Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 1

Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction

Emily Lancaster
Virginia Commonwealth University
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 2

Introduction

In regards to reading instruction, one of the biggest questions that teachers have is: how

can I motivate my students to want to learn how to read and to want to read the assignments that

I provide? When it comes to motivation, the most important factor to have in mind is that as

teachers, it is our job to create engagement and excitement about reading when intrinsic

motivation isn’t present. In order to do this, we have to understand the relationship that

motivation has to other factors of learning and how that relationship can affect student

experience in reading instruction. By reviewing the following three studies, I have gained insight

into what motivates our students, how motivation affects our student’s learning, and the best

strategies to use throughout reading instruction.

Summarize

The first study was “The Relationship between English Language Arts Teachers’ Use of

Instructional Strategies and Young Adolescents’ Reading Motivation and Engagement” written

by Michelle Varuzza,, Richard Sinatra, Robert Eschenauer, and Brett Elizabeth Blake. This study

focused primarily on how English Language Arts teachers’ instructional strategies affected the

reading motivation and engagement on sixth and seventh grade students (Varuzza, Sinatra,

Eschenauer, & Blake, 108). This study was unique in that it’s purpose was to identify how a

teacher influences their student’s reading motivation and it measured that influence by creating a

study that was specifically a one-year investigation, so the effects could be seen from the

beginning to the end of the year when students have one language arts teacher (Varuzza, et. al,

109). This study took place in four different boroughs of New York state: Manhattan, Queens,
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 3

Brooklyn, and Suffolk County (Varuzza, et. al, 110). It was done in 10 different middle schools,

in a total of 17 different classrooms, and focused on reading behavior, reading motivation, and

reading engagement strategies recorded by the sixth and seventh grade students involved in the

study (Varuzza, et. al, 110).

In order to measure these factors and the instructional strategies used, the researchers

used five different procedures for sampling. These included a reading questionnaire for students,

a survey for students, a survey for teachers, and two class strategies checklists, one for teachers

and one for students (Varuzza, et. al, 110-111). Based on the Motivation to Read Questionnaire,

students reported that there was an overall decrease in motivation to read from the beginning to

the end of the year (Varuzza, et. al, 113). In the classrooms that had a positive change in

motivation, the strategies most used (based on the checklists) were group work, encouragement,

clear instructions, positive feedback, getting along with students, fun activities, and challenging

activities (Varuzza, et. al, 114). The teachers who had positive change in their classrooms

focused mainly on using student interest and modeling their love for reading, with an overall

belief that one of their responsibilities as a teacher was to motivate students to read (Varuzza, et.

al, 114).

The second study, titled “Examining the Relationships Among Classroom Goal Structure,

Achievement Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Self-regulated Learning for Ethnically Diverse

Learners”, focused on the different learning strategies seen amongst ethnically diverse learners in

a classroom. The learning strategies analyzed in this study included goal orientation, motivation,

and self-regulated learning, and how the relationship between these strategies helped students

learn. This study is important because not only does it focus on how students can integrate

learning strategies that affect motivation, but it showed how there is an integration of many
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 4

different factors that need to be present in order for students to want to achieve throughout

school (Shannon, Salisbury-Glennon, Shores, 138). It’s also important because it gives insight to

these concepts (self-regulated learning, motivation, etc.) at an elementary school level (Shannon,

et. al, 138).

This study took place in Southern Florida, where 396 fourth and fifth grade students

participated (Shannon, et. al, 146). The participants included White, African-American, and

Hispanic students, with 54% of students being female and 64% of students received free or

reduced lunch (Shannon, et. al, 146). Along with these factors, there were also 35% of students

who did not speak English as a first language, and 15% of students who participated were born

outside of the United States (Shannon, et. al, 146). Researchers measured the relationship

between the use of four different “constructs” which were: classroom goal structure,

achievement goal orientation, motivation, and self-regulated learning, and the student’s

perceived academic achievement (Shannon, et. al, 153).

The researchers had three different types of results, looking at the most used construct,

the comparison between the different ethnic groups and what constructs and strategies they used,

and the perceived academic achievement of the students. In order to measure these results, the

researchers created in depth surveys that they gave to the fourth and fifth grade students. In order

to figure out what fourth and fifth grade classroom would receive the survey, the researchers

randomly selected a fourth and fifth grade classroom from each of the 24 participating

elementary schools (Shannon, et. al, 146).

The third study, titled “Inspirational Impetuous: Lifelong Learning”, focused on the

outlook that third and fourth graders have about reading in the future. The researchers focused

mainly on a student’s motivation as to why they may want to read in the future, and also
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 5

integrated how school environment has shifted in a way that has negatively affected student

motivation in reading (Manning, Aliefendic, Chiarelli, Haas, & Williams, 12). This study was

important because it emphasizes the importance of supporting student motivation and why we

have seen a decrease in motivation in the past decade. It is also important because the results

show that the majority of students view reading as an important skill that adults need to use and

that they plan on spending a lot of time reading as an adult (Manning, et. al, 13).

This study took place in a suburban school in North Texas with 40 different students in

third and fourth grade (Manning, et. al, 13). Students represented three different socio-economic

statuses, consisted of “Anglo American, African American, and Hispanic students”, and there

were equal female to male students (Manning, et. al, 13). Researchers used a random sample for

each group when collecting data (Manning, et. al, 13). The data being collected was an analysis

to student responses on questions 8 and 16 on the Motivation to Read Profile (Manning, et. al,

11). The results showed that a majority of third and fourth grade students found adults who read

interesting (question 8) and a majority also believed that they would spend time reading as adults

(question 16) (Manning, et. al, 13-14).

Synthesis

Overall, these three articles are more similar than they are different. Though one study

goes more in depth about other factors than just motivation in terms of student achievement, all

three articles focus on how motivation affects student achievement in relation to reading

instruction. Though the concept behind all three articles is relatively the same, they all had

different outcomes. This was mostly due to how research was centered and how data were
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 6

collected. However, a main idea that ran throughout all three articles was that a student that is

intrinsically motivated, or was active in their own learning, had higher achievement and a more

positive attitude towards reading. As a result of that, these studies have emphasized the

importance of providing opportunities for students to learn how to self-regulate their learning

and to think about what they’re learning in order to create positive experiences with learning.

Also, all three articles supported the idea that instructional strategies are more effective when

they are student centered.

One thing that these studies showed and that was seen during my research was the lack of

research done on motivation in reading for lower elementary education. All of these studies were

done between grades 3 and 7. Though these are all grades that I could teach, it would be

interesting to gain a deeper understanding about how students in grades K-2 are motivated,

especially when it comes to learning how to read.

Amongst the three articles, there were differences in grade levels that the research was

being done in and the type of research being done in each study. Also, there were different

methods of data collection and though all studies had an overarching theme of motivation, the

specific concepts and ideas were different throughout the study. Another big difference was that

one of my studies focused on motivation in ethnically diverse learners specifically, whereas the

other two articles did not have that focus. The main implication from all the studies was the idea

that motivation is a key factor in literacy development, including vocabulary and comprehension

development. Another implication from this research is that without a positive outlook about

reading or without positive self-efficacy, it is harder for students to develop successfully as

readers, especially because these are key factors that influence reading motivation.
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 7

Critiques

In the first study, “The Relationship between English Language Arts Teachers’ Use of

Instructional Strategies and Young Adolescents’ Reading Motivation and Engagement”, one

positive aspect about was that it focused solely on factors that affected student’s reading

motivation and engagement. It targeted specific scales of motivation and how those were

affected by different instructional strategies. It also took into account how an ELA teacher can

affect their student’s motivation and the ways that these affects took place in overall motivation,

including what worked and what didn’t. One thing that was unclear about this study was the

reasoning behind using parochial schools, rather than public schools in the state of New York.

The results of the study may have been drastically different, both for student motivation and

teachers instructional strategies. In relation to that, a factor that could’ve made this study

stronger would be to use a wider range of types of schools. Another factor that could’ve made

the study stronger would be to have someone from outside the classroom observe or evaluate the

study so that there was a non-biased sample within the results.

The article did not uncover any information that was a big surprise, however it was

interesting that the researchers used different scales to evaluate motivation. This helped give an

understanding to the different factors that affect motivation and could be used to pinpoint

different ways to help students who are struggling with motivation, depending on what helps

motivate them and what doesn’t. The study gave detailed descriptions of both the population and

the procedures that were given. However, the details about the population focused more on the

overall school population/demographics, and provided little information describing the

individual classrooms. Another detail that may have been nice would be how long teachers had
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 8

been teaching ELA and how long they had been at their schools or in their current grade. One

detail that would have made the study more interesting would be adding eighth grade to the study

as well. This is because there is mention of the major decrease in motivation from sixth to eighth

grade within the study, but the study only focused on sixth and seventh grade. It would have

been interesting to see if there was an even more negative change in motivation from seventh to

eighth grade compared to sixth to seventh grade.

One positive aspect in the second study, “Examining the Relationships Among

Classroom Goal Structure, Achievement Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Self-regulated

Learning for Ethnically Diverse Learners”, is the researcher’s use of four integrated factors, or

constructs, that influence student’s perception of achievement and that are affected by different

learning strategies. Another positive aspect was that the researcher’s of this study wanted to

focus on the achievement gap in education, which was reflected in the diversity of the

participants, especially with the inclusion of English Language Learners. One thing that was

unclear was the main goal of this research. It seemed as though the researchers wanted to answer

and explore a lot of different concepts, with a main focus on the construct of academic goal

orientation and how the three other constructs affected that. One thing that may have helped this

would be to have explicit research questions, because it would be easier to understand exactly

what the researchers wanted to accomplish with their research and results. This study could have

been stronger if researchers were able to obtain data on student achievement, either in previous

years or in the grade level they were currently in. This could show two different pieces of

information. First, it could show how students were achieving compared to their perception of

academic achievement. Second, it could offer a data point for growth or stagnation and if there

was change in that after students started using certain learning strategies.
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 9

I really liked this article because it was incredibly in-depth and it approached learning as

a relationship where many components come together. It really emphasized the complex nature

of the constructs that affected perceived achievement and how learning strategies relate to those

concepts. This article went very in depth with the population and the procedures for the study.

One thing that I would like to see, as a teacher, is information as to why the researchers think

some learning strategies work better than others. Also, it would’ve been interesting to know why

students choose certain strategies over others.

Some positive aspects of the third study, “Inspirational Impetuous: Lifelong Learning”,

was the focus on lifelong learning and the emphasis on how to motivate students to want to be

lifelong readers. Also, this was the only study that used a random sampling technique to obtain

data. One thing that was unclear was the link between being a lifelong learner and high stakes

testing. Though they referenced the idea that the introduction of high stakes testing causes a

decrease in motivation, they didn’t have any evidence to back that point up. Also, the research

questions did not reflect these ideas, so it seemed as though the hypotheses were not connected

to the literature review. One thing that could make this study stronger would be to use more of

the Motivation to Read Profile survey to analyze results in regards to the attitude change students

have about reading from 3rd to 4th grade. The researchers posed a question about this attitude

change, but did not go in depth with any results regarding this question.

In regards to this article, I was surprised with how little the authors wrote about the

different aspects of their study. In other articles, there were a lot of in depth research and analysis

about the different factors involved in motivation and the other variable(s) being researched.

However, this article had a relatively short literature review that focused mainly on instructional

strategies and high-stakes testing. The emphasis on testing also surprised me because that
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 10

standpoint hasn’t been used in previous articles. The researchers provided a lot of detail about

the participants of the study, including race, socio-economic status, grade level, and gender. The

procedure of the study was relatively short compared to other studies, but could be followed if

this study was repeated. While reading this study, I was hoping that the researchers would

include details about how to motivate readers who are unmotivated by 3rd or 4th grade. However,

since the majority of students sampled stated that they believed they would read as adults and

that it was important to continue reading as an adult, the researchers ended the study with high

hopes for future student outlooks. Though that is a hopeful outcome, I think it would’ve helped

to include ways to increase motivation for the students in the minority so that we can instill that

outlook within them as well.

Applications

The theories and concepts that have been introduced in readings and discussions that are

about motivation all support the idea that is presented throughout the first study, “The

Relationship between English Language Arts Teachers’ Use of Instructional Strategies and

Young Adolescents’ Reading Motivation and Engagement” and the third study, “Inspirational

Impetuous: Lifelong Learning”. Though both of these studies had differences, a main similarity

was the interest that the researcher had in motivation. Motivation was at the forefront of the

study, therefore applications for both studies are going to be rather similar. When looking at the

different factors that affect motivation, the researchers emphasized how different goal
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 11

orientations can affect a student’s motivation, along with their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

The research in the first study, “The Relationship between…”, cites mastery goal

orientation compared to performance goal orientation, a main concept that Ormrod has discussed

and that has been integrated into class discussions. According to Ormrod, having a mastery goal

orientation means that students are focused on how well they can master and understand a

specific subject, whereas having a performance goal orientation means that students are focused

on how well they are doing with their work and in terms of grades and achievement (2018).

However, based on the results, the main connection to class a concept is the idea that as students

progress through school, their motivation and engagement decreases. This means that as students

get older, teachers need to have more instructional strategies that can reach a varying degree of

motivation in the classroom. According to Table 5.3 in Ormrod, in sixth through eighth grade,

intrinsic motivation begins to decline, and continues to decline steadily throughout high school.

In the third study, “Inspirational Impetuous: Lifelong Learning”, the same concepts were

explored, however they used ‘attitude change’ instead of exploring the shift between mastery

goal orientation and performance goal orientation (Manning, et. al, 7).

One way I would use this information in my instructional practice is to use the

instructional strategies in the study that students responded to in the study. This includes

integrated group work and activities that are fun and challenging for students (Varuzza, et. al.,

114). Of the strategies that created positive change, two that I would strive to have in my

classroom are clear instructions and encouragement (Varuzza, et. al, 114). Not only would this

help with classroom management, but they are also two strategies that I thought would be
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 12

standard within the classroom, and this study showed why they are two really important

strategies.

Another instructional practice that I would use would come from the feedback from

students about what they enjoyed reading the most. The study stated that teacher and student read

aloud and silent readings were two reading activities that students favored (Varuzza, 114). Since

motivation and engagement relies a lot on student interest, I would want to take this information

to use in my reading lessons. Based on the information provided by the third study on high stakes

testing, a third instructional practice I would want to use in my classroom revolves around the

approach to high stakes testing. Instead of approaching testing as a looming negative event, I

would want to try and shift student outlook on testing so that it’s integrated into instruction in

ways that students feel it is approachable and that they are capable of succeeding. Though the

study doesn’t have any evidence based around high stakes testing, the researchers do point out

that with the introduction of high stakes testing seems to come the fall of reading motivation and

engagement (Manning, et al., 12). Therefore, to combat this, I would want to present the

information to students in a way that is familiar and attainable.

The second study that I read, “Examining the Relationships Among Classroom Goal

Structure, Achievement Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Self-regulated Learning for Ethnically

Diverse Learners”, focused more on the complex relationship between the four different

constructs of student achievement goals. This study analyzed the difference between mastery

goal orientation and performance goal orientation, which is another concept that Ormrod
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 13

discussed in Chapter Five, emphasizing the different characteristics and how learners may differ

depending on their goal orientation (Ormrod, 170). Throughout this study, the different goal

orientations were always results of motivation and self-regulated learning, showing how a

student’s beliefs about their own learning can affect how they learn and achieve (Shannon,

Salisbury-Glennon, Shores, 142).

One instructional practice that I want to take from this is modeling self-regulated learning

and trying to apply it within my classroom. Based on this study, self-regulated learning is seen in

students who are “metacognitively, behaviorally, and motivationally active in their learning”,

and if I can model and expect self-regulated learning in my classroom, I may be able to instill it

within students so that they can succeed in their learning (Shannon, et. al, 138).

Another instructional strategy that I want to integrate into my classroom is the use of goal

setting with my students. This is a strategy that is shown to work for all students, and recently I

have seen other classroom teachers use it a lot (Shannon, et. al, 150). By having students set their

own learning goals and meeting with them about it, they can take their learning into their own

hands and see how their effort relates to their success. Also, this is another way to show students

that they are responsible for their own learning and that their attitude towards learning effects

their achievement.

Conclusion

Overall, these three studies have emphasized the importance of motivation in student

success for reading. Throughout these studies, it has become apparent that reading instruction
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 14

becomes even more effective when students are motivated in their learning. Since not all

students who come into our classrooms will be intrinsically motivated, it is important that our

instructional strategies provide support and give opportunities for students to be interested in

what they are learning during reading instruction. Most importantly, students will do best in

environments where they are supported and encouraged by their teachers, no matter their initial

reading ability. Therefore, the most important outcome from these three studies is how we as

teachers can best help our students succeed and foster positive growth and attitudes towards their

learning.
Effects of Motivation in Reading Instruction 15

References

Ormrod, J. E. (2018). Essentials of Educational Psychology: Big ideas to guide effective

teaching (5th ed.). NY,NY: Pearson Education, 250-290.

Manning, C., Aliefendic, J., Chiarelli, M., Haas, L., & Williams, S. (2012). Inspirational

impetuous: Lifelong learning. SRATE Journal, 21(1), 11-17.

Shannon, D., Salisbury-Glennon, J., & Shores, M. (2012). Examining the relationships among

goal structure, achievement goal orientation, motivation, and self-regulated learning for

ethnically diverse learners. Journal for Research in Education, 22(2), 136-168.

Varuzza, M., Sinatra, R., Eschenauer, R, & Blake, B. (2014). The relationship between English

Language Arts teachers’ use of instructional strategies and young adolescents’ reading

motivation, engagement, and preference. Journal of Education and Learning, 3(2), 108-

120.