Reader self-perception factors that influence middle school students' motivation to read

The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to determine the relationship between reader self-perception factors and middle school students' motivation to read. The study investigated also whether gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) affect reader self-perception factors and motivation to read among 64 students in Grade 7 in rural southwest Georgia. A demographic survey collected data on gender, age, race/ethnicity, preschool attendance, parents' SES, and who is the caretaker (i.e., one parent, both parents, or a guardian). The Likert-type instruments Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS) and Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) measured students' responses concerning factors that influence reading behaviors.; Significant relationships were revealed for the variables progress and curiosity; importance and observational comparison, social feedback, and physiological states; progress and physiological states; and motivation to read and gender. There was no significant correlation between reader self-perception and gender, reader self-perception and race, and motivation to read and race. Whereas the relationship between SES and reader self-perception factors was significant, the relationship between SES and motivation to read was not significant. The Pearson product moment correlation statistics were most appropriate for determining the magnitude of the relationship between students' scores on the MRQ and the RSPS. Two important implications of the study are, first, that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to students' motivation to read and, second, that students regard reading as important despite their present reading performance. The study further revealed implications for social change: align standards in the affective domain with performance standards in education; allow students to become proactive and efficacious in reading-related tasks, and increase level of student self-perception towards reading.