TEACHER PERCEPTIONS AND STUDENT READING MOTIVATION

Teacher perceptions of students' intrinsic motivation for reading were examined from the perspective of self-determination development and r eading achievement. A sample of 68 teachers from randomly selected ele mentary schools that were representative of county characteristics rat ed 374 students on 6 aspects of motivation for reading, including indi vidual, topical, activity-based, autonomy-supported, socially supporte d, and writing-related aspects. Quantitative and qualitative results s howed that teachers perceived higher achievers to be relatively higher in intrinsic reading motivation (individual and topical) than in extr insic reading motivation (activity-based and autonomy-supported). In c ontrast, teachers perceived lower achievers to be relatively more moti vated by extrinsic contextual factors than by intrinsic factors. Teach ers appear to possess implicit theories that are in accord with the se lf-determination perspective on the development of motivation and read ing achievement.