Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Reading promotion; Motivation in education; Reading (Elementary);

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the effects of external rewards on students' intrinsic motivation to read and reading achievement. It specifically looked at how a reading incentive program affects students' motivational beliefs, time spent in out-of-school reading, and reading achievement. Participants included 83 fourth and fifth grade students from a rural elementary school in Midwestern Iowa. Participants were divided into three groups based on time spent in out-of-school reading before the incentive program was implemented. Specifically, the three groups were: high. middle, and low intrinsic reading groups. The dependent variables in this study included time spent in out-of school reading, motivational beliefs, and reading fluency. Results indicated that participants in the initial high intrinisic reading group read significantly less out-of-school after the implementation of the reading program than before the program. There were no significant differences between out-of-school reading times for students who initially showed low intrinsic interest to read. Additional analyses were conducted to measure changes in motivational beliefs and reading fluency. Future research should continue to be conducted in the students' natural environment, the classroom. More research is needed to examine the short term and long term effects of time spent reading after rewards have been removed.

Year of Submission

2000

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Anthony Gabriele

Comments

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Date Original

2000

Object Description

1 PDF file (86 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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Education Commons

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