Assessing Writing Motivation: a Systematic Review of K-5 Students' Self-Reports

Abstract

For attaining success in writing, motivation is essential. Crucially, instruction is dependent on knowing the student’s capabilities and inner drives. To date, research on writing has yet to establish a consistent framework for assessing writing motivation, and often fails to acknowledge students’ self-reports, rather favoring evaluations of students’ writing motivation made by others, such as teachers and researchers. This limbo state originates partly from a general skepticism towards the trustworthiness of elementary students’ self-reports. Nonetheless, the validity of such self-reports has been acknowledged in adjacent fields, such as reading. Aiming to establish a knowledge base from studies addressing students’ voices, the present study adopts the method of a systematic review and investigates how writing motivation has been assessed in empirical studies (1996–2020) through K-5 students’ self-reports. Of the 7047 studies identified through database search, 56 met the inclusion criteria and are examined in this review. Results indicate that (a) storytelling is the genre most used to operationalize writing in the investigations, (b) surveys and interview questions measuring students’ attitude towards writing are the most common type of self-report used, and (c) students’ voices are weighted differently across the studies. Findings suggest that future research should (1) work to counteract existing biases in writing tasks, (2) provide a rationale for their choice/design of measure of motivation, and (3) report clearly whose voices are being heard (e.g., students’, teachers’, or researchers’) and the appropriateness of this choice regarding study purpose, design, and findings.

“Breathe, Plan, Write, and Evaluate”: the effects of an SRSD intervention and instructional feedback on 4th graders’ writing and motivation

“…Graham et al (2006) explained that the lack of motivational effects of SRSD interventions may be because primary grade students are not able to accurately assess their own capabilities. Indeed, to date, research on writing has yet to establish a consistent framework for assessing writing motivation (Alves-Wold et al, 2023). In our study, at the end of the program students reported positive feelings related to the intervention, even if these were not reflected in motivation outcomes.…”

“…In our study, at the end of the program students reported positive feelings related to the intervention, even if these were not reflected in motivation outcomes. Therefore, listening to students' perspective on the motivation to write is an important step in the quest to understand this issue (Alves-Wold et al, 2023). Thus, adding a qualitative measure to this kind of intervention, such as interviews, could help better understand the impact that it had on students' motivations through their own voice.…”

“…As writing is a complex and cognitively demanding activity, this may pose motivational challenges for students (Alves and Limpo, 2015). Motivation is perceived as an essential construct for achieving success in writing (Alves-Wold et al, 2023). The role of motivation in writing has been explored over the years.…”

Visual analysis of trustworthiness studies: based on the Web of Science database

“…The study of Su and Kong (2023) find that Chinese music students in English will encounter some severe challenges in the teaching language course (EMI) due to their limited English proficiency. Alves-Wold et al (2023) studied the writing motivation of K-5 students. However, because of the lack of teacher behavioral perspectives and the main emphasis on higher education in these studies, future research may take a more important turn when combined with the findings of the hot spots and effective keyword analysis.…”

How students' writing motivation, teachers' personal and professional attributes, and writing instruction impact student writing achievement: a two-level hierarchical linear modeling study

“…Conversely, the positive impact of performance on motivational levels has also been observed, as students who experience success in writing tasks tend to exhibit higher levels of motivation. A recent systematic review by Alves-Wold et al ( 2023 ) investigated self-reported writing motivation, with a specific focus on K-5 students. The review found that motivational levels varied depending on students' ability level and that students' self-efficacy beliefs were positively related to their actual writing performance, with changes in performance affecting motivation levels.…”