Article Summary and Analysis 9

Article title: On the effects of motivation on reading performance growth in secondary school

Authors: Retelsdorf, J., Koller, O., and Moller, J.

Journal title: Learning and Instruction 21

Summary:

Attempting to fill the void in literature on reading motivation in secondary students, Retelsdorf, Koller, and Moller (2011) conducted a longitudinal study to determine if motivation was both a factor in and reliable predictor of growth in reading performance of secondary students.  The researchers studied the efficacy of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and took into account the variables of cognitive skills and family and ethnic background.  The researchers found evidence that students who had higher intrinsic motivation at the beginning of the study showed higher growth, thus matching the researchers’ initial hypotheses.  While the researchers predicted a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and reading performance growth, they hypothesized a negative relationship between extrinsic motivation and performance growth.  This hypothesis turned out to be inaccurate as students who reported high levels of extrinsic motivation at the beginning of the study did indeed show growth over the course of the longitudinal study.

Analysis:

This was one of a handful of studies that begrudgingly admitted that extrinsic motivation did not have a negative impact on reading performance.  However, even though it did lead to modest improvement in students’ reading performance, intrinsically motivated students ended up seeing better results in reading performance.  This makes sense to me.  Reading is positive no matter what reason a student has for doing it.  But while the extrinsically motivated students will stop or slow down when the rewards disappear or are perceived to be unattractive, the intrinsically motivated students will keep going because they enjoy and/or recognize the benefits of the activity.  So while I am not as negative on external rewards as some researchers are – I did conclude in my study that any reading program should focus on making kids enjoy reading as opposed to being rewarded for it – there is no doubt in my mind that finding ways to build this intrinsic reading motivation in students is what researchers and teachers should concentrate more heavily upon.

References

Retelsdorf, J., Koller, O., & Moller, J. (2011).  On the effects of motivation on reading performance growth in secondary school. Learning and Instruction, 21, 550-559.  doi: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2010.11.001

Research Study Update 3

Research Study Update #3

Plan basics: Determine impact of sustained silent reading and external rewards on reading motivation

My research study has now concluded and I am putting the final touches on the last two chapters of the rough draft of my research paper.  When I inputted the final pieces of quantitative data into my spreadsheet, I found that students’ reading motivation had increased by 2%, so I am definitely happy about that.  When I looked at the data further though, the middle school students’ reading motivation decreased 22% while the high school students’ increased 43%.  Those wild swings make me question if the way I calculated reading motivation was accurate.  However, I do feel comfortable with my measurement and feel that more “normalized” data would have appeared had the study been conducted over a longer period of time.

11 of the 12 participating students indicated they would like the sustained silent reading period to continue, so when I present these findings to teachers and administration in my school, I will make the recommendation that at least one block of homeroom period per week be dedicated to silent reading.  I still plan on implementing a silent reading day (20 minutes of one block per week) in my seventh grade English classroom next school year.

As I mentioned in my blog update last month, I am happy to have helped contribute to building a reading culture in my school.  Maybe the study didn’t show completely viable results in this two month period, but being able to see the students actually reading and having them tell me that they enjoyed having SSR has made me label this research study an overall success.  Now hopefully, I’ll write a great paper and get that diploma.

Article Summary and Analysis 8

Article title: An examination of the effect of customized reading modules on diverse secondary students’ reading comprehension and motivation. 
Authors: Cuevas, J.A., Russell, R.L., & Irving, M.A. 
Journal Title: Education Technology and Research Development 60 

Summary
Cuevas, Russell, and Irving (2012) did not study a typical SSR program, but they did take the major component of the program - students reading silently and independently - and investigated its effects on reading comprehension.  The researchers used three high school language art classes as their study participants:  one receiving traditional class instruction over stories, one reading the stories independently from a hard copy of the text, and one reading the stories on a customized computer module.  When the classes were tested on what they read, both of the groups who read independently scored higher than the traditional classroom.  Furthermore, an end of study survey showed that the independent reading classrooms showed higher growth in reading motivation.

Analysis
This was a very eye-opening survey for me.  Is my job as a language arts teacher going to be replaced by a computer module?  Well, probably not, but I found the results of this study fascinating.    Are teachers hindering students motivation to read?  Are we sucking the fun out of reading with our questioning and analyzing?  Are we too excited to point out the figurative language on page 14 that students are losing the overall message of the book?  Should we just trust that at a certain point students can grasp the story themselves?  As a youth, I always enjoyed reading and loved English class, but I never really enjoyed the stories we read in class.  Was it because of the assignments attached to them?  Or because we were reading "literary" texts?  Was it because teachers beat us over the head with read between the line details?  I know I always answered yes to those questions.

As for my study, this was important for me to read because the research showed that independent reading can improve students' motivation.  Also, a big part of my study is that students should be allowed to read on any device - not just with print.  The students' success with the computer module shows that reading via technology is also beneficial.  I know the students in my class appreciate being able to read on their phones, plus I can be confident that they will always have them.  Lugging around a book is a burden and not something students are going to go out of their way to remember.  That's definitely not the case with their smart phones. 

References

Cuevas, J.A., Russell, R.L., & Irving, M.A. (2012).  An examination of the effect of customized reading modules on diverse secondary students’ reading comprehension and motivation. Education Technology and Research Development, 60, 445-467. doi: 10.1007/s11423-012-9244-7