Measuring reading motivation in elementary school

Given that an overwhelming number of leisure activities are available for the young generation, it becomes a real challenge to keep reading attractive and readers motivated. This is nevertheless important because the amount of time spent reading positively predicts reading achievement and knowledge of the world. Most of the previous studies on reading motivation made use of ‘The Motivation for Reading Questionnaire’ (MRQ) (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1995). This measure has, however, received poor validity support, and Watkins and Coffey (2004) therefore argued that further investigation regarding this matter is necessary. The aim of the present study is to develop a questionnaire measuring reading motivation (Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ) – Reading Motivation), based on self-determination theory, and to explore elementary education students’ motives for reading. According to self-determination theory, it is hypothesized that various types of motivations for reading (i.e., external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic) can be distinguished. Both the SRQ and the MRQ were completed by fifth graders of 47 elementary schools in Flanders. The presentation will discuss the development and the psychometric quality of the SRQ, thereby relying on both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Also, the results of the SRQ and the MRQ will be compared. An overview of different motivations reported by students will be provided