Skill or will? The respective contribution of motivational and behavioural characteristics to secondary school students' reading comprehension

Abstract

Background: A significant number of secondary school students struggle with comprehending texts proficiently. Enhancing their reading comprehension requires knowledge about how this ability is related to various motivational and behavioural characteristics. The central aim of this study was therefore to investigate the (in)direct relationships between ninth-grade students' motivational (i.e., reading motivation and reading self-concept) and behavioural characteristics (i.e., reading strategy use, reading engagement and reading frequency) and their reading comprehension. Furthermore, differential relationships across educational tracks are investigated. Methods: A total of 2,485 ninth-grade students completed a standardised reading comprehension test and an online questionnaire to operationalise the motivational and behavioural reading variables. Data were analysed using multigroup structural equation modelling to study potential differential relationships across educational tracks (i.e., academic, technical and vocational track). Results: Motivational and behavioural characteristics were directly related to students' reading comprehension. Moreover, the relationships between motivational characteristics and reading comprehension were mediated by behavioural characteristics. As to differences across educational tracks, not all of the relationships were corroborated similarly for each track. Conclusion: Generally, the results emphasise the importance of considering the 'bigger picture', taking into account the respective contribution of both behavioural and motivational characteristics to secondary school students' reading comprehension and concurrently considering differences across educational tracks.

Tracking e-reading behavior: uncovering the effects of task context, electronic experience, and motivation

“…Indeed, autonomously motivated readers read more frequently and in higher volume than their peers (De Naeghel et al, 2012;Levine et al, 2022). This high reading engagement contributes to autonomously motivated readers' comprehension skills (De Naeghel et al, 2012), whereas no connection has been found between controlled motivation and reading ability (Van Ammel et al, 2021). Indeed, reinforcing adults' autonomous motivation is essential for increasing their voluntary reading engagement (Levine et al, 2022).…”

Development of the Reading Comprehension Strategies Questionnaire (RCSQ) for late elementary school students

“…The difference between both groups concerns which strategies are used (e.g., good comprehenders engage in more high-level processes such as monitoring their progress; Lin, 2019 ), but also when these are used (e.g., good comprehenders make more elaborations toward the text’s end). Finally, several studies examined students’ reading strategy use in relation to student characteristics such as grade, gender, achievement level, or home language (e.g., Denton et al, 2015 ; Van Ammel et al, 2021 ). For example, the study of Denton et al (2015) on secondary students reported higher strategy use for girls, older students, and high comprehenders.…”

Reading, linguistic, and metacognitive skills: are they reciprocally related past the first school years?

“…Skilled readers use metacognitive strategies to identify when they are not understanding some part of the text and, consequently, mobilize appropriate cognitive strategies to overcome this difficulty (Graesser, 2007 ; Pereira-Laird & Deane, 1997 ; Perfetti et al, 2005 ). In fact, the knowledge and use of reading strategies have been identified as significant predictors of reading comprehension (Frid & Friesen, 2020 ; Law, 2009 ; Liao et al, 2021 ; Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015 ; Roeschl-Heils et al, 2003 ; Samuelstuen & Bråten, 2005 ; Van Ammel & Keer, 2021 ; Van Kraayenoord et al, 2012 ). However, contrary to reading and linguistic skills, the existence of reciprocal relations between metacognitive skills and reading comprehension has been scarcely explored.…”

“…For this reason, and given that this is a 3-year longitudinal study starting in grade 4, we address oral reading fluency instead of word recognition. Additionally, the CFR does not include other components of interest, such as reading strategy use, which is closely interrelated with reading comprehension across a wide range of grade levels (Frid & Friesen, 2020 ; Law, 2009 ; Liao et al, 2021 ; Muijselaar & de Jong, 2015 ; Roeschl-Heils et al, 2003 ; Samuelstuen & Bråten, 2005 ; Van Ammel & Keer, 2021 ; Van Kraayenoord et al, 2012 ).…”