Motivation to Read Digital Texts

• In Event: Beyond Thematic Coding: Applications of Qualitative Methods to Advance Motivation Studies

Abstract

Research in reading motivation has focused primarily on print texts, yet readers in a digital world navigate increased choices in both the number and variety of texts they encounter. This study explores the digital reading preferences of teens through the lens of expectancy-value, self-determination, and interest theories to look at motivation for digital reading.

Researchers interviewed 25 adolescents using a protocol that focused on (1) the types of texts they read both inside and outside of school and the form/device for reading, (2) the choices they make in selecting and discarding texts, and (3) their preferences for reading. Using grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006), researchers coded the interviews in three stages: open, axial, and theoretical.

In line with expectancy-value theory, motivation to engage deeply with a text was influenced by the perceived value of the text. Readers, almost instantaneously upon encountering a text, considered their immediate purpose for reading, their interest in the text, and the usefulness of the text in the moment or the future. A reader’s competence in using digital tools for curation and saving texts to read later also influenced the level of engagement with a text. Interestingly, though autonomy is an important aspect of motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2017), this theme did not emerge in the data. Perhaps these young readers did not recognize their ability to control their digital reading environments. Competence with digital tools may be connected to this awareness, a question for future research.

Through this process, a theory of connected reading emerged. This theory situates readers in a network of other readers. Readers in this study engaged in three main practices: encountering, engaging, and evaluating. It was at the point of encounter that motivation for reading was key. Deciding to read a text immediately, save a text to read later, or discard a text completely emerged as an important aspect of digital reading. As the readers encountered hundreds of different kinds of texts each day - through email, social networks, and curated websites - their motivation to click through a link (or move on), dig deeply into a text (or scan it), and share the text with others in their networks was often guided by the relevance of a given text at a given moment. However, the social connection from which the readers received the text also mattered. As one teen said, “When it’s, like, somebody I know… I look at it, and I actually pay more attention to it than, like, random people and their posts.”

This study suggests that we need to consider the point of encounter as a moment where motivation to read is just as important as the motivation to engage deeply in a text. This finding is in line with the distinction made by interest theorists on triggered situational interest and long-term personal interest (Renninger & Hidi, 2011). By focusing future research on the encounter, educators can better understand how to increase reading motivation and teach adolescents to engage more deeply with digital texts.

Authors

• Kristen H. Turner, Drew University

• Akane Zusho, Fordham University