Motivating Literacy: Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in a Secondary Intervention Setting

• In Event: 25.016 - Motivation and Engagement in Literacy

Abstract

In this study we investigated the beliefs and practices of two teachers as they implement a supplemental reading intervention designed to promote student engagement for high school struggling readers. Using observations, video analysis, and interview data, we highlight the work of two teachers facing challenges implementing the engagement model. We use the motivational principals of autonomy, competence, and relatedness to examine the beliefs and practices of the teachers in depth and to consider the ways in which students’ reading engagement may have been influenced. Findings revealed that although the teachers faced similar challenges in implementing the intervention, they enacted the motivational principles of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in very different ways that had implications for students’ engagement in the classroom.

Authors

• Susan Cantrell, University of Kentucky

• Margaret Rintamaa, University of Kentucky