Abstract
When adolescents read more, their attitudes toward reading become more positive, and their language and comprehension skills increase as well (Broeder & Stokmans, 2013). Reading motivation, reading enjoyment, literacy, comprehension levels, and amount of reading are all interrelated, and to increase one factor of reading, the other factors must also be increased (Becker, McElvany, & Kortenbruck, 2010). This study compared four groups of 8th grade adolescents (N = 19, 13-14 years old, 11 female and 8 male) and their reading motivation. Film and choice were assessed as possible motivational tools to increase intrinsic reading motivation. One group was assigned a novel to read and did not watch the film adaptation. A second group was assigned a novel to read and watched the film adaptation up to its climactic event prior to reading the book. A third group chose a novel to read from a given list, with brief descriptions of each novel. A fourth group chose a book to read from the given list and watched its film adaptation up to its climactic event before reading the book. Each participant’s intrinsic motivation to read was assessed with the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) developed by Guthrie and Wigfield (1997). Levels of intrinsic motivation were measured before and after reading the book. vi A series of ANOVAs were performed to test for significant differences and interactions between the groups. There were no significant main effects. Change in intrinsic motivation approached significance in the film groups. However, this change was in the opposite direction than expected, showing a decline in motivation. There was also a gradual increase in motivation for participants who did not preview a film and chose a book rather than being assigned a book, suggesting further experimentation with these manipulations.