How Motivation and Engagement Predict Reading Comprehension Among Native English-speaking and English-learning Middle School Students with Disabilities In a Remedial Reading Curriculum

In this article, the role of motivation as a predictor of reading comprehension is investigated.  Worth mentioning is the fact that this is not studied very much despite its impact on the choices students make about reading. One of the questions this article examines is, what motivates some students to choose to read more often and for longer periods of time.  This is one of only a handful of studies that specifically addresses motivation & reading comprehension among ELL students and students with disabilities.  The guiding questions are:

            1) In the context of a remedial reading program, what is the role of motivation in

            predicting reading comprehension among students with disabilities?

            2) Does ELL status moderate any effects of motivation predicting reading

            comprehension?

The study in this article reports on motivation levels of 76 middle school aged English language learners with disabilities in an urban Northeastern school district in the United States.  It investigated whether intrinsic & extrinsic motivation and self-efficacy predicted comprehension outcomes. 

Extrinsic motivation is the motivation influenced by external elements, such as rewards, recognition, grades etc.  Intrinsic motivation involves students curiosity about reading and how important students perceive reading to be. Research has shown a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and reading comprehension, and a negative effect between extrinsic motivation and reading comprehension.  This article notes that intrinsic motivation has been a predictor of reading comprehension among White American students, but not among Black and Latino students. 

Self-efficacy is another construct used to understand motivation in students.  Students with self-efficacy, according to the article, “participate more readily, work harder, and persevere longer in the face of difficulties, and achieve at a higher level.”

Patrick Proctor, C., Daley, S., Louick, R., Leider, C.M., & Gardner, G.L. (2014).  How motivation           and engagement predict reading comprehension among native English-speaking and English-

      learning middle school students with disabilities in a remedial reading curriculum. Learning &           Individual Differences, 36 76-83. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2014.10.014