The Importance of Motivation to Emergent Literacy

A well-known saying is “Success is 1 % inspiration, and 99 % perspi-ration. ” This adage underscores the contribution of motivation and effort in achieving positive outcomes. Common sense suggests that motivation to read potentially plays an important role in reading development. However, the role of motivation in early literacy development has been much less investigated than other variables. One reason that motivation has been less well investigated is that it is difficult to define. Motivation is multidimensional and dynamic. To tackle the complexity of this construct, researchers attempt to deconstruct it into its components. In the following section, we present multiple approaches to defining motivation for preschool-age children. As will be seen, these models overlap significantly with each other and we strive to highlight similar-ities. Because Chang and Burns (2005) present a broad, sys-temic approach to defining motivation, we first present their model of motivation. Next, we present more specific approaches to defining motivation that also can fit within Chang and Burns’ systemic model