In this modern world it has become an up-hill task to motivate and encourage students to study. I have had experiences that have made me realize how hard it is to motivate students in the classroom setting. Some students are insufficient when it comes to the power and intuitiveness of decoding both written and spoken words in whichever subject they undertake. This has led to a decrease in the level of motivation among this population of students. My research aims at promoting the initiation of the motivation process at the earliest age possible. This may involve motivating students as early as during kindergarten. This is a wondering inquiry research that entails teachers carrying out the task in a specified contextual setting. “Context represents a particular school within a particular state and within a particular country” (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009, p. 54).
From my research, it can be deduced that for any successful reading culture to occur, there must be motivation at the earliest time possible. There are numerous approaches that can be employed in motivation of youngsters to develop a reading culture. Appreciation of self and realization of the value reading holds goes a long way in motivating young people to develop a positive reading culture. In addition, motivation stems from the daily occurrences such as the time spent talking about books, choice and incentives, all of which bring about motivation among the concerned young people (Gambrell & Marinak, 2009). This is the reason that has led me to lay more emphasis on motivating my students into a positive reading culture which they love. As a result, I have developed a wondering question: How can I use audio books with text to effectively engage and motivate my struggling students to read?
Review of Relevant Literature
In most cases, it is a major challenge when it comes to motivating kindergarten students to read. My students prefer to have books read to them rather than read the books themselves. Based on this finding, I have come to develop a program that involves selecting books that are likely to arouse curiosity in this population of students. The books are read and critiqued together with the students. Different students, have different issues ranging from personal ones to family ones. For instance, most Title I students have various family issues that include having a loved one in jail and lack of food that forces them to go for long hours without having a proper meal. These students need to be motivated to read. Teachers interacting with such students need to know the struggles they face and as such be in a position to design motivational programs specifically targeting this group of students.
This is a big challenge to most teachers. In a study by Buschick, Shipton, Winner, and Wise (2007) it was observed that the maintenance of a motivational status quo as the students grow older was a difficult undertaking. The authors had set out to promote motivation among elementary and middle school students. The authors employed various approaches in their study. One of the approaches included utilization of Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) system that entails filling of tally sheets to elaborate the behaviors associated with loss of concentration and as such lack of motivation to read. The authors employed Student Survey as another tool aimed at identifying the habits among students that are associated with poor reading culture. From the study, it was observed that most students detested the idea of reading for fun and reading at home. In addition, it was observed that the students were a reluctant when it came to going to the library and learning new words. So as to cover all areas, the authors carried out a teacher survey that looked at the lack of reading motivation and corrective strategies at the school under study.
The authors observed that verbal/linguistic and interpersonal intelligences were the most common form of intelligences used while intrapersonal and naturalistic intelligences were the least common used intelligences. To counter the problems, the authors came up with a solution that entailed designing a program that used eight multiple intelligences so as to bring about motivation of the students. These intelligences are: linguistic intelligence (word smart), logical-mathematical (number smart) and spatial intelligence (picture smart). Others are bodily-kinesthetic (body smart) and musical intelligence (music smart). To foster relations and how people deal with emotions the authors included interpersonal intelligence (people smart), intrapersonal intelligence (self smart), and naturalist intelligence (nature smart) as part of the solution. After implementation, the authors observed that there was a change in attitudes among students and the students were, motivated to choose books that suited their interests. The number of students paying the library a visit also soared as well as the number of students willing to read at home.
According to a study carried out by Miller (2011), there is a consensus that the level of motivation correlates with the ability of students to learn and interpreted what they learn as well as apply it in their day to day lives. According to the author, motivation can be in two forms, extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is the most utilized and it entails getting students to actively participate in any given chore while intrinsic motivation entails deep seated encouragement and nurturing to bring about motivation (Miller, 2011).
According to Barnes & Monroe (2011) the limitations of most forms of motivation arise from the tendency of most teachers handling different students in a similar manner and forgetting that each student is unique in his or her own way. To address this issue, the authors employed varied reading strategies. They employed the Garfield Reading Survey that involves setting aside time each day dedicated to what is termed as silent reading time. This is with the hope that an increase in reading motivation would occur with individual student interests and at the end the student shares with other individuals what he has read. The authors observed that at the end of the four-week study, there was an increase in the number of students requesting silent reading time. Furthermore, the students expressed desire to read on their own. From the group sessions and book talks, the authors observed that given a chance, the motivated students were able to share whatever that was on their minds with their peers suggesting improved self-confidence and as such well-motivated (Barnes & Monroe, 2011).
The use of audio books as motivational tools has been limited to second-language learners and disabled students (Johnson, 2003). Audio books have several benefits as they have been shown to promote good interpretive reading and foster learning of new vocabulary. Consequently, they have been shown to teach critical listening and provide a read-aloud model to highlight the humor in books. All of this help to promote engagement and motivation to read. According to Wolfson (2008) audio books bring about a wholesome language development as they foster the growth of all the language systems. In addition, audio books provide a forum through which some students are able to recall words and as such they play a role in building a positive reading culture (Esteves & Whitten, 2011).
Wondering Questions
The choice of the wondering question originates from passion 4 which is a desire to improve or experiment with teaching strategies and teaching techniques (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009, p. 36). It has always been a challenge to teach five-year-olds how to read and the situation is further complicated in cases where the students come from low-income earning families and the teachers have little prior knowledge of social and educational experience. From my research, it was observed that the level of motivation of students declined with increasing age and as such there was a need to design a system that would ensure the students were constantly motivated to have a passion for reading.
Based on this a wondering question that would capture all the issues was developed. The wondering question is: What new strategies can I use to help motivate my students to become excited about reading? How can I use audio books with text to effectively engage and motivate my struggling students to read? In addition, the wondering questions needed to be supported with sub questiuoons to ensure all areas were covered. One sub-question asked about the effects, if any, would occur by allowing the students to choose their own text during independent reading time? From various studies carried out, it has been observed that introduction of new approaches there is a possibility of students becoming life long readers. It is my hope that this research will provide more insights on ways of motivating students into lifelong readers.