In science, hands on activities, such as looking at a leaf through a magnifying glass, or observing life in an aquarium will focus, sustain and deepen reading about biology. In history, brief videos of historical enactments can launch a class discussion of politics (such as those related to slavery) and foster penetrating analysis of related texts (such as the emancipation proclamation). Offering students choices within texts and providing real world activities related to texts generate intrinsic motivation for reading. Emphasizing the importance of reading increases students’ valuing. Drawing on expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002), evidence shows that there is a significant association between teachers’ expectations for students and students’ growth in reading achievement. As students internalize the expectations of significant others for a specific domain such as English, their value for that domain and selections of courses in that domain increase (Durik, Vida, & Eccles, 2006). Several studies have reported the benefits of providing a ‘valuing rationale’ for reading an uninteresting text. In two studies, for example, the valuing rationale described how information in the text would provide immediate professional benefit for prospective teachers. Groups receiving a valuing rationale showed enhanced behavioral engagement (close attention to reading) and increased conceptual comprehension of information text compared to no-rationale groups (Jang, 2008). In another study, asking students to find usefulness and applicability in text increased students’ comprehension in both laboratory and classroom settings compared to control conditions (Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz, 2010). We use the phrase ‘emphasizing importance’ to represent the instructional practice of providing a valuing rationale. Examples of emphasizing importance. For older students in secondary school, teachers can use the very technique employed in several studies. Teachers can request students to write a
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