Perceptions of Control Facilitate Reading Engagement

Abstract

This study examined how global locus of control influences children's reading engagement or reading involvement and interest in stories. It is based on locus of control, interest, and dual information processing theories. One hundred and seventy students from schools in the northeastern United States, ages 9 to 12, participated. They completed a preread survey measuring autonomy and general reading interest and then read one of three randomly selected stories, followed by answering postexposure reading engagement questions. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling revealed that general perceptions of internal locus of control influenced reading involvement, which in turn predicted liking the story and interest in reading more such stories.