“Just Plain Reading”: A Survey of What Makes Students Want to Read in Middle School Classrooms

Abstract

S Middle school students are often characterized as disinterested readers (McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth, 1995), yet studies of adolescent reading typically do not feature students' voices about classroom practices (Alvermann, 1998). This study used students as primary informants about what motivates them to read in their middle school classrooms. We surveyed 1,765 sixth‐grade students in reading/language arts classrooms in 23 diverse schools in the mid‐Atlantic and northeastern United States. Students described how classroom environments motivated their reading through open‐ended responses, short answers, and checklist items. To obtain richer data about positive instructional environments, we conducted follow‐up interviews with 31 students in 3 classrooms in which students reported high engagement with reading. Using qualitative methodology, we conducted a content analysis of the survey responses and compared these findings with the interview data. We identified several overall findings about positive features of instruction. First, students valued independent reading and the teacher reading out loud as part of instructional time. Second, when asked what they liked most about time spent in the class, students focused more on the act of reading itself or personal reasons for reading rather than on social aspects or activities related to reading. Third, when students were asked what motivated them to read at school, they emphasized quality and diversity of reading materials rather than classroom setting or other people. When considering how middle school classrooms measure up, issues emerged about access to reading materials in the classroom and lack of diverse reading materials at school. These findings raise questions about the range of materials used for middle school reading/language arts instruction and the place and purpose of student independent reading. Los estudiantes de escuela media son a menudo caracterizados como lectores desinteresados (McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth, 1995), sin embargo los estudios sobre lectores adolescentes generalmente no otorgan importancia a la opinión de los estudiantes acerca de las prácticas en el aula (Alvermann, 1998). Este estudio utilizó estudiantes como los informantes principales acerca de qué los motiva a leer en la escuela media. Examinamos a 1,765 estudiantes de sexto grado en clases de lectura y lengua, provenientes de 23 escuelas diversas del este de los Estados Unidos. Los estudiantes describieron cómo los contextos del aula motivaban la lectura a través de respuestas abiertas, respuestas cortas y listas de ítemes. Para obtener datos más ricos acerca de los contextos positivos de enseñanza, realizamos mediante entrevistas el seguimiento de 31 estudiantes en 3 aulas en las cuales se reportó un alto interés por la lectura. Utilizando una metodología cualitativa, realizamos el análisis del contenido de las respuestas del examen y comparamos estos hallazgos con los datos de las entrevistas. Identificamos varios resultados generales acerca de los aspectos positivos d...

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