Profiles of Reading Motivation and Behavioral Engagement for Middle School Students

• In Event: Adolescent Reading Motivation: Building Stronger Interventions

Abstract

Objective – The objective of this presentation is to present profiles of reading motivation and behavioral engagement that are meaningful and predictive of reading achievement outcomes.

Theoretical Framework – Profiles of reading motivation have been increasingly discussed by reading researchers because of the complex associations between multiple theoretically based motivations. These may contribute to helping or hindering student achievement in the reading domain. In this presentation, we build upon previous work examining profiles of reading motivation (Baker & Wigfield, 1999; Guthrie & Coddington, 2009) by including behavioral engagement. Motivation and behavioral engagement have been shown to be independently predictive of reading achievement in middle school students in a variable-centered approach (Gao & Xiang, 2008; Sirin & Rogers-Sirin, 2004; Watt & Richardson, 2007). Including behavioral engagement with motivation in the profile analysis captures two important dimensions of the reading process.

Data Sources and Methods – This study uses a rich source of student data on multiple motivations for reading information books as it is associated with several cognitive outcomes. Data are drawn from five rural middle schools using self-report and cognitive battery examinations. These data have been analyzed to some extent using variable-centered analyses and even fewer researchers have delved into the person-centered clusters of readers of information texts. We anchor our piece in Baker and Wigfield (1999), which is the theoretical foundation for the measures and analyses used, and move beyond it by using different and more current motivation and cognitive measures as well as the inclusion of behavioral engagement as discussed by Fredricks, Paris, and Blumenfeld (2004).

Results – We found that a five-profile solution fit the data well and had theoretical significance. Profiles were distinguished by average levels of intrinsic motivation, avoidance, efficacy, perceived difficulty, prosocial, antisocial, value, and devaluing of reading as well as behavioral engagement with the reading task. The inclusion of behavioral engagement in the cluster analysis helped to distinguish between two groups of high achieving students. While both profiles contained students with high levels of efficacy, they differed in their levels of behavioral engagement with reading. Interestingly, these two groups did not differ in their scores on standardized measures of reading, such as the WJ Fluency test and MSA Reading subtest. The group with higher scores on behavioral engagement, however, received better grades from their Reading teachers. The three other profiles identified in the analysis also yielded unique patterns that demonstrate the importance of evaluating student motivation for reading within the context of the reading task.

Scholarly Significance – We found that using behavioral engagement with reading motivation to form profiles of student motivation helped to distinguish different patterns of readers than profiles created from student motivation alone. Understanding the complex relationship between students’ beliefs about their reading ability and their willingness to engage in the reading task will help researchers and teachers design better programs and interventions to address students’ needs.

Authors

• Jenna Cambria, University of Maryland - Sesame Workshop

• Cassandra Shular Coddington, The University of Alabama

• John T. Guthrie, University of Maryland