Engaging children as readers and writers in high‐poverty contexts

• Published in: Journal of research in reading 2018-11, Vol.41 (4), p.716-731
• Main Author: Kennedy, Eithne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Administrator Attitudes; Children; Children & youth; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; Collaboration; College School Cooperation; Correlation; Disadvantaged Schools; Grouping (Instructional Purposes); Intervention; Learner Engagement; Literacy; Literacy Education; Longitudinal Studies; Motivation; Poverty; Principals; Reading Comprehension; Self concept; Self Esteem; Student Attitudes; Student Motivation; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Vocabulary instruction; Vocabulary Skills
• ISSN: 0141-0423; 1467-9817
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12261

While development of a range of cognitive skills and strategies is integral to the literacy process and strong attainment, students' motivation, engagement and self‐confidence also exert a powerful influence on academic achievement. In recent times in the field of literacy there has been renewed interest in motivation, engagement and sense of self‐efficacy as it relates to literacy achievement. This paper reports on findings from Write to Read, a longitudinal collaborative university and school literacy intervention project in disadvantaged schools. Drawing on questionnaire data from teachers, interview data from children, teachers and principals and data from audio and video recordings of literature discussions, this paper presents findings in relation to developments in children's motivation and engagement in literacy in a subset of classrooms and schools involved in the intervention. Practices associated with increasing engagement included time, choice, dialogic mixed‐ability reading groups, building self‐efficacy and explicit teaching of vocabulary and comprehension skills. Highlights What is already known about this topic Many definitions of motivation and engagement are found in the literature; the terms are often used interchangeably, and research has not yet empirically established the directionality of the constructs (linear, bidirectional or multidirectional). What this paper adds Findings in the current study suggest that engagement is a multidirectional construct: as children's engagement in the mixed‐ability groupings within a socially stimulating dialogic environment motivated children to read and participate in the group. Motivation did not precede engagement. A dual emphasis on motivation/engagement and cognitive skills for literacy development within a balanced literacy framework are effective in building children's motivation and engagement and are particularly important for children in high‐poverty contexts. Implications for theory, policy or practice A dual emphasis on affective dimensions of literacy and on developmentally appropriate cognitive skills and strategies is required to address the literacy achievement gap between children in high‐poverty contexts and their more advantaged peers.