A Review of Reading Motivation Measures

• In Event: 31.091 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 31.091-1 - Advances and Issues in the Measurement of Reading Motivation

Abstract

The objective of this presentation is to review major measures of reading motivation, including a discussion of validity and reliability information for each measure as well as summarize findings from a review of studies using these measures.

Cognitive aspects of reading do not fully account for the variability in students’ engagement in reading (Taboada, Tonks, Wigfield, & Guthrie, 2009). Students will engage in reading for a variety of reasons such as enjoying the process of reading, and to learn information. Students who disengage from reading, however, may not lack the ability to read as much as resist reading activities due to lack of motivation. This disengagement will eventually have detrimental effects on their reading ability (Baker, Afflerbach, & Reinking, 1996; Guthrie, & Wigfield, 1999; Guthrie, McGough, Bennett, & Rice, 1996; Paris & Oka, 1986). Research has indicated that reading motivation continually surfaces as a critical contributor to reading achievement (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Curtis, 2002; Rand, 2002). Because reading motivation has the potential to impact literacy achievement, learning about and measuring reading motivation is crucial in both designing interventions and measuring student response to those interventions. Therefore, we set out to gather and organize information on major reading motivation measures found in the literature. We hope that educators and researchers will use this paper as a guide when selecting motivation measures to use in their classrooms or research studies.

Online educational databases were used to accumulate over 100 articles using student self-report measures of reading motivation. We found 12 measures that have been used frequently in the literature, such as the Habitual Reading Motivation Questionnaire (Retelsdorf, Koller, & Moller, 2011), Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell et al., 1996), and the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997). All 12 measures will be discussed in the presentation. For each measure, we collected information on how the measure was developed and details on development, number of items, age range, number of constructs, factor analysis results, correlations with achievement, age and gender differences, construct definitions, and reliability and validity evidence.

We found reliability and validity information of these reading motivation measures to be variable. Some measures have been studied in depth in various populations and have numerous articles reporting factor analyses, whereas other measures are missing even basic information such as reliability. Although many of these measures were written with elementary students in mind, most of the measures for adolescents and adults were adaptations of elementary school student surveys.

Educators who need to select a reading motivation measure to learn more about his or her students or researchers just getting into the field of reading motivation research can use this paper to guide them in the selection of the most appropriate measure for their needs. In this review we also detail general findings of reading motivation, such as how well it predicts achievement and what constructs of reading motivation have been defined and measured.

Authors

• Marcia H. Davis, Johns Hopkins University

• Stephen M. Tonks, Northern Illinois University

• Aldo Chopitea Rodriguez, Northern Illinois University

• Michael F. Hock, The University of Kansas