The Role of Choice and Interest in Reader Engagement

2004/01/01 by Terri Flowerday, Gregory Schraw, Joseph Stevens +1 · 13 citations
Psychology · #Reading and Literacy Development #Educational Strategies and Epistemologies #Education, Achievement, and Giftedness

paper · doi:10.3200/jexe.72.2.93-114

Abstract

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.

Citations

• Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.

Cited by

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• The autonomy-enhancing effects of choice on cognitive load, motivation and learning with digital media
• Fake smiles. Customer reactions to employees’ display inauthenticity and choice restrictions
• Personalized Education to Increase Interest. [europepmc]
• The Effects of Choice on the Reading Comprehension and Enjoyment of Children with Severe Inattention and no Attentional Difficulties. [europepmc]
• Teacher's Emotional Support and Math Performance: The Chain Mediating Effect of Academic Self-Efficacy and Math Behavioral Engagement. [europepmc]
• Reward Salience and Choice in a Controlling Context: A Lab Experiment. [europepmc]
• Effects of response format on achievement and aptitude assessment results: multi-level random effects meta-analyses. [europepmc]
• Effects of reverse engineering pedagogy on students' learning performance in STEM education: The bridge-design project as an example. [europepmc]
• The effects of manipulating choice on children's enjoyment and performance in a reading task. [europepmc]
• Providing choice enhances reading motivation. [europepmc]

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