1. Background and Overarching Aims
Cultivating reading motivation in early childhood: An inquiry into predominant instructional approaches at a thematic summer literacy camp Joy Dangora Erickson Department of Education, University of New Hampshire
Background and Overarching Aims
Conclusions
Adaptive forms of motivation have long been linked to reading achievement in older students and recently have received attention for the role they play in the achievement of younger children (Marinak et al., 2015). Given the nearly nation- wide adoption of the CCSS, which arguably prioritize skill acquisition over motivation to read, concern over whether and how reading motivation is fostered is warranted.
Studies (e.g., De Naeghel et al., 2014) show and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) maintains, that adaptive forms of motivation (e.g., intrinsic, identified regulation) are enhanced when instruction addresses students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.
This case study investigated three primary teachers’ perceptions and practices specific to summer literacy instruction in relation to their alignment with basic psychological needs, in an effort to better understand how students’ motivation for reading was supported at camp.
1) Despite diverse philosophies, teachers shared the common belief that literacy motivation is important and can be cultivated:
“Reading and writing instruction should be authentically child-centered and motivating with the goal of developing students’ love of reading and writing to learn and communicate their ideas.” -Marcia
2) Sample teachers’ actions and words suggested summer literacy experiences should be first engaging and that the flexibility of summer permitted the time and freedom required to accomplish this.
“I wanted to get my students excited for our literacy camp topic, so the part of the lesson I skipped was the word work.  We spent quite a bit of time with our picture walk, activating their prior knowledge and generating questions they had about what they saw to help their reading comprehension.” –Julie
3) Teachers’ actions largely supported students’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, embedding opportunities for student choice proved a challenge even without the constraints of the school year.
Methodology
Design: Qualitative case study
Context: 2 week, thematic (pollination themed), summer camp for struggling readers (grades 1-2).
Participants:
Analysis: A rigorous 5-step process involved, value coding (Saldana, 2016), memo writing, within and across case analysis and member checking.
Tasks/Tools
Literacy philosophy statement questionnaire
Distributed, completed and collected before camp, the questionnaire probed teachers’ core principles specific to teaching literacy
Daily reflective journal
Teachers kept a journal for each of the 8 days of camp detailing and reflecting upon instructional literacy decisions
Informal and formal observations
Participant observations were combined with a one hour, semi-structured, observation that referenced the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (Stipek, & Byler, 2004).
Research Questions
Do teacher participants value the cultivation of reading motivation across settings (i.e., school year, camp)?
Do teachers perceive their summer literacy instruction to vary from school-year instruction? If so, how and why?
Are dominant summer practices likely to promote autonomous forms of reading motivation, in so much as they support students’ basic psychological needs?
Implications
Participants’ instruction may differ depending upon the outcome-driven intensity of the environment; further investigation is warranted.
Support for teachers in their efforts to embed opportunities for choice need be a priority.
SDT can be a useful frame of reference when aiming to support students’ autonomous reading motivation. .