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