Reasons to Write in Grade 6 and Their Association With Writing Quality

Abstract

Writing is a particularly complex and demanding task that needs to be mastered to assure students’ success at school. In the last decades, the scientific community has been unanimous about the involvement of cognitive and motivational processes in the learning of writing. However, little is still known about some motivation-related processes, such as the reasons why students write. Therefore, this study analyzed the role of motivation in writing in developing writers, by examining the motives to write of 321 sixth graders. We used the Writing Motivation Questionnaire, which is a new instrument tapping the following motivations for writing: curiosity, involvement, grades, competition, social recognition, emotional regulation, and relief from boredom. Findings confirmed the multidimensional nature of motivations to write and supported the validity and reliability of the instrument. Also, results revealed that the strongest motives to write were grades and curiosity, and that curiosity and social recognition were significant predictors of writing quality, above and beyond attitudes and self-efficacy. Together these findings confirm the key role of motivation in writing and provide validity evidence of the Writing Motivation Questionnaire. This seems a useful tool to better understand the motivational processes involved in learning to write. However, despite the increasing research investment in this area, it is still important to carry out further studies that may contribute to the enrichment of the field of writing motivation.

Assessing and Mapping Reading and Writing Motivation in Third to Eight Graders: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

“…As self-report questionnaires are feasible instruments to examine large sample sizes, students' reading and writing motivation are traditionally assessed by means of such questionnaires (e.g., Wigfield and Guthrie, 1997;De Naeghel et al, 2012;Troia et al, 2013;De Smedt et al, 2018b;Rocha et al, 2019). In this respect, prior research draws particular attention to the following insights in view of assessing students' reading and writing motivation in a reliable and valid manner.…”

“…Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a promising, contemporary motivation theory with a continuously emerging empirical base in educational contexts (e.g., Mouratidis et al, 2018 ; Aelterman et al, 2019 ). Over the last decade, interest in SDT increased substantially in the field of language learning (e.g., Guay et al, 2010 ; De Naeghel et al, 2012 ; De Smedt et al, 2018a , 2020 ; Rocha et al, 2019 ). This theory posits that students do not only vary in the quantity but also in the quality of their motivation (i.e., the kind of motives underlying one’s behavior) ( Ryan and Deci, 2000a , 2020 ).…”

“…Within the limited amount of SDT research on reading and writing motivation, some studies focused on the development of domain-specific self-report measures ( Guay et al, 2010 ; De Naeghel et al, 2012 ; De Smedt et al, 2018b ; Rocha et al, 2019 ; Limpo et al, 2020 ). For instance, De Naeghel et al (2012) , developed and validated the Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Reading Motivation (SRQ-Reading Motivation), which is a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure fifth and sixth-graders’ reading motivation in both academic and recreational contexts.…”

“…Similarly, writing assessment reports revealed alarming results on students’ poor writing performance ( Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2010 ; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012 ). In light of these findings, various empirical research studies refer to motivation as an important predictor of reading and writing performance ( Graham et al, 2007 ; De Naeghel et al, 2012 ; Troia et al, 2013 ; De Smedt et al, 2016 , 2018b ; Teng and Zhang, 2018 ; Rocha et al, 2019 ; Rogiers et al, 2020 ; Toste et al, 2020 ), strongly emphasizing its key role in fostering both students’ reading and writing skills ( Graham, 2018a , b ). Notwithstanding the importance assigned to students’ motivation, reading motivation however appears to decline at the end of elementary education ( Smith et al, 2012 ).…”

Can Students’ Computer Programming Learning Motivation and Effectiveness Be Enhanced by Learning Python Language? A Multi-Group Analysis

“… El-Adl and Alkharusi (2020) also believed that learning motivation is the motivation of achievement for learners to maintain their learning activities in their learning processes. It is one of the critical factors affecting learning performance ( Rocha et al, 2019 ; Gan, 2020 ).…”