J. Lepola et al., The development of motivational orientations as a function of divergent reading careers from pre-school to the second grade, LEARN INSTR, 10(2), 2000, pp. 153-177
In this study, we examined the developmental relationship of children's mot
ivational orientations and reading skills from pre-school to the 2nd grade.
Forty-eight children with differing word reading careers were identified f
rom 115 pre-school non-readers. Pre-schoolers were assessed for cognitive-l
inguistic skills and motivational orientation (ratings on task-, ego-defens
ive, and social dependence orientation). The situational manifestations of
orientations were observed during construction tasks comprising three press
ure episodes. The motivational assessments were replicated (experimenter an
d teacher ratings) and decoding and reading comprehension tests were admini
stered in the Ist and ?nd grades, On the basis of low, average and high pre
-school phonemic awareness and word reading achievement in the Ist and 2nd
grades, two regressive and two progressive word reading career groups were
formed. The results showed that the regressive and the progressive reading
career groups of matching initial phonemic awareness and verbal ability did
not differ motivationally at pre-school age, but showed distinctive motiva
tional orientation across contexts by the end of the second school year. A
case analysis demonstrates the interactive formation of motivational orient
ation during reading instruction. These findings suggest that the developme
ntal interaction of learning sk;ills and motivational tendencies contribute
to the differing reading careers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All right
s reserved.