Aspects of the reading motivation and reading activity of Namibian primary school readers

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample

	Sample	f	%
Gender	Male	186	46.0
	Female	216	54.0
Age	12	129	32.0
	13	189	47.0
	14	57	14.0
	15	13	3.5
	Other/Not indicated	14	3.5
Mother Tongue	Afrikaans	53	13.2
	English	11	2.7
	Khoekhoegowab	28	7.0
	Oshiwambo languages	174	43.3
	Otjiherero	99	24.6
	Other languages	37	9.2
Reading achievement level	Mean SAT score	31.8	63.6
	SD	9.8
Total participants		402	100

Table 2. Scores for the reading activity during the previous week

Reading activity	For own interest	For school	Mean
Traditional print mode	%	%	%
Storybooks	57	54	56
Information books	32	28	30
Newspapers	63	22	43
All traditional print	51	35	43
Digital mode
Internet	49	50	49
Mobile/cell phones	52	33	43
All digital	51	42	46

Note: n = 402.

Table 3. Scores for general reading activity: Purpose and mode

Reading purpose and mode	Mean
Academic print	2.69
Academic digital	2.45
Pleasure print	2.82
Pleasure digital	2.76
Academic (print and digital)	2.60
Pleasure (print and digital)	2.79
Print (academic and pleasure)	2.75
Digital (academic and pleasure)	2.60
Reading activity (all)	2.69

Notes: n = 402; Scale 1–4.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics for reading motivation

Dimension	n	Mean	Std. Deviation
1. Reading efficacy (4 items)	391	3.38	0.53
2. Reading challenge (4 items)	388	3.33	0.55
3. Reading curiosity (4 items)	397	3.54	0.49
4. Reading involvement (5 items)	396	3.14	0.55
5. Importance of reading (3 items)	399	3.62	0.51
6. Reading work avoidance (5 items)	394	2.83	0.52
7. Competition in reading (4 items)	390	2.78	0.39
8. Recognition for reading (4 items)	394	3.33	0.54
9. Reading for grades (3 items)	395	3.48	0.54
10. Social reasons for reading (5 items)	394	2.81	0.67
11. Compliance (4 items)	393	3.00	0.59
Mean motivation score (11 dimensions)	338	3.24	0.34
Intrinsic motivation (Dimensions 2–4)	380	3.34	0.43
Extrinsic motivation (Dimensions 7–11)	369	3.08	0.39

Table 5. Correlations between motivation scale scores and reading activity

	Mean motivation	Intrinsic motivation	Extrinsic motivation
Mean motivation score
Intrinsic motivation	0.865**
Extrinsic motivation	0.866**	0.526**
Reading activity print for pleasure	0.405**	0.318**	0.372**
Reading activity print for academic	0.132*	0.085	0.158**
Reading activity print (all)	0.326**	0.242**	0.325**
Reading activity digital for pleasure	0.140*	0.146**	0.085
Reading activity digital for academic	0.110*	0.064	0.114*
Reading activity digital (all)	0.143*	0.113*	0.107
Reading activity pleasure	0.374**	0.313**	0.305**
Reading activity academic	0.145*	0.093	0.157**
Mean reading activity score	0.274**	0.212**	0.236**

Note: Ns range from 266–380.

* p ≤ 0.05.

** p ≤ 0.01.

Table 6. Correlations between reading motivation and reading achievement

Dimension of motivation	Reading achievement
Challenge	0.159*
Involvement	0.219*
Social reasons for reading	−0.258*
Compliance	0.180*
Intrinsic motivation (composite score)	0.186*

Note: Ns range from 380–396.

* p ≤ 0.01.