Skill versus will: An investigation of a relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for third-grade elementary students

• Main Author: Embrey, Stephanie Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks 2011
• Subjects: elementary and middle and secondary education administration;elementary education and teaching;reading and language;other education;educational psychology; Educational Psychology; Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration; Elementary Education and Teaching; Other Education; Reading and Language
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/867; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1866&context=dissertations

With the demands of the No Child Left Behind legislation to utilize research-based instructional practices and teach all children to read by the end of third grade, teachers find themselves going beyond teachers' editions and curriculum guides to the research on best reading practices. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for third-grade elementary students (N=112). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to quantitatively analyze archival data to assess the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics. Motivation to read, which was reported as MRP scores, includes the dimensions of self-concept as a reader and value of reading, and was measured using the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) Reading Survey. Oral reading fluency, which was reported as Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) rates, was measured using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Results showed a significant relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for all three dimensions of motivation. Findings from the study may contribute to social change by influencing educators' uses of oral reading fluency data and interventions that employ improving motivation to read in an attempt to improve reading achievement for third-grade elementary students. Suggestions for further research include examining the relationship between motivation to read and oral reading fluency.