Abstract:
Educators know that the benefits of reading extend beyond the technical skills of literacy competence. To experience these benefits, students must first develop interest and enjoyment in reading. However, researchers claim that children become less motivated to read when they become adolescents. This research was a small scale qualitative study involving three students attending a secondary school within a residential treatment programme for substance misuse. As part of its curriculum, the school offered an independent reading programme. Teachers observed that many students were becoming motivated to read and that reading achievement was improving. This study explored the attitudes and motivations of students towards reading within a treatment programme, their perceptions of how their attitudes and achievements in reading had changed since entering the treatment programme, and the factors they identified as being enablers or barriers to reading. The intention of this study was to understand more about adolescent reading motivation and to better inform teaching practice so that students in general could be encouraged to enjoy the activity of reading. Data from a reading survey and a semi-structured interview were integrated with quantitative data from a reading comprehension assessment. A synthesis of the research in this field had established that reading motivation was strongly influenced by intrinsic motivation, and there was a positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading achievement. Findings from the study showed that the students had different perceptions of themselves as readers and how they valued reading, and varying levels of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to read. Despite these differences, the students had similar reading achievement. This study concluded that reading motivation is a complex construct and the relationship between reading motivation and reading achievement is complicated. However, findings in respect of factors that encourage students to read were well supported by the research. The independent reading programme in the treatment school had the potential to change lives. Students described reading as a powerful escape mechanism that helped them to cope with the challenge of residential treatment.