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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation as Predictors of Reading Literacy A Longitudinal Study

American Psychological Association
Journal of Educational Psychology
Authors:
Michael Becker at TU Dortmund University
Michael Becker
Nele McElvany at TU Dortmund University
Nele McElvany
Marthe Kortenbruck
Marthe Kortenbruck
Marthe Kortenbruck
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Abstract

The purpose in this study was to examine the longitudinal relationships of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation with reading literacy development. In particular, the authors (a) investigated reading amount as mediator between motivation and reading literacy and (b) probed for bidirectional relationships between reading motivation and reading literacy, controlling for previous reading literacy. A total of 740 students participated in a longitudinal assessment starting in Grade 3, with further points of measurement in Grades 4 and 6. Structural equation models with latent variables showed that the relationship between intrinsic reading motivation and later reading literacy was mediated by reading amount but not when previous reading literacy was included in the model. A bidirectional relationship was found between extrinsic reading motivation and reading literacy: Grade 3 reading literacy negatively predicted extrinsic reading motivation in Grade 4, which in turn negatively predicted reading literacy in Grade 6. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation as Predictors of Reading Literacy:
A Longitudinal Study
Michael Becker
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Nele McElvany
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, and
Technical University, Dortmund
Marthe Kortenbruck
Free University, Berlin
The purpose in this study was to examine the longitudinal relationships of intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation with reading literacy development. In particular, the authors (a) investigated reading amount
as mediator between motivation and reading literacy and (b) probed for bidirectional relationships
between reading motivation and reading literacy, controlling for previous reading literacy. A total of 740
students participated in a longitudinal assessment starting in Grade 3, with further points of measurement
in Grades 4 and 6. Structural equation models with latent variables showed that the relationship between
intrinsic reading motivation and later reading literacy was mediated by reading amount but not when
previous reading literacy was included in the model. A bidirectional relationship was found between
extrinsic reading motivation and reading literacy: Grade 3 reading literacy negatively predicted extrinsic
reading motivation in Grade 4, which in turn negatively predicted reading literacy in Grade 6. Implica-
tions for research and practice are discussed.
Keywords: reading literacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, reading frequency, elementary
school
In 2000, the International Reading Association published a
position statement that listed “the development and maintenance of
a motivation to read” as one of the key prerequisites for deriving
meaning from print (International Reading Association, 2000).
This statement illustrates the growing acknowledgment of the
importance of reading motivation in research and practice in the
last two decades. However, more than half of the Grade 4 students
assessed in a recent U.S. national survey stated that reading was
not their favorite activity and that they did not read frequently for
enjoyment (Donahue, Daane, & Yin, 2005). The 2006 Progress in
International Reading Literacy Study reported generally positive
attitudes toward reading among Grade 4 students, but 37% of
participating students stated that they read only once or twice a
month or less (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, & Foy, 2007).
These results are particularly alarming in light of the recent
research identifying reading motivation and reading amount as
important predictors of reading literacy (Baker & Wigfield, 1999;
Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Taboada, Tonks, Wigfield, & Guthrie,
2009). One of the fundamental distinctions in motivational re-
search is between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan,
1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, &
Davis-Kean, 2006). To date, however, reading research has fo-
cused primarily on the role of intrinsic reading motivation. Em-
pirical findings show that mediating variables, such as reading
amount, help to shape the influence of intrinsic motivation, but it
remains unclear whether the same holds for extrinsic motivation
(e.g., Guthrie, Wigfield, Metsala, & Cox, 1999). There is thus a
need for longitudinal investigations covering both intrinsic and
extrinsic reading motivation to examine mediator variables that
might help to explain the relations observed between motivation
and achievement. This study is meant to advance scientific under-
standing of these issues by examining the complex relationships
among intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation, reading amount,
and reading literacy from a longitudinal perspective.
Reading Literacy
It is widely acknowledged that the success of a modern society
is dependent on the level of literacy of its population. In its
Programme for International Student Assessment, the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development defined reading
literacy as the ability “to understand, use and reflect on written
This article was published Online First October 11, 2010.
Michael Becker, Center for Educational Research, Max Planck Institute
for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Nele McElvany, Center for
Educational Research, Max Planck Institute for Human Development,
Berlin, Germany, and Institute for School Development Research, Depart-
ment of Education and Sociology, Technical University, Dortmund, Ger-
many; Marthe Kortenbruck, Department of Education and Psychology,
Free University, Berlin, Germany.
We are grateful to Ju¨rgen Baumert for providing the opportunity to
realize the Berlin Longitudinal Reading Study and Cordula Artelt for
advice for implementing this project. We also thank Susannah Goss for
editorial assistance.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael
Becker, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Educa-
tional Research, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany. E-mail:
mibecker@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Journal of Educational Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association
2010, Vol. 102, No. 4, 773–785 0022-0663/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0020084
773
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
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... Schaffer et al. (2013), Stutz et al. (2016), and Schaffner and Schiefele (2016) reported that reading amount mediated the relationship between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension in German samples. Additionally, Becker et al. (2010) found that American students' intrinsic reading motivation in fourth grade was indirectly associated with reading comprehension in sixth grade through reading amount in fourth grade, albeit with a small effect size. Furthermore, Miyamoto et al. (2018) revealed that reading amount in sixth grade mediated the effect of fifth-grade students' intrinsic reading motivation on reading competence in seventh grade. ...
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... On the other hand, students' extrinsic motivation is associated with the use of surface reading strategies (Schiefele et al., 2012), does not affect the amount of reading (Becker et al., 2010;Lau, 2009), or has negative effects on it (J. H. Wang & Guthrie, 2004). ...
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Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior
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  • Jan 1985
I: Background.- 1. An Introduction.- 2. Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination.- II: Self-Determination Theory.- 3. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Perceived Causality and Perceived Competence.- 4. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Interpersonal Communication and Intrapersonal Regulation.- 5. Toward an Organismic Integration Theory: Motivation and Development.- 6. Causality Orientations Theory: Personality Influences on Motivation.- III: Alternative Approaches.- 7. Operant and Attributional Theories.- 8. Information-Processing Theories.- IV: Applications and Implications.- 9. Education.- 10. Psychotherapy.- 11. Work.- 12. Sports.- References.- Author Index.
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