Reading Motivations: A Study of Fourth-Grade Students and the Factors Influencing Their Tendency to Read for Pleasure Lauren

Barnet July 2003

There have been discussions for some time about how best to motivate children to read for pleasure. This study examined whether a more structured silent reading time would increase students motivation to read for pleasure. Fourth-grade students from a suburban Maryland school were given the Elementary Attitudes Survey as a pre and post test means of measurement. Both groups read silently daily. Treatment was provided to the experimental group during silent reading time, consisting of fifteen minutes of silent reading time and then five minutes of small group discussion about the books the children were reading. A notebook was kept of childrens reviews of the books they read, giving children who were unsure of what to read one students opinion of the book. In addition, the teacher read with the children silently and once a week discussed her book with the class. The results of the study indicated that there was no difference between the motivation in the fourth-grade control group who had an unstructured silent reading time and that of the experimental fourth-grade group who received more structured silent reading time. Future studies are recommended to examine other means of motivating children to read for pleasure.