This study explores the relationship between the books students select for independent reading and their motivation to read. Instructional recommendations based on key findings are presented. To gather data, study participants completed the Motivation to Read Profile-Revised. They also shared information about the books they had selected for…

This pilot study examined multilingual university students' willingness to engage in voluntary extensive reading (ER) of books after they received training. The research questions were whether training appeared to promote self-efficacy, motivation for the task, use of metacognitive strategies, and independent reading. University freshmen in an ESL…

The authors provide teachers with a rationale for engaging students in independent reading using a differentiated approach. By profiling types of readers, sharing observational tools, and offering teaching suggestions for each type of reader the authors give practical suggestions to facilitate reading engagement and make independent reading more…

Explains how to help students understand the relationship between figuring out words and the ability to comprehend a text. Describes how to solidify the word-learning/comprehension connection via explaining, modeling, and supporting transfer to independence. Concludes that explaining, modeling, and supporting transfer to independence form the…

An eighth-grade English teacher tells how her own love of reading affected her class' motivation. (LH)

Discusses how to use sustained silent reading to encourage elementary students in independent reading. The strategies include making independent reading a key part of every day, being sure students know the strategies they should practice, and concluding independent reading sessions by discussing strategies. The paper presents a list of 13…

Reprints a classic article published in this journal in 1970. Considers the interplay between interest, motivation, and self direction on the one hand, and the reading levels concept on the other hand. Warns that the concept of reading levels is often focused on errors, and that this tends to distort perceptions with regard to the primary goal of…

To motivate students to read, it is important for teachers to teach the reader, not the reading. This article presents three strategies for accomplishing this: studying the child, not the book; focusing on students' reading lives and knowing them as readers; and thinking of students as readers. (SM)

Describes an outside reading and oral book reporting method that counts for as much as 40 percent of the entire course grade which, by being mandatory, motivates the students to read. (HOD)

A principal motivated students to read independently by challenging them to select their group prize if they could attain a school goal by reading 20 minutes daily at home. Gains in student morale and reading achievement are attributed to the plan. (MJL)

Describes a literature-based reading program designed around independent reading and writing periods (IRWP) in which children could choose to participate alone or with others in several different literacy tasks. Finds that the physical design of the literacy centers, the modeled behavior by the teachers, and the time for IRWP resulted in increased…

College students, enrolled in basic skills courses, sometimes lack motivation to fully participate in class activities and related homework assignments. Factors that can account for poor motivation include perceived irrelevance of courses to their everyday lives, unrealistic perceptions of their learning skills, low self-confidence, personal…

Suggests that content-area teachers can encourage students' voluntary reading by maintaining classroom collections of subject-related books and magazines and by providing class time for independent reading. (SJL)

Describes the "quick book share," an activity used by a seventh-grade reading and language arts teacher, in which students in small groups share with each other their passion for a particular book, thus getting recommendations from each other, and letting the teacher know what books are being read in the reading workshop. (SR)

A variety of children's and preteen books are reviewed, including several introductions to poetry and five books of fiction. The themes of the books are happiness, humor, and hope. (JL)