Reading Motivation of Adolescent Struggling Readers Receiving General Education Support

Abstract

Student motivation is a necessary catalyst for reading achievement; therefore, educators need to determine how to motivate reluctant readers, including students reading below grade level. Our qualitative study begins to address this challenge by reporting what struggling adolescents and their teacher at 1 urban middle school discussed about their motivation to read before and after the implementation of a multicomponent reading intervention. We found that students (a) valued narrative fiction over informational text, (b) valued certain text features and books, and (c) were motivated by key relationships with others to obtain and read books. Furthermore, some students were uninterested in reading, unable to obtain books, or not inspired to read by others. The teacher also noted students’ differential preferences for texts and levels of motivation for reading. We discuss how these qualitative findings yield important implications for practice and future research centered on motivating adolescents who read below grade level.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by faculty research grants issued by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Department of Special Education and Child Development.