University of Oslo Workshops June 29-30 Conference July 1-3 ...

Track B PIRLS - Session 7
Effects of Student Motivation and Attitudes on Reading
Achievement
3 July
10.00-12.00
Room: AK 2137
Chair: Hanna Eklöf
Discussant: Marjeta Doupona Horvat
Influence of the Home Literacy Environment on Reading Motivation and
Reading Comprehension
Ann M. Kennedy, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College, USA
Kathleen Trong, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College, USA
This research used PIRLS 2006 data to explore home factors that influence students’
motivation to read, as well as the relationship between student motivation and reading
achievement. The research employed structural equation modeling to empirically test a
theoretical model of student motivation to read and home factors that may influence
motivation, including parental attitudes and behaviors, early literacy activities, and the
presence of children’s books. In addition, the theoretical model tested the relationship
between motivation and student reading achievement. Lastly, differences in the
relationships among these variables were examined for boys compared to girls. This
research will contribute to the body of literature on the influence that the home literacy
environment can have on reading motivation and reading comprehension, and may help
inform analysis and reporting strategies for future cycles of PIRLS.
Keywords: parent attitudes; motivation; reading achievement; early literacy; structural
equation modeling
The Varying Relationship between New Zealand Students’ Attitude to
Reading and Reading Literacy Achievement
Elliot Lawes, Ministry of Education, New Zeeland
Results from the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) show that
for New Zealand’s Grade 4 students, those with a more positive attitude to reading tended
to have higher reading literacy achievement (Chamberlain, 2007; Mullis, Martin, Kennedy,
& Foy, 2007). However, in their analysis of PIRLS data English-speaking countries,
Gnaldi, Schagen, Twist, and Morrison (2005), suggest that for Grade 4 students with low
reading literacy achievement, the measure of attitude to reading requires careful
interpretation due to those students’ difficulty understanding the items comprising this
measure. This suggests the possibility of variation, with reading literacy achievement, in
the relationship between attitude to reading and reading literacy achievement. The current
study uses correlation curves (Bjerve & Doksum, 1993) to investigate this variation in New
Zealand’s PIRLS 2006 data. It finds that, overall, the correlation between attitude to
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