Date of Award

Summer 8-2007

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Research

Committee Chair

Dr. David E. Lee

Committee Member 2

Dr. Ronald Styron

Committee Member 3

Dr. James T. Johnson

Committee Member 4

Dr. Terrell Tisdale

Abstract

A causal-comparative, mixed method design is employed in this study of reading motivation in fifth and sixth-grade students in one rural, east Texas school. Sixty-eight participants revealed no significant difference in the motivation to read from fifth to sixth grade as was hypothesized in this study, contradicting the works of Clark and Rumbold (2006), Jakobsons (2005), and Guthrie and Davis (2003). However, Pearson correlations did find statistically significant relationships between value of reading/motivation and self-concept/motivation.

The significance of the problem of reading motivation can be found in the works of Hodges (2004), Edwards (2002), and Codling, Gambrell, Mazzoni, and Palmer (1996). Additionally, Bickel and Howley (2000), Cunningham and Stanovich (Matthew effects in reading, 2001), and Howley, Howley, and Johnson (2002) discussed the relationship between motivation and achievement.

In conversational interviews, students named specific reading skills that they felt were important to being a good reader, along with their sources of reading materials, reading motivation, and what those people did to excite them about reading. Additionally, students named favorite narrative authors and favorite narrative and informational titles along with their reasons for selecting said titles. Ancillary findings included the autobiographies of several African-American figures.

Recommendations for policy and practice include budgeting funds annually for the purchase of high-quality reading materials in various mediums in order to make reading meaningful for students. Recommendations for future research suggest a larger sample size, replicating the study in alternate settings and with older students for consistency of results.