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The Missing Piece in the Science of Reading: Building Student Motivation

By Karly O'Brien

Think about the last thing you chose to read, not something you had to read. Why did you choose it? 

Maybe you wanted to learn something new. Maybe a friend recommended it. Maybe the topic caught your attention, made you laugh, answered a question, or connected to something you care about. Or, if you’re like me, maybe your favorite celebrity book club chose it as their book of the month, and that was all the convincing you needed. 

Very few of us choose to read simply because we need more practice reading. 

As educators, we spend a lot of time thinking about how children learn to read, and rightly so. Evidence-based reading instruction is essential for helping students develop the skills they need to become successful readers. But as students develop those skills, they are also developing beliefs about reading and about themselves as readers. 

That leaves us with an important question: How do we develop capable readers who are also motivated to read? 

Where Does Reading Motivation Fit in the Science of Reading? 

The Science of Reading gives us a strong evidence base for understanding how reading develops and how we can effectively teach it. Reading motivation does not compete with that instruction. Instead, it asks us to consider the experiences we create around it. 

Being able to read does not automatically mean a student will choose to read. 

Motivation is shaped in part by what students can do, but also by what they believe they can do. Students need opportunities to experience success, recognize their own growth, have some ownership over their reading, and feel connected to the books, ideas, and people around them. 

In other words, reading motivation is much more complex than whether a child simply “likes reading.”

Before We Call a Student “Unmotivated”

Consider a student who is challenged by reading and has started saying, “I do not like reading.” 

We might see avoidance, giving up, or disengagement and assume we are looking at a motivation problem. But it is worth asking what might be underneath those behaviors. 

Has reading repeatedly felt difficult? Has the student experienced frustration or embarrassment? Have they begun to believe that reading is something they simply aren’t good at? 

Students collect evidence about who they are as readers through their experiences. Each successful, meaningful reading experience can contribute to a student thinking, "I can do this. I am a reader." Repeated experiences with frustration can send a very different message.

Before asking, “How do I motivate this student?” we may need to ask, “What has this student’s experience with reading been?"

What Motivates a Reader?

There is no single strategy that will suddenly make every student love reading. Instead, educators can think about several conditions that help students develop a willingness to engage with texts. 

Competence and confidence: Students need opportunities to experience success and recognize their growth. Success does not mean removing all challenge. It means pairing meaningful challenges with the support students need to participate successfully. 

Choice and relevance: Meaningful choices can give students greater ownership over reading. Relevance can come from students’ identities and experiences, but also from their interests, questions, curiosities, goals, and connections to the world around them. 

Belonging and reading identity: Students need opportunities to see reading as something “for me.” Reading can also connect students with other people as they recommend books, exchange ideas, ask questions, and discover shared interests. 

Together, these conditions can help students develop not only the ability to read, but reasons to keep reading. 

Access Matters: Don’t Make Students Earn the Good Stuff

Students who need additional reading support still deserve access to interesting ideas, humor, complex language, and meaningful conversations.

A student does not have to independently decode every word of a grade-level text to engage with its ideas and language. 

We can scaffold that access by 1) building knowledge and previewing vocabulary before reading, 2) modeling, chunking, reading together, and discussing during reading and 3) revisiting, connecting, and responding after reading. 

The goal is not to remove the challenge or lower expectations. It is to give students ways into worthwhile texts while continuing to build the skills they need for greater independence. 

Create Reading Experiences That Motivate  

Supporting reading motivation does not always require adding a brand-new program or activity. Often, it means looking at familiar literacy practices through a different lens: Where is the access? Where is the choice? Where is the connection? Where is the purpose?

Here are a few ways to start: 

Offer more than one way into a text. Interactive read-alouds, shared reading, partner reading, audiobooks, eBooks, graphic novels, and discussion can give students access to stories, vocabulary, knowledge, and ideas while their independent reading skills continue to develop. 

Give reading purpose and meaning. Outside of school, we read to learn, solve problems, laugh, explore, wonder, and connect. Bringing authentic purposes into instruction can change the experience surrounding reading. 

Make reading social. Reading does not always have to mean one student, one book, and silence. Book conversations, partner reading, recommendations, interactive read-alouds, and family reading can help create a community around texts. 

Give students a reason to reread. Repeated reading is an evidence-based way to build fluency, but repetition can also have a meaningful purpose. Reader’s Theater gives students a reason to reread as they prepare to perform. Partner reading can make fluency practice more social and supportive. The instructional goal stays the same, but the experience surrounding the practice changes. 

Build a Classroom Where Reading Matters 

Reading motivation does not live only within the student. The environment matters, too. 

Are books visible and accessible? Do students hear adults and peers talk enthusiastically about books? Are they invited to recommend what they read? Is curiosity encouraged? Do students who struggle with reading still have opportunities to participate successfully in rich literacy experiences? 

When we center reading motivation, strong instruction does not go away. Instead, we broaden what we pay attention to. We think not only about what we are teaching, but about the experiences surrounding that instruction. 

At Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), we believe building lifelong readers means helping children develop both the skills to read and the desire to use them. Educators can explore RIF’s free literacy resources, book activities, and instructional supports through Literacy Central, discover digital reading experiences through Skybrary, and continue learning through RIF’s educator webinars. 

Building Lifelong Readers 

Strong instruction and reading motivation are not competing priorities. If our goal is lifelong literacy, students need the skills to read, but they also need opportunities to discover that reading is something worth doing. 

As you think about the reading experiences you create, consider three questions: 

  • What are students being invited to read? 
  • How are they being supported to access it? 
  • What reasons do they have to engage and come back for more? 

Sometimes strengthening reading motivation is not about changing what we teach. It is about being more intentional about the conditions we create around reading. 

What is one change you can make to strengthen your students’ reading experiences? 

Watch our recent webinar titled, The Missing Piece in the Science of Reading: Building Student Motivation here.