Final report for the project V5-0936
1. Project title: Reading motivation as an academic achievement factor in primary
school students
2. Principal researcher: Sonja Pečjak, PhD, associate professor
3. Research team: Cirila Peklaj, PhD, associate professor
Livija Knaflič, PhD
Nataša Bucik, MA
Ana Gradišar, MA
4. Period: from October 1st 2002 to September 30th 2005
5. Project goals:
The research had four major goals: first, to describe and evaluate the reading motivation in
primary school students and to find out the relationship between reading motivation and
reading achievement; second, to reveal teachers’ attitudes in regard to reading, their
methods for promoting reading among students and the ways to promote the use of
different materials at the subjects they teach; third, to identify the most common problems
teachers encounter when promoting reading and the examples of good practice; and
fourth, to develop strategies and recommendations for promotion of sustained students'
interest in reading.
6. Methodology:
The study included 24 primary schools from different parts of Slovenia. The sample
included 1073 third grade (from eight-year primary schools) or fourth grade (from nineyear primary schools) students and 1282 seventh grade (from eight-year primary schools)
or eighth grade (from nine-year primary schools) students. The 61 teachers from third and
fourth grades and 278 teachers from seventh and eighth grades also participated in the
study.
7. Results:
According to the four research goals, the results of the research are as follows:
1. The reading motivation of younger and older students in both groups reflects in their
reading behaviour (more competent students read more frequently and they spend
more time reading), girls are more motivated for reading than boys. In younger
students the best predictors of reading achievement are two reading motivation factors:
perceiving reading as a difficult activity and interest for reading. With older students
and boys the best predictors of reading motivation are extrinsic and intrinsic reading
motivation (immersion in reading), interest for reading, reading in social context and
perceiving reading as a difficult activity. With girls the best predictor of reading
achievement is only the intrinsic motivation factor – immersion in reading. In both
groups of students reading motivation is significantly related to reading behaviour and
reading achievement.
2. The results showed that teachers emphasise the importance of reading for a person, but
they do not consider the relationship between reading and learning achievement
significant. Their declarative statements about the importance of reading and their
enthusiasm about reading do not reflect in their work in the classroom. Our study
found that the most important teachers’ activities for promoting reading motivation
were: teaching/reading strategies, the use of various reading material, providing
students with the possibility to choose reading material, frequent reading in the class
and promoting reading and discussion about books which students have read.
3. Among the difficulties in motivating students for reading teachers in lower and upper
primary schools most frequently listed similar reasons: students spend a lot of time in
front of computers, deeper concentration and activity required by reading, boring
reading material, unavailable reading material, lack of competence for promoting
reading motivation. The teachers’ answers about the ways of promoting reading
among students with reading difficulties are similar on both levels of primary schools.
They emphasise the suitable selection of reading material and reading in the classroom
so a teacher sets an example; the results, however, at the same time show the lack of
reading in the class. Among the activities that were carried out to promote reading
they most frequently list the competition for the reading badge. Libraries as factors of
reading promotion are more significant for upper level primary school teachers than
for lower level primary school teachers. The results also display the trend of schools to
include the entire school in their reading promotion projects.
4. At the end some recommendations were articulated for promoting reading motivation
in schools, i.e. more loud reading in the class, more frequent use of textbooks in the
class, more cooperation between teachers and librarians, giving students more
opportunities to choose their reading material, promoting the use of class library etc.
5. Project related publications:










Pečjak, S., Bucik, N. (2004). Reading motivation in primary school students, Horizonts of
Psychology, 13(4), p. 53-67.
Pečjak, S., Košir, K. (2004). Pupils’ reading motivation and teachers’ activities for enhancing
it. Review of Psychology, 11(1-2), p. 11-24.
Bitežnik, A. (20049. Parents reading to children in pre-school period and their reading
motivation in primary school. Diploma task (mentor. Sonja Pečjak), Ljubljana: Faculty
of Arts, Department of psychology.
Peklaj, C., Pečjak, S. (2004). Dimensions of reading motivation and reading achievement in
3rd and 7th grade students. The 3rd conference “Self-concept, motivation and identity: where to
from here?” Berlin, 1st to 4th July 2004, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 1st to
4th July 2004.
Pečjak, S., Peklaj, C. (2005). Dimensions of reading motivation and reading achievement in
3rd and 7th grade students. Studia psychological, 48(1), 11-30.
Pečjak, S. (2005). Teachers’ activities for enhancing students reading motivation. In: J. Vintar
(ed.) How can school develops reading and expanding literacy: Anthology of Slowene
Reading Association. Ljubljana: The National Educational Institute, p. 44-55.
Bucik, N., Gradišar, A. (2005). Can teachers influence students reading motivation in primary
school? In: J. Vintar (ed.) How can school develops reading and expanding literacy:
Anthology of Slowene Reading Association. Ljubljana: The National Educational Institute, p.
56-67.
Pečjak, S. Košir, K. (2005). Which teachers’ activities foster pupils’ reading motivation? 7 th
Alpe Adria Conference in Psychology, Zadar, Croatia, University of Zadar, 2nd to 4the June
2005.
Knaflič, L., Bucik, N., Gradišar, A., Pečjak, S. (2005). The influence on motivation on pupils'
reading in Slowenian elementary schools. V: Literacy without boundaries: book ofabstracts.
Zagreb: International Reading Association.
Pečjak, S., Bucik, N., Gradišar, A., Peklaj, C. (2006). Reading motivation in school:
assessment and development. Ljubljana:The National Educational Institute, 100 p.