Motivating Young Readers

Abstract

More elementary-aged students are emerging as struggling and unmotivated readers and their teachers are faced with the challenge of motivating them to reach proficiency. As a result, many computer software programs were created and designed to help motivate students to read. The researcher conducted an action research project to examine the effects of a computer software program called Imagine Learning English (ILE). The researcher collected data to determine how motivated and engaged first grade students were towards reading as well as ILE. Each student completed five sessions on the program and was observed by the researcher both on and off the program. The study produced unanticipated results due to the fact that students started using ILE at the beginning of the school year. This early start could have affected the data and their overall motivation towards reading. The data also suggests that majority of the students had a favorable attitude towards reading and using ILE because they wrote about their experiences in their notebook and made a lot of positive comments about it during whole-class discussions.