Reading Motivation: Exploring Elementary Gender Gap

When students learn about subjects they are familiar with, it allows the content area being taught to become meaningful. As mentioned in Chapter 6, on page 149, motivation to read can come because they are interested in the content. When students are interested in the content they are reading, their needs are being met, and they will be well prepared for a successful literacy experience.

Harris and Jerome A. Niles (1982), the Informal Reading Inventory’s stated purpose is to determine the reading level of a child by identifying their reading comprehension strengths and weaknesses (Harris & Niles, 1982). This test was developed to measure the reading level of a child, and for some students, it may identify their levels of reading comprehension. It is difficult to determine the reliability and validity of this assessment, not knowing the specifics of the original tested population, the size of the tested group, the sex, or the location of where they were assessed. Due to the lack of developmental data, the overall assessment results from school to school can give inconsistent

The first article, “Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys (Yet!): Motivating boys in the age of the Common Core,” discusses Common Core in relation to young boys’ interest in reading. The authors’ main idea is that boys will become even more uninterested in reading due to the kind of instruction they will be receiving through Common Core. Wilhelm and Smith (2014) introduce their article by stating that boys underperform in literacy compared to girls. “The most recent example of this underperformance,” states Wilhelm and Smith (2014), “is the latest [National

The evidence in Husband’s study provided is supportive because it points out how gender differences affect the achievement of reading based on the standards, expectations, reading selections, disciplinary actions and learning styles that emphasize resistance towards African American males (Husband 2-3). The author inserted maps within the article displaying the neurological differences (Husband 5) boys have with more testosterone on the brain and are less likely to sit still in a class. “Husband proclaims boys have to be taught to participate in reading verses most girls naturally do not. boys tend to be drawn toward reading newspapers, how-to manuals, and other short informational texts more often than girls” (Husband 4).Boys perhaps would be better off learning through story telling based on the feeling of disempowering in reading circles (Husband 5). This investigation presented the classroom text included is not male preference and because it doesn’t reflect their culture or life experiences males withdraw. Husband’s

The new tool was used in eight different school settings in the United States and Trinidad, 384 adolescents completed the survey and 100 were interviewed. The Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile Reading survey and conversational interview asked questions about self-concept as a reader and value of a reading. It also added questions on using electronic resources, finding out the projects students were interested in completing, and the types of things students choose to read and write about. The questions were also updated to reflect more adolescent type language. Findings from the survey showed that females had significantly higher scores than males; males in early teens scored higher than males in later teens; females value reading more than males did; and the value of reading for females increased as they got older but males decreased. As with the Motivation to Read Profile, the survey and interview were intended to guide teachers in making improvements in their planning of instructional activities for their students (Pitcher, Albright, DeLaney, Walker, Seunarinesigh, Moegge, Headley, Ridgeway, Peck, Hunt, & Dunston, 2007)

For this assignment, I chose the article Motivating Students to Read in the Content Classroom: Six Evidence-Based Principles by William Brozo and Sutton Flynt. This article first talks about how a survey of motivation to read showed a large majority of fourth graders say reading was not their favorite activity and they did not like to read frequently. The authors proposed six ways to get children more involved in reading, starting with elevating their self-efficiency. Students who possess high, school-related self-efficiency outperform their less-engaged peers. Teachers can create conditions for students that are associated with increased perceptions of competence and the student will consequently sustain an effort to be successful. The next point made in this article is to engage interest in new learning. Basically this means to generate interest in new content, making students more likely to put forth necessary efforts to read and learn the new material. “This realization should lead teachers to incorporate a variety of instructional practices that embrace multiple forms of literacy, multiple sources of information, and student choice

With reading being the cornerstone of society it is expected that children begin learning about literature in their most formative years. With children reading younger and younger it should come as no surprise that something as loved and personal as reading should be turned into a competition among children (more personal). This unfortunate truth has followed me through the majority of my academic career turning literature into a job and annoyance. Much like many schools, my primary education required the logging of reading to ensure the students were spending some of their time enriching themselves rather than wasting it, according to the faculty. Being the competitive natured children we were, seeing who could read the most soon became the

Graves, M. F., Juel, C., & Graves, B. B. (2011). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century. Motivating All Learners (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

It also misses that some people don’t like to read out of school so maybe the main portion of their reading does take place in school. A lot of people if not forced to read won’t ever pick up on topics they may actually like. In every young readers life it is hard just learning how to read. It also gets to a point in high school where a lot of students pick up interests in other things besides reading. This causes the amount of reading students might be doing to go down.

I never had a passion to read when I was younger in grade school. I never liked to read, unless it was any of the “Black Lagoon” books then you had my full attention, and if it wasn’t any of those I would not read it for anything. All I wanted was to read those books, and I am pretty sure I read almost all of them I liked them so much. I especially did not like reading when teachers would make us read at night and fill out a reading chart to go along with it and would make our parents sign it so they made sure that we really did read everyday. It was pure torture for me. I dreaded the reading. My teachers even gave us prizes and treats for reading at home and I still did not want to read. One year I did not tell my mom that I had a reading log and was required to

Families are often encouraged to provide a variety of reading material for their children, especially at an early age, to give children plenty of options when learning how to read. When children are provided with a variety of reading material at home, they see that a high value is placed on reading. If parents value reading at home, children tend to value it also, and the more a child is encouraged to read at home, the more they will want to engage in reading in general. By being involved in their child’s reading development, parents can give their children a firm foundation to reading prior to entering grade school which will lead to a lifetime of reading enjoyment and

This study also included a rival explanation for the results. In a discussion subtopic of the article it says that the parents’ commitment may not necessarily translate to the students reading motivation (Loera, Rueda, & Nakamoto, 2011). This article, nor the one following it connects to any other prior research that was mentioned in the article unlike the next article which will be discussed later. These articles were peer reviewed per the search parameters.

One sample t-tests were used to evaluate the survey results. The t-tests results indicated significant changes in reading motivations among subjects in certain areas. The scores of students without disabilities in the Self-Concept portion of the survey significantly increased during the study and showed statistical significance. Students without disabilities also showed an increase in scores in the Value of Reading scores, but the difference was not statistically significant. Students with disabilities showed a decline in reading motivation, but the differences were not significant. The Full Survey scores for struggling readers without disabilities also increased slightly, but the improvement was not statistically significant.

While the article described the sample thoroughly, the selection of the sample is questionable, considering the five elementary schools were selected from a larger study of the effectiveness of a differentiated reading program. In view of the unclear sample selection method utilized, it could definitely affect the results. The population of the larger study would be useful to ensure no bias exists. Although, the selection is unclear, the subjects still provided motivated, unbiased responses on the standard assessments while using their current reading

Reading requires a habit. Without much practice, students do not have good reading skills. With a lot of reading, students will be able to find out past events, current, and can predict the events that will occur later. Students who have reading habits are capable of using time to read activities. Demand for information needs that continue to grow over time can actually be facilitated through reading activities. But this fact becomes different when the reading habits of students are still low.