Module 8

The article I am critiquing is titled Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension. It was written by Pedro Barbosa, John Guthrie, Nicole Humenick, Kathleen Perencevick, Ana Taboada, and Allan Wigfield. It was published in The Journal of Education Research in March 2006. It is about the effects of reading motivation. The study was done on children in grades three through five. The researchers were not surprised that motivation in reading does affect students’ reading comprehension. They stated that they only studied the motivation of reading, not the motivation of any other subject including math, science, social studies, or language. I was not shocked by these findings either. It is common sense that when students are motivated, they will rise higher and achieve more regardless of the subject. They would have found out the same thing if they would have studied the affects of motivation in science or any other subject. They probally would have found out the same in physical education as well. The affects of not motivating children would probally have the opposite affect on them. They would not achieve as well. Their scores on comprehension and standardized tests would drop tremendously. The reachers have to be somewhat of a coach. They need to cheer their class on and encourage them to try their best in all that they do. When they do try their best we need to praise them even if it is not the outcome that we want. This praise will push them to continue to try and not give up. That is exactly what we want. This is the reward that keep teachers going. The article also states that motivation for reading predicts student achievement on standardized tests and school grades. Again, motivation and grades go hand in hand. The more motivation a child receives, the higher they achieve in tests and grades. What should teachers get out of this article? They should learn that they need to motivate, motivate, and motivate some more. Do not put children down or make them feel bad about their accomplishments. That will only make things worse. In order to keep your students working hard, give them some praise. Have a reward time for when they try their best. Let them have some partner reading time and game time. Do whatever it takes to motivate your class.