Motivating Struggling Readers by Tapping the Potential of Information Books

Motivation for Reading and Middle School Students' Performance on Standardized Testing in Reading

“…These findings are consistent with those from previous studies that showed that female students have higher reading motivation and perform higher in reading comprehension compared to male students (Baker & Wigfield, 1999;Wentzel, 1989;Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997). Because students' reading motivation is an important predictor of their school success (Dreher, 2003;Ivey & Broaddus, 2001;Madden, Slavin, Karweit, Dolan, & Wasik, 1993;Rowe, 1991), males' lower reading motivation should be viewed with some concern. Unlike previous studies (Eccles et al, 1993;Gambrell, Codling, & Palmer, 1996;Marsh, 1998;Sainsbury & Schagen, 2004), this study found that eighth-grade students scored higher on key aspects of reading motivation compared to sixth-graders.…”

Informational Texts as Read-Alouds at School and Home

“…Duke (2003aDuke ( , 2003b, Dreher (1998Dreher ( -1999Dreher ( , 2002Dreher ( , 2003Kletzien & Dreher, 2004), and Donovan (2002, 2004), in particular, have urged teachers to incorporate informational text in their classroom practices. In addition to sharing informational text through read-alouds, literacy experts have encouraged teachers to provide diverse classroom libraries that include informational text, assign informational writing, organize research groups that use texts as one resource, teach with and about informational text, pair informational text with narrative selections and content area textbooks, and display informational materials in their classrooms.…”

“…The data regarding this belief are mixed, but in one study, primary-grade children preferred informational books at least as often as narratives (Kletzien & Szabo, 1998). Others, too, have argued that young children's natural curiosity makes informational books an obvious choice for them (Dreher, 2003;Harvey, 2002;R. H. Yopp & Yopp, 2000).…”

Lire des textes informatifs ou narratifs aux élèves ? Choix et conceptions des enseignants

“…Par ailleurs, comme les textes informatifs se présentent selon une variété de structures (pour une description détaillée, voir Donovan et Smolkin, 2002), les élèves qui y sont exposés peuvent se familiariser avec les divers éléments linguistiques qui s'y retrouvent. En outre, comme le soutiennent plusieurs auteurs (Dreher, 2003 ;Kraemer, McCabe et Sinatra, 2012), bon nombre d'élèves ont un intérêt plus marqué pour les textes informatifs que pour les textes narratifs. Il semble impératif de tenir compte de ce facteur qui peut soutenir la motivation pour la lecture.…”