Exploring the Relationship Among Parental Literacy Beliefs, Chinese Children’s Motivation for Reading, Reading Amount and Achievement: A Concurrent Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 115
  In Roundtable Session: Literacy and Motivation

Abstract

Despite the centrality of motivational issues in learning to read, motivation has rarely been the focus of Chinese literacy research. We endeavor in this study to address the gap in the literature. 373 children ranging from 3rd to 7th grade in the south suburb of Beijng, China and one of their parents participated in the study. Measures include the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ); the Reading Activity Inventory (RAI) and the Test of Basic Skills that assess students’ reading achievement. A parent survey was sent home to gather information on the beliefs, values, attitudes and expectations parents hold with respect to literacy. Regression analyses show that the parental believes, reading motivation and reading activities all predict Chinese children’s reading achievement.

Author

• Qiuying Wang, Oklahoma State University