The purpose of this action research was to implement four close reading strategies (Aha moment, Hmm moment, B.U.R.N. strategy, and R.A.P.) and evaluate its impact on fifth grade African American male students' reading comprehension skills and their experiences with reading at Wisteria Lane Elementary. This intervention study focused on two…

Reading aloud to students is a common practice among teachers of young children. While reading aloud is a research-based instructional strategy with many potential benefits, studies show that not all teachers read aloud to their students, and read-aloud use tends to decline as students age. The purpose of this study was to explore the current…

Reading motivation is an important contributor to reading achievement. Students with higher levels of motivation tend to outperform those with lower levels. Reading motivation is a dynamic, situational, context-dependent trait that can vary in children over time and across tasks. Teachers have a valuable opportunity to support students' reading…

Highly effective elementary teachers faced challenges to professional development which differed from their urban or suburban peers. With the increasing need for student proficiency in reading, strategies to help grow their engagement and motivation were necessary to investigate and apply to instructional habits. The purpose of this basic…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of extrinsic motivational factors on upper elementary students who are reading at least two grade levels below their current grade. Research was conducted using a mixed methods approach to examine the perceptions of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who have difficulty in reading. A purposeful…

This study explored the relationship between rural young adolescents' expectancy-value beliefs in reading and their reading performance. Based upon a theoretical framework in expectancy-value theory, a theory of achievement motivation, this study examined the nature and strengths of the relationships between young adolescents' expectancy and value…

Reading motivation plays an important role in students' reading development. This study examined the effect of grade, gender, and reading ability on students reading motivation. A total of 261 students in grades 5, 8, and 11 from a public school in North central Florida participated in the study. They completed the Motivation to Read Survey…

This purpose of this study was to develop a clearer understanding of the complex, interrelated factors that lead to successful informational text comprehension and to determine if or how these factors vary for higher and lower comprehenders. Participants (N = 177) were in grades three through five and were predominately African American (61%) and…

The purpose of this interpretive case study was to explore the reading perceptions and attitudes of children who exhibited high levels of motivation to read. The study explored the extent to which the highly motivated children read and the extent to which they enjoy reading. Seven children enrolled in the fifth grade at a small, rural elementary…

This qualitative study used a triangulation of survey, conversational interviews, and observations in an authentic setting to explore the phenomenon of reading motivation from the perspectives of a specific group of individuals. Five participants, all African American fifth grade boys qualifying for meal subsidies, gathered in a local youth…

Allowing students to select their own books for independent reading has been linked to increased reading engagement, heightened motivation to read, and greater independence and efficacy in reading. However, there has been little exploration of the processes surrounding book choice in elementary classrooms, particularly teaching practices that…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Guided Reading and student motivation to read across fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The study defined literacy motivation as: (a) task value; (b) self-perceived competence; (c) students' perceptions of the Guided Reading format. Factor analysis and repeated measures ANOVAs were…

Schools in the United States have been using the Accelerated Reader (AR) program since the mid-1980s. A search of the literature related to the effectiveness of the AR program revealed that many of the studies were conducted more than a decade ago, and a large number of those studies failed to utilize a control group to provide comparative data.…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of E-readers during guided reading instruction would affect students' reading motivation, attitude toward reading, and reading comprehension. The study utilized on a quasi-experimental mixed methods research design that involved 35 fifth grade students in two fifth grade reading classes. For 10…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how engagement, mood and number of assignments completed on computerized differentiated homework using an iPad in a one-to-one mobile device environment influenced the growth index and normalized gain in reading literature benchmark assessments of students in grades five, six, and seven. Furthermore,…