Creating Classroom Environments that Foster Students’ Reading Motivation

The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers can create a classroom environment that helps to foster students’ reading motivation in the primary grades. Although there is a great deal of research that looks at reading development, there is not a lot of research about reading motivation for students. The information from this study will be derived from interviews conducted with two primary teachers who have made reading motivation a top goal in their classroom. Twelve interview questions were posed to determine how teachers view reading in their classroom, what teaching strategies are implemented, and what resources are introduced in the classroom to help motivate students to read. Analysis of both the related literature and interview responses indicated that there are many elements in successfully creating an environment to foster students’ reading motivation to read independently. These elements include the physical classroom environment, the teaching strategies implemented inside and outside the classroom, what resources are brought into the classroom, the influences of teachers and peers, and the involvement of parents/families and the school community. The findings also suggested the importance of exposing students to a wide variety of books and the central role a teachers’ perspective of the value of reading plays into motivating students to read