The effect of reading motivation on reading comprehension among early adolescents in Iceland

Previous studies indicate that reading motivation is critical for the attainment of various aspects of literacy. Consistently, a strong relationship has been shown to exist between poor reading motivation, reading avoidance and early failure in reading (Bozack & Salvaggio, 2013). Research also indicates a gender gap in reading motivation, with girls having significantly more motivation to read than boys at various age levels (Marinak & Gambrell, 2010; Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997). This difference has been proposed as one of the key factors contributing to the gender disparities in reading achievement that usually emerge in school later. As in many other cultures, reading comprehension among Icelandic youth has been steadily declining over the past years (Almar M. Halldorsson & Ragnar F. Olafsson, 2016) with 21% of Icelandic students being incapable of comprehending or enjoying their reading (OECD, 2010). However, despite evidence supporting the importance of reading motivation for reading achievement, few studies have assessed reading motivation among Icelandic speaking children and its effects on later reading skills. The present study aimed to fill this gap in research by exploring the reading motivation of Icelandic-speaking girls and boys in 5th and 6th Grade and its predictive effect on their reading comprehension skills a year later. We also explored the validity and reliability of a recent Icelandic version of a measure of motivational orientation to read (Hamilton et al., 2013), but, until now, no such measures have existed for use among Icelandic-speaking children. Participants comprised a stratified sample of 400 5th Graders from 24 classes in 8 schools in the Reykjanes peninsula and the Reykjavik capital area. Among these, 179 were boys. The children were assessed on reading motivation in Grades 5 and 6, and their scores related to their reading comprehension skills in Grade 6. The reading motivational orientation questionnaire was used to measure the students' reading motivation (Hamilton et al., 2013). The questionnaire comprised 18 items intended to measure Reading Mastery Orientation, Reading Interest Orientation, Reading Ego Orientation and Reading Avoidance. The items reflect Nicholls (1984, 1989) theory by asking students how they feel when they read. A reading comprehension test from the Icelandic Educational Testing Institute (Karl Fannar Gunnarsson & Sigurgrimur Skulason, 2009) was used to assess the students' reading comprehension. The test had a multiple-choice format and consisted of two texts, one narrative text and one expository text. Analyses of the reading motivation orientations scale indicated an acceptable internal consistency and showed expected relations to other related constructs, providing support for the scale to be used in an Icelandic context. The results of the study indicated relative stability of reading motivation across Grades 5 and 6 and that both girls and boys rate performance based reading motivation orientation goals higher than goals based on ego orientations. Significant gender differences emerged on three of the four subscales of the reading motivation orientation questionnaire with girls scoring higher than boys on the reading mastery and interest orientations, and boys scoring higher on reading avoidance. Mastery and interest in Grade 5 also positively predicted reading comrephension in Grade 6, and reading avoidance negatively predicted reading comprehension in Grade 6. The results further revealed that reading motivation in Grade 5 explained 5% of the variance in reading comprehension in Grade 6, after controlling for previous reading comprehension performance. These results add to our understanding of reading motivations among Icelandic students and further underline the importance of reading motivation in later reading comprehension.