THE INFLUENCE OF CLASSROOM CONTEXTS ON YOUNG CHILDRENS MOTIVATION FOR LITERACY

THIS STUDY examined the effects of instructional contexts on children's motivation for literacy. Eighty-four first-grade children in six basal classrooms and in six whole language classrooms were observed during daily literacy instruction. Literacy tasks were classified as open (child-specified processes/goals, higher order thinking required) or closed (other-designated processes/goals, recognition/memory skills required). Observers recorded the types of literacy tasks children completed and children's voluntary use of motivated behaviors (strategy use, persistence, attention control) during task completion. Children were interviewed after observation. The strongest predictor of motivation was the literacy task. During open tasks, children used more reading strategies, persisted longer, and controlled their attention better regardless of instructional condition. Factors in open tasks that appeared to influence children's motivation were opportunities for challenge, for student control, for satisfying interests, and for collaboration. These results suggest that researchers should go beyond philosophical and curricular assumptions to examine how students actually interact with literacy contexts. Therefore, studies of motivation for literacy should focus on how literacy contexts, including tasks, influence children's actions and understandings.