Motivated to Engage: Learning from the Literacy Stories of Pre-service Teachers
Abstract
The influence of motivation on readers' behaviors has received wide attention in literacy scholarship. The importance of readers' motivations for reading becomes critical when considered in relation to readers' engagement with reading activities and their perceptions of themselves a competent. This article presents a qualitative study of pre-service teachers' literacy history stories and reflections on their identities as literate individuals. The stories represented pre-service teachers' perceptions of home and school literacy experiences that either motivated or discouraged them from engaging in literacy activities. Their reflections were an account of how their experiences may have influenced their current self-perceptions and engagement with literacy. The findings provide insight into the ways in which specific literacy practices and conditions surrounding those practices motivated students to engage or discouraged them from engaging in literacy activities across time. This study has implications for how literacy educators think about motivation and its value in supporting learners across time
Reference
MacPhee, D. d., & Sanden, S. s. (2016). Motivated to Engage: Learning from the Literacy Stories of Pre-service Teachers. Reading Horizons, 55(1), 16-38.
Journal
Reading Horizons
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
- Multiple levels of certification across programs
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Multiple levels across programs
Preservice Sample Size
82
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Literacy history
- literacy narratives
- reflections
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (emergent categories)
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
"What patterns do we see in the literacy histories of pre-service elementary teachers?" p.17
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
"What can we learn about school-based literacy practices from pre-service teachers’ stories?" p.17
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes