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A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation SUSAN ANDERS MAZZONI LINDA B. GAMBRELL RIITA-LIISA KORKEAMA¨KI In both the United States and Finland, firstgraders’ reading motivation increased significantly across the course of the school year while second-graders’ reading motivation did not. from Journal of Reading Psychology, 1999 Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Rationale of the Study Positive reading motivation has been associated with a number of desirable outcomes including higher reading achievement, deeper cognitive processing, greater conceptual understanding, and willingness to persevere when reading is difficult. Previous research has documented that hildren’s reading motivation tends to decrease across grades one through six. However, most studies concerning literacy motivation have focused on older students or have investigated changes in literacy motivation across grade levels. Little is known about changes in reading motivation during the early grades, especially across the course of a school year. Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Purpose of the Study Our goal was not to focus on differences between American and Finnish children’s reading motivation, since differences could be due to a wide variety of factors that are beyond the scope of this article. Instead, 0ur goal was to determine if there are developmental trends in early literacy motivation regardless of cultural context or patterns that are universal across the home and school cultures of both countries. Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Subjects 412 children from Finland 208 first-grade and 204 second-grade children 4 four elementary schools in Oulu relatively homogeneous and of middle-income families 744 children from the United State 371 first-grade and 373 second-grade children 5 elementary schools located within a predominantly suburban county in a northeastern coastal state ethnically homogeneous (Caucasian) Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Instrument The Children’s Reading Motivation Survey (Gambrell, 1996) Prepared in English and translated to the Finnish language 17 multiple-choice items Designed to measure the reading motivation and behaviors of young children Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha: 72 for the U.S. .65 for Finland. Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Survey Administration Just prior to administering the survey, reading specialists provided whole-class instruction including a demonstration of how children should record their responses on the multiple choice survey form. Two practice questions were provided. Each item on the survey was read aloud twice by the reading specialists Children were asked to think about and circle their most honest answer to each question. The motivation survey took approximately 15 minutes to administer to each class. Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Results Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Results 1/2 Were there differences with respect to changes in children’s reports about literacy motivation across the school year? MANOVA tests revealed Changes in the reading motivation scores between fall and spring administrations were significant and positive for Finnish and American first grade, F (1, 433)=32.28, p < .01. No significant change for Finnish or American second graders’ reading motivation scores between fall and spring administrations, F (1, 470) =1.89, p = .170. Mazzoni and Gambrell 1999, A cross-cultural perspective of early literacy motivation Results 2/2 Were there differences with respect to gender? Girls’ scores were significantly higher than boys’ at the first and second grade levels in both Finland and the United States [first graders: F (1,484) = 67.71, p = .001; second graders: F (1, 244) = 17.30, p = .001.] Discussion 1/2 This finding is significant since previous research has reported a decline in reading attitude across grades one through six (McKenna et al., 1995); however, our research suggests that there is an increase in reading motivation within both cultures during the first grade. This finding suggests not only the importance of schooling in literacy development, but that first grade is a critical period for affective orientation and engaging in literacy activities. Discussion 2/2 The results of this study with respect to gender are consistent with the findings of other researchers who reported that girls tended to possess more positive attitudes toward reading than boys. In our study, girls possessed higher reading motivation than boys at the first and second grade levels in both Finland and the United States. Limitations Cultural differences in the way in which Finnish and American individuals interpreted survey questions The American population was selected for a matched comparison. This is both a strength and limitation of our study. Clearly, the results we have presented are not generalizable to the U.S. population.