopelessness in regards to reading. The format for this particular assessment is similar to the original MRP. The adolescent motivation to read profile (AMRP) has both a survey section and a conversational section. Different questions were added to the conversation piece of this survey because of the fact that experiences are different in middle school and high school. Open ended questions were phrased differently in this

Reading Motivation

conversational interview and asked for students to justify their responses. One of the most important revisions of the conversational piece dealt with literacy outside of the classroom. Questions were asked about technology uses and how literacy might fit in with technology, such as writing emails, IMing, etc. (Pitcher, Albright, DeLaney, Walker, Seunarinesingh, Mogge, Headley & Ridgeway, 2007). Both questionnaires are administered and rated the exact same way, they just pertain to a different set of audiences. Motivation in Different Subgroups In a study done by Chris Gustafson in 2008, the librarian found that the boys scores trailed girls across every grade and in every racial sub-group (Gustafson, 2008). What does this mean? Almost every teacher has found that it is harder to motivate boys to read rather than girls. Students try to counteract this by giving students literature with male main characters and in different themes that boys would enjoy. However, Gustafson found that even by doing this, only 28 percent of the boys in her school would participate in a book reading challenge. So, how did she get the boys in her school motivated? She offered incentives for reading, which seems to go against the research for extrinsic rewards to cultivate a reading environment. However, boys responded to these extrinsic rewards (such as soccer balls, movie tickets, hot fudge sundaes, etc.). At the end of the year, just by offering these rewards, the boys raised their participation from 28 percent to 49 percent. Students with learning and behavior problems also tend to struggle with reading. Usually these types of students struggle because of their lack of interest in school in general and because they are actually unable to do the requirements to graduate. A study was conducted by Fulk, Brigham and Lohman (1998) with fifth grade students (both with and without learning disabilities) to see what motivated them. Because of this study, three subgroups were identified

Reading Motivation

within the fifth grade: students without learning disabilities, students with learning disabilities, and a third group that was split between students with and without learning disabilities. In the first group, students had high levels of comprehension, intrinsic motivation, and relied on a vast amount of metacognitive strategies to accomplish tasks in reading. The second group had low levels of comprehending in reading but was highly motivated. Finally, the third group had low levels of motivation but average levels of comprehension. In the study, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was developed and given to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students to measure intrinsic interest and extrinsic variables. This questionnaire had 56 items that measured students self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, test anxiety, cognitive strategy use, and self-regulation to students who were categorized as students with learning disabilities, emotionally and behaviorally disturbed (EBD) students, and average students. The participants gathered information on how students felt overall about school through several different surveys. It is interesting to note that students with LD scored very high on work avoidance than the average students and students with EBD did not differ much. Students with EBD had much more agreement for test anxiety during testing situations. It is interesting to see throughout the results of this test the way that students who are categorized as LD and EBD tend to resent school. Because of this, these types of students are less motivated to read, nevertheless attend school. Teachers need to make sure that students are given the choice to read throughout the day so that they are interested in the books that they required to read. Teachers also must make sure that they are developing a high self-efficacy and a high self-concept with these students who tend to have low self-efficacies.

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Reading Motivation

ACTION RESEARCH LESSON OVERVIEW Participants Several different students were used to conduct this lesson. The very first thing that was asked was for students to taking the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP). Every student within the classroom participated in this part of the lesson. The MRP was read aloud and the students were asked to answer a multiple choice question after it was read aloud. After the profile was completed, one student was chosen to have the second part of the MRP, which is the discussion portion. This student was chosen due to the fact that he seemed to be the least motivated student to read within the classroom. He does not have a supportive family that makes reading a priority. He is currently reading on a 13-14 running record level, which is at the beginning of first grade and has shown little growth throughout the school year. He has a fluency score of 30 words correct per minute in winter benchmark scores, which happens to be the lowest within the classroom.

Materials The only materials that were required for the lesson involved having the MRP survey for every student to read and respond on. It is also a requirement for the MRP to be read to students. Therefore, it was vital to make sure that the MRP was read by me, which involved more time away from instruction for those students that were absent on the day of administration.

Procedures Students were first given the MRP survey as an entire class. This survey was read aloud by the teacher and students were asked to answer honestly. By the teacher reading aloud the survey, students were able to focus on answering the question honestly rather than struggling to
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Reading Motivation

read the question. This portion of the MRP took 20 minutes to complete with the entire class. A few students were pulled at a separate time because they were absent on the day of the MRP. After analyzing the results of the MRP survey, only one student was chosen to complete the second portion of the MRP, the conversational interview portion. This part allowed the teacher to sit down with a student one on one and get to know their reading interests. The student was asked open ended questions and was asked to explain answers based on their responses. A lot of the questions dealt with finding text that was engaging in the past, how they find books that are interesting, and when they like to read. This portion of the MRP lasted about 20 minutes also. When the entire MRP had been given, the results were analyzed for both the entire class portion and the conversational interview portion. The survey is scored using a 4-point Likert scale. Therefore, there is an opportunity score 80 points total. Each answer choice is ranked 1-4, with 1 being the most negative response and 4 being the most positive response. Each question is an indication of either self-concept as a reader or the value of reading that the student has. There is a possibility of scoring up to 40 points on the self-concept as a reader and 40 points to the value of reading. All of the students had a number score assigned to them in each of these areas. The interview portion of the profile is not used for grading purposes. However, it does give good insights into the type of texts that motivate the student the read. It also gives the teacher a good indication of how students choose the books they are interested in and whether or not they enjoy to read when text is chosen for them or whether they like to choose it themselves. The conversational interview provides insight into narrative text, informational text, and general reading from the student.

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Reading Motivation

Based on the results of the MRP, the student that was chosen to do the conversational interview was then asked to read a book that was well above his reading level. It was found that the student enjoyed narrative and informational books on sports, especially ones with soccer, baseball, and football. The text was Jordans Catch and is on a 19-20 reading level. . The running record was analyzed to determine whether or not the student was able to read a much more challenging text because it was on a topic that was of interest to the student.

Analysis of Data Overall, students self-concept of reading and value of reading were very similar. The class average for self-concept of reading was 28.3 while the value of reading was 28.5. The highest either of these subcategories could be was 40. The closest number to 40 was a 33 in selfconcept in reading and 35 in the value of reading. Many of the students did not answer in the ways that was expected. For example, in a lower performing student, it was expected that their self-concept of reading and value of reading may be lower. However, this was not always the case. In the self-concept of reading subcategory, girls had an average of 28.5 while boys were not much lower with 28.1. However, there seemed to be a bit more of a difference in the value of reading subcategory. Girls scored an average of 29.1 while boys scored 27.9. These numbers are interesting because of the makeup within the classroom. Most students within the class are struggling readers; 10 out of 19 students are receiving Title I services and are reading well below grade level. The student that was chosen for the interview portion of the profile scored 27 on the self-concept of reading and a 25 on the value of reading. These scores were below the averages for each subcategory, but it is not as big of a difference that was expected.

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Reading Motivation

Motivation to Read Profile Results Value of Reading 34 27 31 22 29 27 33 31 25 21 32 30 27 34 25 35 18 32 Average 28.5

Self-concept 29 26 36 22 33 32 23 24 27 32 30 28 26 32 23 30 28 28 Average 28.3

Self-Concept Averages Girls: 28.5 Boys: 28.1 Value of Reading Averages Girls: 29.1 Boys: 27.9

As mentioned previously, the interview portion of the profile is not given a score. However, it was made clear that the student was very interested to sports related material. The student did not care about whether it was informational or narrative text, he just wanted it to be about some kind of sport. Therefore, a book on baseball was used to conduct the running record. It was also found that the student rarely ever read at home; most of his reading is done at school. The student also checked out all of his books from the library because reading material was not provided at home. The student seemed comfortable after a few minutes of discussing books that he read and was willing to give insight into text that motivates him. It is interesting to note that
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Reading Motivation

although this student is the lowest student in the class, his responses and averages did not seem to correlate with this fact. He seemed pretty confident in his reading skills and seemed to have a decent perspective on how important reading is in life. Findings It was made evident throughout the entire lesson that students are motivated to read based on the materials that are available for them. Students are able to reach higher levels of performances if they are interested in the text that is put in front of them. The student that was used for this study was able to read several reading levels higher than normal, everyday reading performance. Discussion As made evident by the research throughout the course of this study, it is extremely important for students to have choice in the text that they read. Therefore, the student was given several different books (all on the same reading level) to choose from when he did his running record. This is different than how the school normally performs running records. Running record text usually is consistent and the same books are used throughout the entire year. The student was able to choose the text and therefore felt some sort of connection to the text purely because he was the one that chose it. Also evident from the research is the fact that students need to have prior knowledge on the topic and have shown some sort of interest towards the topic. Based on the results from the MRP survey, books were pulled that dealt with sports. Each of the different books were about a different kind of sport. The student was then able to choose the book that interested him the most from the materials that were given to him. Discussion before reading the text also had to do with the growth that the student had made throughout the year in his small Title I group. This allowed the student to feel that he had

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Reading Motivation

made some accomplishments throughout the year and felt intrinsically that he wanted to be a better reader. Since the student was a boy who tends to be less motivated to do anything school related, a challenge was presented to him. Before administering the running record, the student was shown his previous running records from this year. A challenge was then presented and he was asked to beat his score from the previous running record. After being presented this challenge, the student wanted nothing more than to beat his previous score. Finally, the student was completely engaged throughout the entire running record process because of his understanding of the topic he was reading and because he felt that he had a part in picking out the text that was reading. Although it was proven that students are able to perform at higher levels when they are reading a text that is of interesting to them, several limitations stood out. This action research included a small number of students. All students in the classroom were part of the action research project, but only one student was used to prove this case. The students that were used for the project was not a random sample of students; the student was chosen specifically because of the fact that he was a struggling reader with low motivation to read. The fact still remains that students are going to have to read material that is not always engaging or interesting to the reader. Therefore, students can and will perform higher using text that they have prior knowledge and motivation in, but they also need to learn how to read text that is not particularly stimulating. Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear to see that students perform higher on reading assessments when they are given text that is of interest to them. However, it is not always possible to do this because of resource limitations and time constraints within the classroom. The student that

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Reading Motivation

participated in this survey was able to read at a text level that was beyond his ability in the general every day classroom simply because of the interest in the text that was put in front of him.

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Reading Motivation

BIBLIOGRAPHY Block, C. C., & Parris, S. R. (2008). Comprehension instruction: research-based best practices. (2 ed., pp. 226-238). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Fulk, B. M., Brigham, F. J., & Lohman, D. A. (1998). Motivation and self-regulation: A comparison of students with learning and behavior problems. Remedial and Special Education, 19, 300-309. Gambrell, L. B. (1996). Creating classroom cultures that foster reading motivation. The Reading Teacher, 50(1), 14-25. Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 49(7), 518-533. Gurland, S. T., & Glowacky, V. C. (2011). Children's theories of motivation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110, 1-19. Gustafson, C. (2008). Reading motivation through competition: Boys as readers. Library Media Connection, 16-17. Guthrie, J. T., Hoa, A. L. W., Wigfield, A., Tonks, S. M., Humenick, N. M., & Littles, E. (2006). Reading motivation and reading comprehension growth in the later elementary years. Contemporary Educational Psycholocy, 32, 2820313. Pitcher, S. M., Albright, L. K., DeLaney, C. J., Walker, N. T., Seunarinesingh, K., Mogge, S., Headley, K. N., & Ridgeway, V. G. (2007). Assessing adolescents' motivation to read. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(5), 378-396.

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Ruddell, R. B., & Unrau, N. J. (2006). Theoretical models and processes of reading. (5 ed., pp. 954-978). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Woolley, G. (2011). Reading comprehension: Assisstingchildren with learning difficulties. (pp. 131-146). London, England: Springer.

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