Assessing Adolescents' Motivation to Read

• Published in: Journal of adolescent & adult literacy Vol. 50; no. 5; pp. 378 - 396
• Main Authors: Pitcher, Sharon M., Albright, Lettie K., DeLaney, Carol J., Walker, Nancy T., Seunarinesingh, Krishna, Mogge, Stephen, Headley, Kathy N., Ridgeway, Victoria Gentry, Peck, Sharon, Hunt, Rebecca, Dunston, Pamela J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2007; International Reading Association
• Subjects: adolescence; Adolescents; Adult literacy; Childrens literature; Conferences; early adolescence; Electronic games; Elementary schools; Email; Foreign Countries; genre; High Schools; Internet; Interviews; learner; Literacy; Literature; Literature Appreciation; Measures (Individuals); methodology; Middle Schools; Motivation; Motivation to Read Profile; Polls & surveys; Profiles; Reading Attitudes; Reading instruction; Reading Materials; Reading Motivation; Reference interviews; Student Motivation; Students; survey; Surveys; Teachers; topic; Trinidad; type; United States; Young adult literature; United States; Trinidad and Tobago; New York; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1081-3004; 1936-2706
• DOI: 10.1598/JAAL.50.5.5

A team of researchers revised the Motivation to Read Profile for use with adolescents. Instruments to assess adolescents' in‐ and out‐of‐school reading motivations were administered. A survey adapted for adolescents was administered to 384 teens at eight sites throughout the United States and Trinidad, and 100 students were interviewed using a revised instrument designed to capture the real reading of adolescents today. The teens were asked questions about fiction, expository, and computer‐based reading materials; about what instruction in school motivated them to read; and in which classes was the reading material most difficult. Results revealed that student experiences with academic reading and writing did not match their interests and needs. The authors offer many recommendations for how students' preferred types of reading and instruction can be used in middle school and high school classrooms.