Motivating SecondarySchool Studentsto

Enjoy Readingand Writing

Patrick McEvoy-Halston

EDCI 35OIYO2

Dr. Fenimore

12 February 2004
 McEvoy-Halston I

Introduction

There would seemto be little more important for would-be English teachersto explore in

hopesof becoming skilled at helping their studentsto becomeefficient readersand writers than

the subjectof motivation. A generationago the exploration of motivation researchwould lead

one to becomefamiliar with the use of extrinsic motivatorsin motivation. Thesedays,however,

fewer expertsfocus on the use of externalrewardsto get studentsreading and writing. Instead,

who researchmotivation encourageteachersto help their

the majority of psychologists/educators

studentsbecomeinherently interestedin the processof reading and writing. In this paperI will

briefly describewhy intrinsic motivationhasdisplacedextrinsicmotivation as experts'most

preferredmethod for motivating students. I will follow this by bringing to light two very fr

important first stepsnecessaryto get studentson the road to becoming intrinsically motivated

students(namely, getting studentsto believe in their own abilities, as well as convincing them

that reading and writing truly are affecting, enjoyableactivities),and both list and discussthe

most frequently recommendedmeansof facilitating studentinterestin the processof reading and

writing.

The Main Problem with Extrinsic Motivation

still do advocatethe useof extemalrewardsto motivate studentsto readand

Researchers

usage.
write (i.e.,tlle useof extrinsicmotivation),but theyoftenqualifytheir recommended

who now seestheuseof rewardsasusefulonly for

Wigfield (2000)is oneof manyresearchers

"rhe acqui[litiol] of basicskillsneededfor reading[. . .] [which]maynot be intrinsically

'
, **'tlur" i.+'il.\
yt}J"+' preferto
researchers
motivlting for manychildren"(p. 1a9). For themostpartcontemporary

attendto how intrinsic motivation,fosteringthe sheerlove of readingandwriting for its own

sake,can be nurturedin students.The reasonfor the shift of focus over the yearsis that

intrinsicallymotivatedstudentshavebeenprovento (1) haverelativelyhigherachievement

 McEvoy-Halston 2

measured testsor grades(Sweet,Guthrie,& Ng. 1998);(2) to.haverelatively J t

by standardized
4a '
ott44+*zwbtp)41k$*,'.1, &t&, rJMut
highertext comprehension(Guthriee+C.,1998);and(3) to readfar moreandmorefrequently

(Wigfield& Guthrie,1997)thanextrinsicallymotivatedandunmotivatedstudents.Research

showsthatextrinsicallymotivatedstudentsall too oftendesistin activitiesoncetherewardsfor

have
theseactivities areno longer offered (Wigfield, 2000). The primary difficulty researchers

with theuseof extrinsicmotivation,then,is not thatextrinsicmotivationdoesn'twork but that

extrinsic rewardsoften work in oppositionto attemptsto get studentsintrinsically interestedin

readingandwriting. As FawsonandMoore(1999)conclude,"[e]xtemalrewardshavean

underminingeffecton intrinsicmotivation"(p.326).

Important First Step: Believein Your Students

Before studentscan developan intrinsic interestin readingand writing, they haveto

believethey havethe ability to becomecompetentreaden andwriters, and,ug$@glely, by the

',
time theyreachsecondary believeinsteadthatthey "just aren ggtdte/
school,manystudents ffi.\,

e19_li1tr."Too many well meaningteacherend up inadvertentlyreinforcing the students'sense

of themselvesas inherently incapableof being skilled readersand writers. According to Borich

and Tombari (1995), techniquesteachershave often usedto encouragestruggling readersand

writers,such as expressingsympathyat failure, showingsurpriseat success,giving excessive

and unsolicited help, and lavishing praiseupon studentsupon completion of relatively simple

tasks,often end up reinforcinga student'sbelief that he or sheis constitutionallya poor reader

and/or writer. Since researchhas demonstratedthat a student'ssenseof his/her efficacy relates

strongly to their performancein taskssuch as reading and writing (e.g6 Bandura, L977),many

researchershave concludedthat the important first stepin creatingproficient, internally

motivated readersand writers is to get them to begin to believe in their own self-efficacy.

Teachersthereforemust resist seeingtheir classroomas divided into high and low performers,
 f4?@*fi{-b hla^re
and conceiveof all of their studentsas capablehnd bright (OECD, 2000).

EssentialSecondStep: Modellins ReadinsPleasure

they (teachers)
Evenif a teacherbeginsto get studentsto beginto believein themselves,

themthatit is worththeirwhile to engagein the struggleto become

muststill persuade

competentreadersand writers. That is, teachersmust show studentswho, even by secondary

school,may not entirely be surethat reading and writing are inherently rewarding activities. The

teacherthereforemust (1) themselvestruly love reading and writing, and (2) find ways to share

with studentswhat theseactivities have mean to them. As Alexander and Fives (2000) argue,

"the prospectof creating a literacy-rich learning environmentthat fosterscontinued and optimal

I
literacy developmentin all children is greatly enhancedwhen tegahe.{$-fj

importancein reading" (p.297).

Gambrell (1996) reconmends to teachersthat they "sharetheir personalreading with

studentsand to be more explicit in illustrating to children the value of reading in their own lives"

(p.2I). She arguesthat when teacherscan give their studentssome senseof the effect reading

is corroboratedby my.9wn perso\Elpxperience. I was motivated to lea4 P-ogt{yon my own only

1, 4
llp*,iyvt{ "-
after my experience**l ugj3gtrqtfiho interspersedhis lectureswith quotesfrom the likes of

Blake, Wordsworth,and Byron. TheseRomanticpoetsevidentlyhad a continuinghold on my

teacher;they evidently were somethinghe referredto over and over again for wisdom, for

company,for pleasure. I did not doubt my ability to read and understandpoetry, but, previously,

I did doubt its worth. This teacher'spowerful and sustaineddemonstrationof the importanceof

Romantic poetry in his life was sufficient to get me interestedin seeingif I too might find

fellowship with someof the Romantic poets.

 McEvoy-Halston 4

Class Librarv

A teacherwho obviously lovesbooks and believesin the abilitiesof his/herstudentsis

likely to gain the trust of studentsand suggestto them that books offer them somethingof

considerablevalue, but he/shemust still find ways to structurehis/her classroomand activities to

facilitate the continuing developmentof studentinterestin reading and writing. One way of

doing this is to have a well stockedand well designedlibrary in the classroom.Not only is a

library in the classroomfurther evidencethat their teachertruly loves books, it also provides

studentseasy accessto a world of books from which they can chooseand find their own

favourites. Though thereare someeducators,suchas NancieAtwell (1998),who choosenot to

stock their classlibrary with "unliterary" Wofks,othersrecommendthat teachersstock their

o^y^L +J* 11, oy.a.1*,tivt,Wo^1"
library with magazines,comic books,*c1tugrVersaci, 200I) Not only are such mediums

intrinsically appealingto students(Versaci),having them in the classroomcan be one meansof

maintaining students'senseof self worth: it tells them that the sortsof things they read on their

own count as reading material.

Of course.somelibraries are better than others. Researcherstell us that studentsare

attractedto librariesthat are appealingand highly visible (Morrow, 1991). It is also a good idea

to stock the classlibrary with books which deal with topics teenagerscare to know more about.

Fortunately,we live in a time where many excellentyoung adults are publishedevery year. High

school studentswho want to know more about,say, first dating experiences,could look to a book

such as Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love to find characterswith whom they could comparetheir

own experienceswith. Hard Love's protagonistwrites abouthis feelingsand publishesthem in

his own zine. Thereby, his friends who read his zine are better able to understandwhat he is

going through, and are thereforeable to provide him with meaningful responsesto his situation.

This particular book happensto be ideal for a reading and writing teacherto have availablein
 McEvoy-Halston 5

are interestedin, and

his/herclasslibrary becauseit both dealswith a topic adolescents

powerfully conveysthe rewardsliteracyprovidesone with.

It should be noted that most researcherswho advocatethat teachershave book-rich

environmentsalsoarguethat teachefsmakeproperuseof them so that the books do not s inply ilg.l ,

p,rops.Gambrell(1996),for example,refersto a study(theBradfordBook-Food

becomec1499
v-::;;P

to bookswasnot sufficientto develop

experiment)whichshowedthatfacilitatingaccess

thatteache$mustknow whatto do with the

dramaticstudentinterestin books. Sheconcludes

booksso that they can be usedto stimulatestudentinterest.

Choice and Autonomv

As mentioned,encouragingstudentsto makeuseof a classlibrary is one of the meansby

to
whicha teachercanget studentsactivelyinvolvedin their education.It helpscommunicate

studentsthatleamingis not simplysomethingthathappensto them;theycaninitiatetheir own

is crucial,accordingto
in theclassroom.Choice,creatinganopenclassroom,
explorations

TurnerandParis(1995),in "sustainingstudentinterestin readingandwriting" (p. 664). They

arguethatwhena feachergivesa studentchoice,notjust in thebooksthattheywill read,but in

natureof their writing tasks,that studentscometo takemore "personalresponsibilityfor their

literacy" and"are more likely to useleaming strategieslike summarizingor backtrackingrather

thanshortcutslike memorizing,copflng,or guessing"(p. 665).

'
,,,. i Tumer(1997)comparedhow literarytaskswerereceivedby studentswhentheywere
, ^{:'
\,\} "open"andwhentheywere"closed."Opentaskswereoneswhichpermitted to set
students
w1
n,'
' 'i
thefinal results,while
andassess
goals,selectandorganizeinformation,choosesffategies,

closedtaskswerethosein which few opportunitieswereprovidedfor studentsto control their

tasks.In opencompositiontasksstudentscould,for example,decideon their own theme,choose

whatsubjecttheywantedto write on, etc. In closedtaskstheseoptionsweredeniedto students.

 McEvoy-Halston 6

Turner found that the room teachersprovided for studentautonomyand choice was a crucial

factor in determiningwhether studentsbecameactively engagedin their writing tasks. As

Turner and Paris (1995) so perfectlyput it, "[s]tudentswant to seethemselvesas originatorsof

plans and ideas,not as followers in a grand schemethey may not understand"(p. 667).

Some theorists,however,concludethat stude_ntsjlnbe gverwhelmedbv too muc\t, .- 1

,/ 7i'**"
f o"oyL-*''*;fr[
choice. Sometheoristsspecifythat "a modestamountgg9i.e" (Stipek, f993, p. 107)develops

intrinsic motivation. Hunt (I975), amongstothers,reminds that theremay be no one kind of

educationalenvironmentwhich suits all children. The importanceof a teachertaking into

considerationthe differencein learning stylesof his/her studentswhen incorporatingchoice into

the classroomcannotbe overemphasized.

Challenee and Curiositv

As mentioned,one of the meansby which teachersinadvertentlycommunicateto

studentsthat they (the teachers)do not believe in the students'ability to read and/or write at a

high level is to assignthem tasksthat aretoo easy. Studentsneedto succeedat taskswhich they

find challengingin order to developconfidencein their abilities (Turner & Paris, 1995).

Moreover, researchhas proved that challengingtasksare intrinsically more interestingand fun

for studentsthan unchallengingtasks. They tend to lead to more engagedstudentparticipation,

and end up enhancingstudentlearningin a variety of ways. According to Turner and Paris,

challengingtasks"prompted studentsto use more organizatronaland self-monitoring strategies"

remind us, however,thatjust as you can give

(p. 666) than unchallengingtasks. Researchers

studentstoo much choice,they can be given taskswhich challengetheir own abilitiestoo

strongly. Studentswho experiencefailure too often quickly becomefrustrated;if they have a

poor senseof self-efficacy,repeatedfailure can confirm their own negative self-assessment

(Stipek, lgg3),which will frustratethe teacher'ssubsequentattemptsto develop an intrinsic love

 McEvoy-Halston 7

for reading and writing in the child.

Books and taskschosenby the teachershouldenticestudents'curiosity and interest.

There area numberof ways of doing this. A variety of books and taskscould be usedso that

studentsdon't becomebored with an overly familiar routine. Books usedin the curriculum

shouldbe of topics of intrinsic interestto children(eg.,Hard Love's focus on first dating

experiences),and teacherscould introducenew kinds of textual material, such as electronic

readingsources,into their classrooms(Guthrie,2000). The taskscan be designedso that they

require higher-orderor divergentthinking and active problem solving. Also, teacherscan

questiontheir studentsin ways which stimulatetheir interestand curiosity. Stipek (1993)argues

in students'understanding"(p. 91), for example,work

that questionsthat reveal"discrepancies

to engagestudentcuriosity.

Social Interaction

Motivation researchershaven't limited their interestsimply to student/teacher

interactions. Recentresearchhas uncoveredthat studentsshould be encouragedto sharetheir

reading with one another. According to Turner and Paris (1995), social interactionfacilitates

reading and writing achievement,the developmentof higher cognitive skills, as well as an

intrinsic desireto read. This shouldn'tbe a hard thing for teachersto accomplishsincestudents

love to sharetheir favourite books with one another. They also love to read books they know
y/// - *-J{'/
/*L.t* '
t,i r
somethingabout,thereforethe books they end up reading are ofgg4ogeJhS-ll peers -"
"*.{t.d
about (Turner & Paris). Researchsuggeststhat studentsshould also be encouragedto work

togetheron writing tasks. Working togetheron writing taskshelps develop an intrinsic interest

in writing, and it affords studentsopportunitiesto develop a better senseof their peers' writing

abilities. According to Turner and Paris, such understandingleadsto greaterconfidencein a

student'sown writing ability.

 McEvoy-Halston 8

I find Turner and Paris's(1995)resultsto be surprising,that is, I would havethoughtthat

consistentexposureto one's peerswriting would prove as discouragingas it would encouraging

for students. However, I admit that the very few times in high school when teachershad us read

eachothers' writing, I found the experienceto be empowering. I learnedthat thosewho got

better gradesthan I did weren't necessarilybetter writers; they made fewer grammaticalelrors,

yes,but their style was not betterthan mine was--justdifferent. And I also found thosefew

experiencesto be inspiring. I really liked the idea that what we wrote would be sharedwith

someoneelseotherthan our teacherfor a change. By sharingeachother's writings w,ehap a

(.
L6..yP"f
gof
chanceto better understandhow we all thought and felt. It made us feel closei, and us
\_1--..* -n<_
_ -,a,r''.

excited about anticipatedfuture opportunitiesin which we could shareeach other's works with

one another.

Conclusion

Though extrinsic motivation, the use of rewardsto stimulatelearning, once dominated

motivation research,most leading researchersnow focus on intrinsic motivation. I hope in this

essayto have made clear why this shift occurred,and, more importantly, to have introducedmy

readerto the variety of ways in which an intrinsic interestin reading and writing can be

encouragedwith secondaryschool students. Researchersbelieve that making books easily

availableto studentsby such meansas a classlibrary, and the incorporation of choice, challenge,

and social interaction with readingand writing tasks, ffa very effective meansof developingthis

interest. However, unlessthe teachereffectively communicatesto his/trerstudentsthat they are

all capablereadersand writers and persuadesthem that reading and writing affords terrific,

lifelong pleasures,well thoughtout techniquesto inculcateintrinsic interestlikely will prove

unsuccessful.
 McEvoy-Halston 9

Reflections

Since my primary goal as a future teacheris to get as many studentsas possibleexcited

about reading and writing, I doubt that.I could hlve picked a better topic to explore than
irio tt/t'*t d*r'd..\,
motivation. (I certainly was_^t$qn-qiggl_l_y motivation!) What I will take
intergdtedt9 learn a!o-111

with me is a good senseof how much researchhasbeendoneon motivation. As a teacher,I will

know many of the leading namesof motivation researchto look to for continuing guidance.

Though my emphasisin this paperwas to attendto the conclusionsof researchstudies,I did

introducemyself to what many teacherssaid worked best for them in motivating their studentsto

becomeexcited about reading and writing.

I was never one for extrinsic motivation, but I was pleasedto find out that research

supportsmy preferredway of motivating students. I was very glad to find that motivation

researchseemsmuch more influencedby humanisticpsychologythan behaviouralpsychology. I

thereforewill also take with me somesenseof optimism that schools,influencedby educational

research,will continue to move in progressivedirections(maybewe might even one day get rid

of grades!). I was also pleasedto find that there was so much agreementbetweenresearchersas

.}'
to how to develop intrinsic motivation. My guessis that I have an enoffnousamount tp learn
-
V,* 4i.. i*
t'-oj*"'c't 4'* fuJq but
about how to structurethe up-p-:9_p-{qpmouht of choice and challengeinto my aSsignm6nts,

at least I know for certain that theseare the areasI needto attendto in order to engagemy

students.

Finally, I will take me with a renewedsenseof mission. Many of the studiesI came

acrossshowedhow teacherscould successfullymotivatestudentswho previouslyhad readlittle

and had little interestin reading and writing. I find that much of the news I hear about schools
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