Strategies for promoting autonomous reading motivation: a multiple case study research in primary education

It is important to reveal strategies which foster students’ reading motivation in order to break through the declining trend in reading motivation throughout children’s educational careers. Consequently, the present study advances an underexposed field in reading motivation research by studying and identifying the strategies of teachers excellent in promoting fifth-grade students’ volitional or autonomous reading motivation through multiple case study analysis. Data on these excellent teachers were gathered from multiple sources (interviews with teachers, SEN coordinators, and school leaders; classroom observations; teacher and student questionnaires) and analysed. The results point to the teaching dimensions of autonomy support, structure, and involvement – as indicated by self-determination theory – as well as to reading aloud as critical strategies to promote students’ autonomous reading motivation in the classroom. A school culture supporting students’ and teachers’ interest in reading is also an essential part of reading promotion. The theoretical and practical significance of the study is discussed

The relation between elementary students' recreational and academic reading motivation, reading frequency, engagement, and comprehension : a self-determination theory perspective

Research indicates the need to further examine the dimensions of reading motivation. A clear theoretical basis is necessary for conceptualizing reading motivation and considering contextual differences therein. The present study develops and validates the SRQ-Reading Motivation, a questionnaire measuring recreational and academic reading motivation based on self-determination theory. The study clarifies the relation among reading motivation, reading self-concept, reading behavior (i.e., engagement and frequency), and reading performance (i.e., comprehension). Participants included 1,260 Flemish fifth-grade students and their 67 teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that both recreational and academic reading motivation comprise 2 factors: autonomous and controlled motivation. This factor structure was found to be invariant across boys and girls. Comparisons of the SRQ-Reading Motivation with subscales of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire provide evidence for the construct validity of the instrument. Structural equation modeling confirmed that recreational autonomous reading motivation is associated with more positive reading behavior and better performance. In the academic setting, only the equivalent relationship between autonomous reading motivation and leisure-time reading frequency could be corroborated. In this respect, the results confirm the independent contribution of recreational autonomous reading motivation and reading self-concept to reading behavior and performance. No significant indirect relationship between reading motivation and reading comprehension through reading frequency or reading engagement was found. The theoretical and practical significance of the present study is discussed

Strategies for promoting autonomous reading motivation: A multiple case study research in primary education

It is important to reveal strategies which foster students’ reading motivation in order to break through the declining trend in reading motivation throughout children’s educational careers. Consequently, the present study advances an underexposed field in reading motivation research by studying and identifying the strategies of teachers excellent in promoting fifth-grade students’ volitional or autonomous reading motivation through multiple case study analysis. Data on these excellent teachers were gathered from multiple sources (interviews with teachers, SEN coordinators, and school leaders; classroom observations; teacher and student questionnaires) and analysed. The results point to the teaching dimensions of autonomy support, structure, and involvement – as indicated by self-determination theory – as well as to reading aloud as critical strategies to promote students’ autonomous reading motivation in the classroom. A school culture supporting students’ and teachers’ interest in reading is also an essential part of reading promotion. The theoretical and practical significance of the study is discussed

Estimation of indirect effects in the presence of unmeasured confounding for the mediator-outcome relationship in a multilevel 2-1-1 mediation model

To assess the direct and indirect effect of an intervention, multilevel 2-1-1 studies with intervention randomized at the upper (class) level and mediator and outcome measured at the lower (student) level are frequently used in educational research. In such studies, the mediation process may flow through the student-level mediator (the within indirect effect) or a class-aggregated mediator (the contextual indirect effect). In this article, we cast mediation analysis within the counterfactual framework and clarify the assumptions that are needed to identify the within and contextual indirect effect. We show that unlike the contextual indirect effect, the within indirect effect can be unbiasedly estimated in linear models in the presence of unmeasured confounders of the mediator-outcome relationship at the upper level that exert additive effects on mediator and outcome. When unmeasured confounding occurs at the individual level, both indirect effects are no longer identified. We propose sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the within and contextual indirect effect under lower and upper-level confounding, respectively

The relation of student and class-level characteristics to primary school students’ autonomous reading motivation: a multilevel approach

The aim of the present study is to examine by means of multilevel modelling how student and class-level characteristics relate to fifth-grade students’ recreational and academic autonomous reading motivation. On the student level, gender, native language, and students’ perception of home and peer involvement in reading activities are studied. On the class level, teachers’ use of knowledge goals, the provision of real-world interactions, students’ opportunities to read self-selected books and discuss reading materials with peers, teachers' reading aloud, the use of fiction and nonfiction, and support of a literacy coach are studied. Participants included 1,177 fifth-graders and their 65 teachers. In line with the literature, girls report a higher autonomous reading motivation and students’ perception of home and peer involvement in reading activities is positively associated with their autonomous reading motivation. On the class level, only the additional support of a literacy coach significantly optimises students’ autonomous reading motivation

Autonomous and controlled reading motivation as predictors of reading behaviour and performance.

The aim of the present study was to examine how late primary school students’ autonomous and controlled reading motivation contributes to their reading behaviour (i.e., reading frequency and engagement) and performance (i.e., comprehension) in a longitudinal study, since prior research was particularly cross-sectional and thus unable to test for the directions of effects. In addition, reading behaviour was examined as a mediator between reading motivation and comprehension, given that reading frequency and engagement have received mixed evidence as mediators in prior study. To pursue this aim, a longitudinal study (i.e., three measurement occasions) was set up. Participants included 458 fifth-grade primary school students (i.e., on average 10.5 years old). Path analyses indicated that recreational and academic autonomous reading motivation predicted higher leisure-time reading frequency and better reading comprehension as compared to controlled reading motivation. Interestingly, recreational and academic controlled reading motivation did not affect reading engagement and even yielded a significantly negative association with reading comprehension. This underlines the significance of distinguishing qualitatively different types of reading motivation (i.e., autonomous and controlled reading motivation). As for the mediation of the relationship between reading motivation and comprehension through reading behaviour, no evidence was found for reading frequency as a mediator between reading motivation and comprehension. In contrast, reading engagement mediated the relationship between recreational autonomous reading motivation and reading comprehension. This suggests that especially the emotional and behavioural quality of students’ reading behaviour (i.e., engagement) rather than its quantity (i.e., frequency) is important in enhancing students’ reading comprehension

Impact of pupil and class-level characteristics on elementary students' autonomous reading motivation: a multilevel approach

The aim of the present study is to examine the impact of pupil (gender, home language, home and peer involvement in reading) and class level characteristics (teachers’ use of fiction and nonfiction, opportunities to read self-selected books and discuss reading materials with peers, the occurrence of teacher reading aloud, and support of a reading teacher) on fifth-grade students’ autonomous reading motivation using multilevel modeling. 1260 fifth graders and their 67 teachers participated. As expected, girls have a higher autonomous reading motivation and are more alike than boys. Surprisingly, home language has no effect. Furthermore, home and peer involvement are positively associated with autonomous reading motivation. Finally, the presence of a literacy coach at school significantly optimizes pupils’ autonomous reading motivation