The effects of constructs of motivation that affirm and undermine reading achievement inside and outside of school on middle school students' reading achievement

Title of Document: THE EFFECTS OF CONSTRUCTS OF MOTIVATION THAT AFFIRM AND UNDERMINE READING ACHIEVEMENT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL ON MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING ACHIEVEMENT Cassandra Shular Coddington, Ph.D., 2009 Directed By: Professor Allan Wigfield, Department of Human Development The purpose of this study was to examine whether motivation for reading was multidimensional in two respects. First, central constructs were drawn f om three major theories of motivation. Second, versions of each construct were formulated that we re expected to correlate positively with achievement (affirming); and ver sions of each construct were formulated that were expected to correlate negatively wi th achievement (undermining). The goal of the study was to determine whether these reading motiva tion constructs were relatively independent and whether the multiple motivations c ontributed to predicting achievement. Constructs of motivation were derived from Self-Determination Theory (Dec i, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991), Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977, 2001) and Social Goals (Wentzel, 2002, 2004). Constructs of motivation that affirm reading achievement and constructs of motivation that undermine reading achievement were bot h examined. These constructs included, intrinsic motivation, avoidance, self-effica cy, perceived difficulty, prosocial interactions, and antisocial interactions. T hi study also investigated student motivations for reading for two including the Gates-MacGini tie Reading Comprehension test, a measure of inferencing ability, a motivati on questionnaire for school reading, and a motivation questionnaire for outside school reading. Reading/Language Arts grades were also obtained for all students. Four obje ctives were addressed through the results of six research questions. Factor analyses re sults upported the discussion of motivation as a multidimensional construct. Three factors emerge d when examining the three constructs of motivation that affirm achievement and the three constructs of motivation that undermine achievement. In addition, factor analyses result supported the perspective that undermining motivations are uniquely predictive of achievement and not simply negatively valenced affirming motivations. Two factors emerged when analyzing the affirming and undermining reasons, school and outside school. Participants were 247 seventh grade students from two middle schools in a midAtlantic state. Students completed four measures, constructs of motivation in the oretical pairs. Regression analyses indicated that undermining motivations are predict ive of achievement even when affirming motivations have been taken into account statis tically. Some differences in these results for the school and outside school constructs are discussed. Significance of the findings was discussed in terms of the theoret ical importance of the simultaneous functioning of multiple motivations for reading among adolescent students. THE EFFECTS OF CONSTRUCTS OF MOTIVATION THAT AFFIRM AND UNDERMINE READING ACHIEVEMENT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF SCHOL ON MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING ACHIEVEMENT