EXPLORING THE READING MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS FROM A PUBLIC SCHOOL SERVING ONLY AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY
Open Access
- Author:
- Head-Dylla, Candace
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Leadership
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 02, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Nona Ann Prestine, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Nona Ann Prestine, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Dr John Tippeconnic, Committee Member
Dr Susan Faircloth, Committee Member
Rayne Audrey Sperling, Committee Member - Keywords:
- deficit views
pathologizing practices
educational leadership
Native American
American Indian
reading motivation
reading achievement and motivation
stratification
cultural and linguistic diversity - Abstract:
- This dissertation reports findings from a reading motivation study conducted in an elementary school serving students, all of whom were American Indian, in the southwestern United States. The school claimed to have more than fifty percent of its students scoring proficient or advanced on the state’s high-stakes reading assessment and to value the students’ cultural and linguistic diversity. Yearlong observations and data analysis called these claims into question. The study was designed to explore what first through fifth-grade students--identified as having high or low reading motivation on the Motivations for Reading Scale (MRS: 1st & 2nd) or the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ: 3rd-5th)--would say about reading and their motivations for reading or not reading. Additionally, the study asked how the American Indian students in this study compared to students from other ethnic groups on the MRS/MRQ and what the relationship was between their reading achievement and reading motivation. The study found that for students in this setting, reading motivation was multi-dimensional and could thus be influenced by parents, teachers and other educational leaders, and community members. Students in classrooms where teachers had high expectations for learning, flexible curriculum pacing, and clear academic standards reported greater reading motivation. Some elements of reading motivation were strongly related to reading achievement. Learning to speak the students’ first, Native language proficiently was found to be connected with individual, family, and community goals, while reading English was connected more closely with individual goals.