Reading Literacy and Reading Motivation: Their Development and the Mediation of the Relationship by Reading Behavior

This study examines the development of reading literacy and intrinsic reading motivation from grades 3 to 6, as well as the mutual relations between reading performance, reading motivation, and reading behavior. The analyses were motivated by the dearth of longitudinal research on the development of these constructs in this age group in Germany, by the lack of empirical evidence for the mechanisms hypothesized to underlie the relationships (for a summary, see Moller & Schiefele, 2004), and by the deficits in reading motivation reported for older students (e. g., Artelt, Stanat, Schneider & Schiefele, 2001). Data from the Berlin Longitudinal Reading Study by were analyzed using growth curve models and autoregressive cross-lag panel models. Findings confirmed the expected developmental trajectories, with reading literacy increasing, but reading motivation decreasing, from grades 3 to 6. The path coefficients revealed mutual cross-sectional and longitudinal influences of the three constructs, as well an indirect effect of early reading motivation on later reading literacy mediated by reading behavior. Altogether, reading literacy is comparatively little predicted by motivation and reading behavior, while conversely both constructs are also influenced by reading competence. Implications for further research and educational practice are discussed.