Based on an engagement perspective of reading development, we investigated the extent to which an instructional framework of combining motivation support and strategy instruction (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction-CORI) influenced reading outcomes for third-grade children. In CORI, five motivational practices were integrated with six cognitive strategies for reading comprehension. In the first study, we compared this framework to an instructional framework emphasizing Strategy Instruction (SI), but not including motivation support. In the second study, we compared CORI to SI and to a traditional instruction group (TI), and used additional measures of major constructs. In both studies, class-level analyses showed that students in CORI classrooms were higher than SI and/or TI students on measures of reading comprehension, reading motivation, and reading strategies.

The authors examined how motivational and cognitive variables predict reading comprehension, and whether each predictor variable adds unique explanatory power when statistically controlling for the others. Fourth-grade students (N = 205) completed measures of reading comprehension in September and December of the same year, and measures of background knowledge and cognitive strategy use in December. Teachers rated internal reading motivation of each student. Results from multiple regression analyses showed that motivation, background knowledge, and cognitive strategy-use made significant, independent contributions to children's reading comprehension when the other predictor variables were controlled. Further analyses showed the same cognitive and motivational variables predicted growth over a 3-month period in reading comprehension. Possible explanations of the observed relations between motivation, cognitive variables, and reading comprehension are presented.

The engagement model of reading development suggests that instruction improves students' reading comprehension to the extent that it increases students' engagement processes in reading. We compared how Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) (support for cognitive and motivational processes in reading), strategy instruction (support for cognitive strategies in reading), and traditional instruction in fourth-grade classrooms differentially influenced students' reading comprehension, strategy use, and engagement in reading. Students experiencing CORI were significantly higher than both comparison groups on reading comprehension, reading strategies, and reading engagement. When students' level of reading engagement was statistically controlled, the differences between the treatment groups were not significant. We infer that the level of students' reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. C 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The engagement model of reading comprehension development proposes that engagement in reading is the joint functioning of motivational processes and cognitive strategies during reading comprehension (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000). In this perspective, highly engaged readers are both internally motivated and strategic, and less engaged readers show lower motivation and less use of strategies for comprehending text. Consistent with this perspective, Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) proposed that engagement is a multidimensional attribute including behavioral engagement (actively performing academic learning tasks), cognitive engagement (using high-level strategies to foster deep learning), and emotional engagement (enjoying academic tasks and expressing enthusiasm about learning). In this investigation, we examined the construct of engaged reading as a mediating variable that may account for the effect of integrated instruction on reading comprehension of elementary school students.Relatively few studies have attempted to increase reading engagement of elementary students experimentally or to examine the role of reading engagement in interventions that increase reading achievement. The few existing experimental studies of this age group have shown that at least four variables influence students' reading motivation: (a) autonomy support and choice, (b) use of interesting texts in classroom instruction, (c) having conceptual goals for reading instruction, and (d) supporting collaboration in reading. Guthrie and Humenick (2004) conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of these variables on reading motivation, identifying 22 studies that enabled 131 experimental comparisons to be made. Average effect sizes were 0.95 for choice, 0.72 for conceptual goals, 1.15 for providing interesting text, and 0.52 for collaboration. However, these studies were short term (1-6 hours), laboratory based (nonclassroom), with high teacher-pupil ratio (1-5) and limited materials (e.g., three 500-word passages), and thus have limited applicability to typical classroom...

No abstract

This study investigated the relationship of student-generated questions and prior knowledge with reading comprehension. A questioning hierarchy was developed to describe the extent to which student-generated questions seek different levels of conceptual understanding. Third-and fourth-grade students (N = 360) posed questions that were related to their prior knowledge and reading comprehension, measured as conceptual knowledge built from text. The results indicated that student questioning accounted for a significant amount of variance in students' reading comprehension, after accounting for the contribution of prior knowledge. Furthermore, low-and high-level questions were differentially associated with low and high levels of conceptual knowledge gained from text, showing a clear alignment between questioning levels and reading comprehension levels.