Reading Motivation and Reading Habits: Lessons Learned During the Pandemic in Chile

• In Event: Cognitive and Motivational Factors in Multilingual Learners' Reading: Findings Before and During the Pandemic

Abstract

This study explored Chilean students’ reading motivation and habits during the pandemic, a time when schools were closed for at least 7 months. Participants were 636 students in Grades 3-6 who completed Gambrell et. al’s (1996) Motivation to Read Survey and a 9-question survey about their reading habits, including weekly reading time, reading format preferences before and during the pandemic, and weekly time spent reading online. Specifically, we were interested in determining whether motivation was high or low, and in exploring relations between reading frequency, motivation, preferred formats, and online reading.
Results showed that overall motivation was low across grade levels, at least 5 points lower than the average of a group with similar sociodemographic characteristics measured in 2016. There were no significant differences across grade levels, but motivation decreased as grade increased. The reading habits survey showed that 40.8 to 49.6% of students in all grade levels spent 30-60 minutes a week on academic reading. For recreational reading, the percentage of students reading 30-60 minutes ranged between 18.9 and 31.9%, yet 60% thought that most of the books that the school asked them to read were interesting. An astounding 69.2% of third graders did not spend any time reading outside-school materials, and percentages in the upper grades ranged between 51.3% and 59%.
Weekly time spent reading on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or Tiktok increased with grade level. Less than 50% of third graders spent 0-30 minutes, but 20% of sixth graders spent more than 2 hours a week. As expected, the correlation between time spent on recreational reading and motivation was higher than the correlation between time spent on academic reading and motivation to read.
In terms of reading format, most students said that they do not like reading on digital devices, and 72% chose books over tablets prior to the pandemic, compared to 61.2% who preferred actual books during lockdown. These percentages raise concerns about reading volume for Chilean students. It has been estimated that there are less than 10 books in 40% of Chilean homes, particularly those in the lowest SES groups. If reading time and book access were constrained during the pandemic, there will be negative impacts on the poorest students’ print exposure, vocabulary, and world knowledge (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2001; Cunningham & Zibulsky, 2013), fluency, and reading achievement (Allington, 2012). In 2021 schools were open for only 4 weeks in March and will slowly reopen in August. This means that there is an additional 4 months in which students have not been able to check books from the library. As we think about equity in our school systems, we must think of actions that prevent loss of reading volume due to lack of book access. Digital devices may not be replacing book reading experiences for different reasons. Therefore, we must design formal and informal ways to bring books to many students who can only access them at schools.

Author

• Pelusa Orellana, Universidad de los Andes