Running head: STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 1

Student Choice and Intrinsic Motivation to Read

Theresa Baldwin

Franciscan University of Steubenville

STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 2

Introduction

Choice has a powerful role in many different aspects of life. Having choices can lead to a

sense of autonomy, which can help people express their individuality, maintain their motivation,

and live a happy life. There is a place for choice in the classroom, and teachers should

implement it in such a way that it leads to a healthy sense of autonomy rather than chaos. It

stands to reason that it is simply not possible to appeal to and reach all students with a single

book. All students have unique interests, background knowledge, and experiences which shape

their preferences and determine every choice they make. When given the freedom to express

their individuality by choosing what they read, students have the potential to retain more and be

more motivated to read than if they had been assigned to read a book. Motivation is what drives

and sustains behaviors. Reading motivation is essential because it is closely related to

comprehension of texts and life-long learning. Teachers should always be nurturing a motivation

to read and a love of reading in their students because reading is the foundation of education.

The reason I chose this topic is because, while I was assigned books in school, I chose the

books I wanted to read at home. My family has a large collection of books in our basement. I

remember frequently going down there, perusing the shelves, and bringing up a huge pile of

exciting new books. I remember reading under my covers with a flashlight long after my

bedtime. My dad would also take me and my siblings to the library once a week, but he had a

rule that we could only checkout three books. This was extremely hard for me as I would always

want to checkout way more than three. These experiences in which I was the one deciding what

I read were the ones that shaped my love of reading. However, not all children are fortunate

enough to have these resources provided to them. They are not all encouraged by their parents to

read. Many of them are placed in front of a television or handed a phone on which to play. For
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 3

some students, their only access to books is through school. If their entire perception of books is

something they are forced to read, then it is no wonder that many students dread reading.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to learn what research says about choice in reading and to

conduct a study to attempt to learn more about the effects of choice on students’ motivation to

read. Research will also be done regarding whether students like when they have a choice and

whether student choice instills a sense of ownership and fosters a passion and love for reading.

The research question is “To what extent does student choice intrinsically motivate students to

read?”

The methodology is twofold: interviews and an empirical study. These will both be

conducted through Skype, which is a video-call software. The researcher will not be present

with the participants, but will prepare the procedures and materials and dictate what to do to the

principal of the school. The participants of the study are seven elementary school students who

attend a Catholic homeschool academy in the eastern United States. In the interviews, the

students will be asked about their experiences and opinions regarding reading choice. The

empirical study will have two conditions: an assigned-reading condition and a self-selected-

reading condition. Students will fill out the same questionnaire (see Appendix 1) for both

conditions and the results will be compared.

I expect students to significantly prefer choosing a book to read over being assigned a

book to read. I hypothesize that students would be more intrinsically motivated to read when

they get to choose the book they read. I also expect that the students who are taking part in this

study generally like to read. I assume that they do not get to choose what they read in school, but

that they often read at home for leisure.

STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 4

Review of Literature

Student choice has been shown to serve as an intrinsic motivation for students. Evans &

Boucher (2015) compiled research on the topic and wrote an article to explain why choice is

essential to student motivation and how teachers should use choice to best motivate and engage

students in order to provide meaningful learning experiences. The authors cited, examined, and

discussed multiple past studies on the self-determining theory of motivation, universal design for

learning, autonomy, and the power of choice. They explained how intrinsic motivation, or the

motivation to do something because it is naturally satisfying to you, is a more effective motivator

than extrinsic motivation, which is the motivation to do something from external factors such as

rewards or pressures. The authors claim that student choice promotes autonomy and intrinsic

motivation. However, the simple act of choosing is not enough of a motivator. They provide

three conditions of choice, which determine whether the choice is actually serving as an intrinsic

motivator. The first condition is that the provided choices should be meaningful and relevant to

the students’ individual pre-determined goals and ideals. The relevance of the choices may

sometimes have to be explained or demonstrated by the teacher. Next, the choices have to be

competence enhancing, which means that the students have to feel that they are able to achieve

competence. The tasks should be at an intermediate level, because tasks that are too easy can

lead to boredom and tasks that are too hard can lead to frustration. Finally, there has to be the

right amount of choices, because too many choices can lead to what the authors called “choice

overload,” which will likely hinder engagement.

This article was very straightforward and comprehensive. I liked the way the authors

compiled multiple research studies and journal articles and synthesized them coherently. The

article provided a very direct set of guidelines for ensuring that the choices that teachers provide
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 5

their students are actually motivating to the students. I wish that the article would have gone

more in depth in how to know or decide whether the choices you are providing really are

relevant and competence enhancing. I understand that there are not strict guidelines, however,

because all students are unique and learn differently. This article is relevant to my studies

because, as every educator should be, I am very interested in how to best serve my future

students and how to provide rich and meaningful learning experiences for them. The article

provided a great background on the topic of choice and autonomy in the classroom that I know

will benefit my project. I would like to see more research in applying these methods and finding

if they are reinforcing to students.

Student agency is the principle that students are the key agents of their leaning. Williams

(2017) wrote an article that was published in Knowledge Quest that provides suggestions to

classroom teachers and school librarians for how to bolster a sense of agency in their students in

order that learning will be much deeper and more meaningful. He explained that a combination

of personal integrity and efficacy leads to a sense of student agency. Student choice and voice

strengthens efficacy, which is the ability to produce a desired result. Williams cited a book that

provided many benefits of student agency, such as students who work harder, have more interest,

set high goals for themselves, are better at planning, are not likely to give up, and who have

greater focus. This leads to a positive cycle of success in not only their academic careers, but in

their lives. One suggestion he provides is that teachers should affirm students’ choices and keep

communication open. They should play the role of an approving and inquisitive observer, which

will reinforce the perception in students’ minds that they can accomplish great things.

I liked this article because it was clear that the author had a strong passion for the topic

and he was very persuasive in explaining his opinion on the value of student agency. The article
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 6

inspired me and challenged me to be thinking of new ways to reach my future students in order

that they might feel empowered. It was difficult for me to accept everything he said, however.

One thing that I am not sure I agree with is his stance that reading should never be graded, tested,

or rewarded. While the idea seems great, I am not sure how practical it would be in the

classroom setting. I would like to ask the author what he would do if a student simply did not

read. I would like to read more articles about practical ways to encourage and motivate students

to pick up a book in the first place, if we do not assign them to do so. I did like this article and I

found it very insightful. It is an article that I will reference not only in my action research

project, but in my future teaching career.

Patall, Cooper, and Wynn (2010) conducted a study with the purpose of testing the

effectiveness of implementing choices in the classroom. 207 high school students from 14

classrooms and two schools participated in this study. The first session involved students filling

out a background and school experiences questionnaire. Then, the students were assigned a

homework-choice condition or a no-homework-choice condition. This applied to each

assignment that was given in the unit. For instance, if a student was given a homework choice,

then he/she was able to choose which of two assignments to complete. The students who were

not given a choice simply completed the assigned homework. At the end of the unit, teachers

administered the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, which is a measurement device that assesses

students’ experience related to the homework activities. The whole cycle was then replicated a

second time, but this time with the conditions switching, so that the students who were given a

choice now have no choice and the students who had no choice were now given a choice. The

Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was then administered a second time. The researchers found that

providing students with choices of homework tasks successfully enhanced motivation and
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performance outcomes and that “choice is an important component to creating a classroom

environment supportive of autonomy and intrinsic motivation” (Patall, et al, 2010).

This study was done very carefully and scientifically. The methodology was pristine in

the amount of details provided. However, all the details overwhelmed the article, making it

difficult to follow. I would have liked there to be a chart that compared the two conditions of the

study, but there were none as simple as that, so I relied on the discussion to find the results.

Although this study does not directly apply to reading, I still think it is very relevant to my

research. My main topic of research is about the power that choice has as an intrinsic motivator,

and this article certainly relates to that. That being said, I would like to see a study done very

similar to this one in terms of the methodology, but instead giving students a choice of what they

read.

Students’ ability to read in the first few years of their formal education is a significant

predictor of school success. For that reason, it is very important that early childhood education

teachers ensure they do everything that they can to not only teach children to read, but also to

engage them in reading. Reading engagement includes comprehension and enjoyment of

reading. Fraumeni-McBride (2017) conducted a study with the purpose of determining whether

student choice will positively affect comprehension and improve academic outcomes. The

participants of the study were 32 second- and third-grade students from two schools in Chicago.

Students were assigned a grade-appropriate book to read and then given four evaluations to

measure their comprehension of the text. The next time each student was assessed, he/she was

given three choices of what to read, and then given the same four comprehension evaluations.

Over a six week period, this cycle was repeated six times. At the end, each participant had read a

total of twelve books, six assigned and six self-selected. While the students read the books, the
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 8

researcher also recorded student focus, interest, and perceived comprehension and enjoyment

levels. The researcher found that, when given choice, students scored higher in reading

comprehension. The author concluded that children should be given opportunities to take

ownership of their own learning by being given a variety of reading options.

I think that this study is valuable research because of the amount of trials that were

conducted. I would have been less convinced if only one trial was conducted, but given that they

did it six times, I believe there was a real difference in comprehension levels. I think the study

would have been more effective if the researcher conducted the same study on another group of

students in addition to the ones she did. I also wish the author would have analyzed and

elaborated more on her results. This study is relevant to my research because it supports my

hypothesis that student choice positively affects student motivation and comprehension. Future

research could be done on the effects that different strategies other than student choice have on

comprehension. Some examples of strategies that could be researched are reading for pleasure,

reading aloud, reading silently, and summarizing throughout reading.

Methodology

In addition to research of empirical and non-empirical peer-reviewed journal articles, this

research includes an empirical study. In the current study, there were seven participants who

ranged from third grade to sixth grade. Two participants are in third grade, two participants are

in fourth grade, one participant is in fifth grade, and two participants are in sixth grade. One

male and six females participated. All of these students attend a homeschool academy in the

eastern United States. Their parents were asked via email if their children would be willing to

stay after school and take part in the study. The students in this study are the ones who were able

and willing to participate. This study is not representative of the entire population because the
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 9

participants are all homeschooled, there were many more females than males, and convenience

sampling was used. However, none of the students knew what the study was going to be about,

so that did not influence their participation.

The experiment was done virtually through the use of Skype. Before the study occurred,

I prepared the questionnaires (see Appendix 1) and a set of instructions (see Appendix 2) for

Mrs. Smith (all names are pseudonyms), the principal of the school and the one who was actually

present with the students during the study. She printed the questionnaires and together via

Facetime we chose a grade-appropriate book from the school library to assign to each student.

We also chose three other grade-appropriate books for each student which would serve as

options for the second part of the study (see Appendix 5 for the booklist). Finally, we connected

on Skype and I recorded the session to be reviewed later. The study began at 3:30 pm when the

students were finished with school. There were two parts to the study: interviews and an

experimental design study.

For the interview portion of the study, I talked with each of the seven students

individually. The questions that I asked them are copied below.

1. Do you like to read? Why or why not?

2. In your classes, how often do you get to choose which book you read?
3. Do you like when you get to choose? Why or why not?
4. Does having a choice make you want to read more? Why or why not?

The purpose of interviewing the students and asking them these questions was to gain

background knowledge on the students and their opinions on the topic of reading choice. All of

the students were very willing to share their answers and were very honest with me. Some gave

concise responses while others were quite loquacious. The transcripts of the interviews are

provided in the appendix (see Appendix 3).

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The second part of the study was an experimental design. The same subjects were

measured in two different conditions, making it a repeated measure design. This section

occurred directly after the completion of the interviews. I asked the students to take their seats at

the tables and asked Mrs. Smith to hand out the questionnaires, pencils, and assigned books. I

explained the directions (see Appendix 2) to the students as she handed out the materials. I

directed the participants to look at the front and back cover of their assigned book to see what it

was about, and then truthfully answer the “before reading” questions on the questionnaire. The

first question was “how exciting does this book look to you?” and the second question was “how

much do you want to read this book?” I told them to rate each question on a scale of one to five,

with one meaning “not at all” and five meaning “very much.” I made sure to clarify how the

rating scale worked and asked them to rate each question and circle the corresponding number.

Once they had all finished, I told them to find a comfortable place in the room to read their

assigned book silently. I then set a timer and waited while they read. After ten minutes, I asked

Mrs. Smith to ask them all to come back to the tables. I then instructed them to complete the

“after reading” section of the questionnaire by rating the questions “how much did you enjoy the

book,” “would you read this book again,” and “did this book make you want to read more?”

Next, I asked the students to flip their questionnaires over and asked Mrs. Smith to hand

each student their pre-determined set of three books. We had made sure that the books in each

set were grade-appropriate and that there was a variety in terms of genre and content. I then told

the students that they got to choose which of the three books they wanted to read. Once they had

all chosen and Mrs. Smith had taken away the unwanted books, we repeated the same process as

we had with the assigned books: they answered the “before reading” questions, they read for ten

minutes, and then they answered the “after reading” questions. The only difference on this part
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of the questionnaire was that there was an added question on the “before reading” section, which

was “why did you choose this book?” This question was a free response question.

Once they all had answered their “after reading” questions for the self-selected book, I

thanked them for participating and Mrs. Smith rewarded them with a chocolate bar. Once the

students had gone home, she scanned their questionnaires and sent them to me. I used the

recorded Skype session and the filled-out questionnaires to record the data and create the graphs.

Findings

The answers in the interviews that were conducted during the first section of the study

were generally unanimous. Most (five out of seven) students said they liked to read. Most (five

out of seven) students said they were always assigned books in their classes and they never got to

choose. Most (six out of seven) students said they would like if they got a choice of what they

read in their classes. Most (five out of seven) students said that having a choice of what to read

makes them want to read more. A graph of these results can be found in Figure 1 and the

transcript of the interviews which includes additional comments can be found in the appendix

(see Appendix 3).

Interview Question Responses

Yes No

6
5 5 5

2 2 2
1

Do you like to read? In your classes, do you Do you like when you get Does having a choice
ever get to choose which to choose? make you want to read
book you read? more?

Figure 1
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The interview question with the most significant responses was the third question, “do

you like when you get to choose which book you read?” Student 4, a female in 3rd grade,

responded to the question with the following statement: “Yeah, because it’s like, you get to pick

your own story, and you can pick your own favorite books. So that’s fun.” Student 2, a 6th

grade female, said “Yes, because I get to decide what kind of book it is. And I can figure out

which book I’ll get the most out of. And the ones that are the most interesting.” A different

outlook was given by Student 7, a 4th grade female who had said she did not like to read. She

responded, “Yeah, I’d like to have a choice. Because then I’d just pick the easiest book. No,

more like the shortest and the most interesting.” These findings are consistent with other

research that found that student choice instills a sense of autonomy and intrinsic motivation to

read (Evans & Boucher, 2015; Fraumeni-McBride, 2017; Hudson & Williams, 2015; Patall,

Cooper, & Wynn, 2010; Servilio, 2009; Williams, 2017).

The results of the questionnaires from the second part of the study (see Appendix 4)

indicate that, before reading, the students were slightly more interested in the self-selected books

than the assigned books. However, the “after reading” results indicate that the students enjoyed

the self-selected book slightly less than the assigned book. For the questions “would you read

this book again” and “did this book make you want to read more,” the ratings averaged the same

for both the self-selected book and the assigned book. The results of the questionnaires are

displayed in Figure 2.
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Questionnaire Average Ratings

Assigned Self-Selected
4.9 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7
4.4 4.4 4.4
3.7 3.6

How exciting does How much do you How much did you Would you read this Did this book make
this book look to want to read this enjoy the book? book again? you want to read
you? book? more?
Figure 2
These findings suggest that, for this particular group of students, having the freedom to

choose a book to read did not motivate the students to want to read more than the assigned book

did. There are many factors which could have affected these results. A major factor is that the

majority of these students love to read, no matter what the book is. The students who had

expressed their love of reading during the interviews were the same students who circled “5” on

every question in the “after reading” section of both the assigned book questionnaire and the

self-selected book questionnaire. Another interesting finding was that Student 1, a 6th grade

female who had said that she hated reading and never wanted to choose a book, circled “5” on

every question on both questionnaires. This suggests that she likes reading more than she

admitted to during the interview.

These findings are applicable to my research because they unveil a relevant variable to

student choice that I had not found in previous research. This variable is a student’s love of

reading. If students have a love of reading, it appears that they will be intrinsically motivated to

read regardless of whether they are given options or not. Another noteworthy finding is that

students seemed to be very excited to read their self-selected books, but the ratings actually went
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 14

slightly down after reading it. This gives the impression that the students judged the book by its

cover and did not enjoy it as much as they had thought that they would.

Recommendations

There are multiple limitations to this study. The first is that it used convenience

sampling, which is never representative of the entire population. At only seven participants, the

sampling was very small, which can also skew data. The participants were all homeschoolers

and all come from families who really value education and who make reading a priority, which

also could have affected the results. Finally, because of the nature of the methodology, the

participants were only given ten minutes to read each book. This could have an impact on the

results as well, because the students were not given enough time to read the whole book and

form a more accurate opinion.

By conducting further research, one could learn more about the effects that student choice

has on intrinsic motivation to read. There are many articles available that discuss the benefits of

student choice, but there are far fewer articles available that show real change in motivation

when students are given a choice of what they read. Research should be done that studies a

greater number of students from a variety of schools and school settings. There should also be

an equal number of males and females. The students should be given first an assigned book and

then a self-selected book to take home so they have the opportunity to read the entire book.

Also, this procedure could be repeated multiple times with the same large sampling of students.

If all of these guidelines are followed, the responses on the questionnaire will likely be more

accurate and the study will be more generalizable.

The reason that this topic is so important is because reading is the foundation of

education. If students are not motivated to read, they will not do it unless they are forced to.
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 15

Teachers should give students a choice of what they read because it could motivate struggling

readers and students who dislike reading to read by giving them something that they might be

interested in. A way to implement student choice into the classroom is by providing book

choices for projects, book-talks, book reports, and free reading time. There will still be times

when it is essential to assign reading, but it should be limited to when it really matters that they

read a specific book.

In conclusion, the implications of the research gathered in this study, both through the

literature reviews and the interviews, are that reading choice can foster a sense of intrinsic

motivation in students and thus should be implemented in the classroom. Students who read

more become better writers and better thinkers, as they are exposed to a broad variety of

perspectives, thoughts, and ideas. Teachers have the crucial responsibility of forming and

educating students, and so it is critical that they do everything they can to ensure their students

have positive and meaningful learning experiences and can think for themselves. Children may

be more motivated to read if reading is not seen as a chore, but as a choice.

STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 16

References

Evans, M., & Boucher, A. R. (2015). Optimizing the power of choice: Supporting student

autonomy to foster motivation and engagement in learning. Mind, Brain, and Education,

9(2), 87-91.

Fraumeni-McBride, J., (2017). The effects of choice on reading engagement and comprehension

for second- and third-grade students: An action research report. Journal of Montessori

Research, 3(2), 19-38.

Hudson, A. K., & Williams, J. A. (2015). Reading every single day: A journey to authentic

reading. The Reading Teacher, 68(7), 530-538.

Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Wynn, S. R., (2010). The effectiveness and relative importance of

choice in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(4), 896-915.

Servilio, K. L., (2009). You get to choose! Motivating students to read through differentiated

instruction. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 5(5), 2-11.

Williams, P. (2017). Student agency for powerful learning. Knowledge Quest, 45(4), 8-15.
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 17

Appendix 1: Blank Questionnaires

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Appendix 2: Study Instructions

As students arrive, I will ask them these questions:

1. Do you like to read? Why or why not?
2. In your classes, how often do you get to choose which book you read?
3. Do you like when you get to choose? Why or why not?
4. Does having a choice make you want to read more? Why or why not?

Once the interviews are done, all students will sit at tables.
Students will then each be handed a grade appropriate book. I will tell them not to begin reading
yet. I will ask them to answer the “before reading” questions on the assigned book
questionnaire.
I will then ask them to read their assigned book silently for ten minutes. After ten minutes, they
will take a minute to reflect and answer the questions on the “after reading” section of the
assigned book questionnaire.
Next, each student will be presented with three grade appropriate books and asked to choose one.
I will make sure that they don’t just choose any random one, but that they really examine each
and decide which book looks most interesting to them. I will tell them not to begin reading yet.
They will then answer the “before reading” questions on the self-selected book questionnaire.
I will then ask them to read their self-selected book silently for ten minutes. After ten minutes,
they will take a minute to reflect and answer the questions on the “after reading” section of the
self-selected book questionnaire.
At the end, they will be thanked for their participation and given a small reward (Hershey bar).
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 20

Appendix 3: Interview Transcripts

Student 1 (female, 6th grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 1: No. I don’t like to read because it takes too long and because I just don’t like reading.
Interviewer: In your classes, how often do you get to choose which book you read?
Student 1: We never get to choose.
Interviewer: Are they always assigned for you?
Student 1: Yes.
Interviewer: Are there ever any projects where you get to choose a book?
Student 1: Yeah, sometimes. They just have some books and you have to choose from them.
Interviewer: So there are options and you get to choose one?
Student 1: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you like that better?
Student 1: No.
Interviewer: So you’d rather they tell you which one you had to read?
Student 1: Mhm.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 1: Because when I’m told to do it, I do it. But when there are options, I just don’t do it.
Interviewer: So if you have a choice, it doesn’t make you want to read more?
Student 1: Mhm.
Interviewer: So you’d rather always be assigned a book?
Student 1: Yes.

Student 2 (female, 6th grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 2: Yes.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 2: Well it depends on what story it is. I like to read different stories, and it’s nice to just
go over in a corner and read sometimes when you don’t have anything else to do.
Interviewer: Do you have a favorite kind of book?
Student 2: Mostly adventure stories
Interviewer: Do you ever get to choose which books you read in your classes?
Student 2: No.
Interviewer: They’re all assigned to you?
Student 2: Yeah.
Interviewer: Do you ever have maybe like a project where you get to choose a book?
Student 2: Yeah, that I do
Interviewer: Do you like when you get to choose?
Student 2: Yes
Interviewer: You’d rather choose or you’d rather be assigned?
Student 2: Choose
Interviewer: Why?
Student 2: Because I get to decide what kind of book it is. And I can figure out which book I’ll
get the most out of. And the ones that are the most interesting.
Interviewer: Does having a choice make you want to read more?
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 21

Student 2: Yes. When I choose, it makes me want to read more.

Student 3 (female, 3rd grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 3: Yes! Every time I have free time I pick up a book.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 3: Just because my mom says even after you learn to read, you can never not learn how
to read.
Interviewer: Yeah, you never stop learning. In your class, when you read books, do you ever get
to choose which books they are?
Student 3: Well, actually, we don’t read actual books. We don’t get to read like any kind of
book we want. Like it has to be history, or some kind of book that has to do with a specific thing
in class.
Interviewer: So your teachers assign you which books to read?
Student 3: Yeah, Mrs. Haler does that. And my science teacher sometimes reads some books but
they have to be about what we’re learning in science
Interviewer: Oh, okay. So you never get to choose, they always choose for you?
Student 3: Yes.
Interviewer: Would you want to choose?
Student 3: Well, if it was something interesting about what kind of class it was. If I could, I
would
Interviewer: Do you think if you chose, you would want to read more?
Student 3: If I got to choose, I would choose probably something about art.

Student 4 (female, 3rd grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 4: Yes.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 4: Well I just like in chapter books you like imagine things in your head, like what’s
happening. And then like, since there’s like mostly pictures, I just like looking at other picture
books, just to see all the colors and the pictures
Interviewer: In your classes, do you ever get to choose what book you read?
Student 4: Not in history, because the teacher assigns the books because it’s like, what we’re
learning about.
Interviewer: Do you like when you get to choose which book you read?
Student 4: Yeah, because it’s like you get to pick your own story, and you can pick your own
favorite books, so that’s fun
Interviewer: So you would rather choose than just be assigned?
Student 4: Yeah
Interviewer: When you have a choice of what to read, does that make you want to read more?
Student 4: Yeah. It’s like, when you start a first book, then you want to read the second book
then the third book, and then you just keep going on until there’s no more books

Student 5 (male, 5th grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 5: Yes.
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 22

Interviewer: Why?
Student 5: It’s hard to say, I have a lot of reasons why I like to read… actually now that I think
about it I don’t really have a reason I like to read, I just like to read.
Interviewer: In your classes, do you ever get to choose what book you read?
Student 5: In history, no, kind of. We get to read a book in history, and we have to find notes
from it. I think some of the books in history are really neat.
Interviewer: If you did get a choice of what to read, would you like that?
Student 5: Yeah
Interviewer: Would you want to choose or would you rather they assign books?
Student 5: It’s kind of a mix between. If it’s a mix of good books, I’d just take whatever I want,
but I it’s a mix of not-so-good books, I’d like someone else to pick for me.
Interviewer: If you had a choice, would that make you want to read more?
Student 5: Yeah, if I read a good book, I might want to try and read another book by the same
person

Student 6 (female, 4th grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 6: Sometimes
Interviewer: Do you like to read for fun or for school?
Student 6: Both
Interviewer: In your classes, do you ever get to choose what book you read?
Student 6: No, the teachers assign the books
Interviewer: If you got to choose which book to read, do you think you would like that?
Student 6: Yeah, because I would pick a really good book
Interviewer: If you had a choice, would that make you want to read more?
Student 6: Yeah, it would make it more interesting

Student 7 (female, 4th grade)

Interviewer: Do you like to read?
Student 7: No! It’s boring. You just look at words and then you say what they say.
Interviewer: In your classes, do you ever get to choose what book you read?
Student 7: No, we don’t get to, we just read books the teachers assign.
Interviewer: Do you think if you got a choice you would like it?
Student 7: Yeah, I’d like to have a choice. Because then I’d just pick the easiest book. No,
more like the shortest and the most interesting
Interviewer: If you got more choices of what you got to read, do you think you would want to
read more?
Student 7: No, I just never want to read.
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 23

Appendix 4: Student Questionnaires

Student 1:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 24

Student 2:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 25

Student 3:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 26

Student 4:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 27

Student 5:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 28

Student 6:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 29

Student 7:
STUDENT CHOICE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO READ 30

Appendix 5: Book List

Student 1 (grade 6)
Assigned: The Rescue by Nancy Rue (4th-6th grade)
Choices: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (6th-8th grade)
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (3rd-8th grade)
Gulliver’s Stories by Edward W. Dolch (4th-6th grade)

Student 2 (grade 6)
Assigned: Saving Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (6th-8th grade)
Choices: Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (4th-8th
grade)
A Dangerous Voyage by Gilbert Morris (4th-6th grade)
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White (3rd-7th grade)

Student 3 (grade 3)
Assigned: A Treasury of Stories for Seven Year Olds by Edward Blishen (K-3rd grade)
Choices: Magic Tree House: Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne (2nd-3rd grade)
Boxcar Children: Houseboat Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner (3rd-4th grade)
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (3rd-5th grade)

Student 4 (grade 3, advanced reader)

Assigned: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (2nd-8th grade)
Choices: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (5th-8th grade)
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (3rd-5th grade)
A Way through the Sea by Robert Elmer (2nd-4th grade)

Student 5 (grade 5)
Assigned: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (4th-6th grade)
Choices: Boxcar Children: Mystery Ranch by Gertrude Chandler Warner (3rd-5th grade)
Young Indiana Jones and the Titanic Adventure by Les Martin (4th-6th grade)
Stuart Little by E. B. White (4th-5th grade)

Student 6 (grade 4)
Assigned: Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret by Wanda Coven (1st-5th grade)
Choices: Good Grief… Third Grade by Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna (1st-5th grade)
Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne (3rd-5th grade)
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater (3rd-5th grade)

Student 7 (grade 4)
Assigned: Matilda by Roald Dahl (3rd-8th grade)
Choice: There’s a Tarantula in my Homework by Susan Clymer (3rd-5th grade)
The Apple and the Arrow by Mary Buff (3rd-8th grade)
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet from Altair by Edward Packard (4th-6th
grade)