Environmental Factors That Affect Seventh Grade Readers': Motivations, Attitudes, Opinions, Experiences, And Gender

Abstract

The author discusses factors that affect middle school students' motivations to engage in reading. First, reading research is reviewed to determine an outline of factors that are currently known to affect students' reading motivations: gender differences, influences on reading/academic successes, interests and experiences with reading, motivational factors, reading methodology and material preferences, use of cornerstone reading skills, and learning styles. Second, building upon current reading research, the author presents results garnered from administered student and teacher reading surveys. Survey participants included fifty-two seventh-grade reading students and their six reading teachers. Students and teachers constitute reading programs in three separate middle schools X, Y, and Z of a Texas school district. Finally, all research data is synthesized providing implications for educators.