2004/01/01 by Terri Flowerday, Gregory Schraw, Joseph Stevens +1 · 218 citations
Psychology · #Checklist #Cognitive psychology #Content (measure theory) #Education, Achievement, and Giftedness #Educational Strategies and Epistemologies #Epistemology #Multiple choice #Political science #Psychology #Quality (philosophy) #Reading (process) #Reading and Literacy Development #Situational ethics #Social psychology #Test (biology)
paper · doi:10.3200/jexe.72.2.93-114
published in The Journal of Experimental Education 72(2), 93-114 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2004/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The authors examined the effects of choice, topic interest, and situational interest on reading engagement, attitude, and learning. The outcomes were measured using scores on a multiple-choice test, a content essay, and a personal reaction essay, and completion of an attitude checklist. Experiment 1 found a small negative effect for choice on the writing of content essays. Students in the control group, who were not given choice, wrote higher quality content essays. Situational interest had a positive effect on attitude. There were no effects for topic interest on any measure. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 using a different text. Once again, situational interest had a positive effect on attitude. In addition, higher quality content essays were associated with situational interest. No effects were found for choice or topic interest. These findings support the claim that situational interest, rather than choice or topic interest, promotes engagement.