**4. Discussion**

As demonstrated above, findings, as reported by all research informants, indicate that the FORI intervention had a positive impact on the motivation for reading of struggling readers in First Class. The impact on students' motivation for reading derived from quantitative measures was supplemented by evidence gathered during the course of the intervention through interviews, reflective journals and field notes. The major assertion generated from this qualitative evidence after the intervention was that all students had an increased belief in their ability to read well and that the daunting task of reading challenging texts was no longer insurmountable. In addition to students' growing belief in their ability to read due to mastering the basic skills, all teachers noted an increase in confidence among students reading without the fear of failure. This confidence in their ability as readers was attributed in some instances to the nature of the FORI activities, as exemplified by the comment of one learning support teacher:

*"The way that we conducted the lessons for each unit had a real e*ff*ect on the children's confidence and self-concept around reading. When they are asked to read there is no fear of making a mistake....even the weakest readers in my group experienced success in every lesson. Of course they still struggled on individual words and needed a lot of support but I found the real key was the gradual release of responsibility."* [74]

This is consistent with research by Bandura [75] (p. 3), who points out that 'successes build a robust belief in one's personal efficacy. Failures undermine it, especially if failures occur before a sense of efficacy is firmly established'. In the course of the intervention, struggling readers experienced success with reading from the outset, through instruction that ranged from teachers modelling the reading process to assisting the student to read independently. Immediately, a high level of engagemen<sup>t</sup> among students in the reading process was evident. This engagemen<sup>t</sup> appeared to result from a confluence of several factors that can be identified as indicators of an increase in motivation for reading including the level of confidence with which students approached reading. This confidence set the stage for further enhancing students' motivation for reading. Success begets success, and as students became more motivated to engage in the reading process, they subsequently read more frequently and were more successful in their efforts. Thus, a loop of motivation/success/motivation was created, which accounted for students' high level of engagemen<sup>t</sup> with the FORI intervention.

While the data was collected and analysed separately in the context of reading efficacy, orientation and perceived difficulty, the findings also identified a synergy among these constructs. Analysis of the data from all research informants indicated that motivational behaviour, as interpreted by each construct individually, was also identifiable as a cohesive unit working together to propel students forward. For example, positive effects of FORI on student reading orientation, as defined by students' interest and engagemen<sup>t</sup> in reading, fed into students' self-efficacy for reading. This in turn had the effect of decreasing students' perceived difficulty in reading and increased their confidence in reading, which is the factor that directly improves achievement [76].

In this regard, findings indicate that the impact of the FORI intervention on decreasing student's perceived difficulty with reading was a key factor in establishing the relationship between constructs. Pre-intervention assessment of motivation in relation to this construct indicated that students perceived reading to be a difficult task, had negative attitudes towards reading, and avoided opportunities to read both at school and at home. This was corroborated by data from the assessment of students on the other constructs and was found to impact negatively on students' orientation towards reading. Post-intervention assessment revealed a significant decrease in students' perceived reading difficulty as reported by teachers which was supported by evidence from parents. This finding was attributed to the accessibility of reading for students through FORI activities such as choral reading and echo reading in conjunction with methodologies such as repeated reading. As one teacher commented in a review of the effects of FORI six months after the intervention:

*"It was like someone unlocked the doors of the reading kingdom for children, turned on the lights and invited them to the party* ... *and they came* ... *and more importantly they stayed."* [77]

One explanation offered by learning support teachers for the decrease in perceived reading difficulty was the gradual release of responsibility model used in the course of the intervention. Some teachers attributed the more favourable ratings on this item to the advantages of using this model, with particular reference to the benefits of modelling reading:

*"When you take responsibility and model the reading for the child, you remove the fear of making a mistake. At first I wasn't totally convinced as I thought that they would just learn it o*ff *by heart but modelling the reading was so empowering."* [74]

*"When you read for the children first, everybody experiences success at the same time. You could then release the responsibility at di*ff*erent rates with di*ff*erent children* ... *it was real di*ff*erentiation in action I suppose."* [78]

*"Modelling first was the key for me. It was so e*ff*ective. I recorded myself reading the text fluently and then we would all read with the recording* ... *you know choral reading. Eventually even the weakest readers were reading with intonation. The way I looked at it was if I was teaching someone to bake a cake I would probably demonstrate first and then give assistance after that as I saw fit."* [78].

The ratings of these learning support teachers on students' orientation towards reading also merit particular mention given these teachers were closest to the process as chief implementers of the FORI intervention. The data from their surveys represents an overall mean increase of 52 percent among students with respect to their reading orientation. The following excerpt from a post-intervention interview with one of these teachers is illuminating in the context of these ratings [77].


The reference here to the increase in the amount of reading by students is representative of findings from all three research sites and is significant in the light of research on intrinsic motivation and reading. The amount that children read influences further growth in reading [79–81] and it is documented that students who are intrinsically motivated spend up to three times more time reading than students who have low intrinsic motivation for reading [50]. This is because intrinsically motivated students are more likely to *choose* to read [37].

The findings relating to the e ffects of FORI on the motivation for reading also identified some limitations of its e fficacy. It was found in the course of the intervention that students' motivation for reading was influenced very strongly by the degree to which they perceived reading to be di fficult. Teachers reported that a student's confidence in his or her reading ability was often diminished when confronted with text that was too di fficult. This was particularly relevant where students continued to have significant di fficulties with decoding. Findings thus sugges<sup>t</sup> that FORI strategies may not be e ffective for students who hold high levels of perceived di fficulty in reading unless measures are taken to specifically improve their basic decoding skills. It was found that when students improved in this regard, their perceived di fficulty with reading was lessened and they were more likely to regain confidence and to be oriented towards reading. Focusing on decreasing levels of perceived di fficulty may help these students improve in reading more than focusing on increasing their interest in reading.

#### *4.1. Role of Parents*

An important finding in this study was the positive role parents played in motivating their children to read. The manner in which they responded to their children was identified by teachers as a critical factor in increasing motivation for reading among students. Many reading initiatives fail because the role of parents as a critical component of the literacy process is overlooked by the school environment [82]. Parents play a central role in determining a student's success at school and have a particularly important role in orienting children towards reading [83]. As part of the FORI intervention, parents were required to read with their child each night, and to sign a home reading log. They were also invited to attend 'reading with your child' sessions organised by teachers. To facilitate this requirement, teachers met with parents and provided specific advice on what to read with their children, how much to read, how long to read, how to respond to mistakes, and how to keep the experience enjoyable [84]. This social aspect of reading was highlighted, in interviews with parents and teachers, as being a significant factor in motivating students to read. Teachers were unanimous in acknowledging the important role that parents played in the improvement in reading orientation in particular among students over the course of the study. They reported that the parents' part in the FORI programme was 'invaluable in motivating the young struggling readers' [74] and 'paid rich dividends when it came to rating children's orientation for reading' [77].

The findings have implications for the role that parents play in motivating struggling readers. They converge in suggesting that children who experience literacy-relevant activities at home, view reading more positively, engage in more leisure reading, and have higher motivation for reading.

#### *4.2. Practical Implications*

While a single study such as this one cannot provide exclusive guidelines on the ways to improve reading instruction for struggling readers, there are some practical implications for teachers that can be learned. The study has found that there is a relationship between fluency oriented reading instruction and motivation for reading. Without recognition of this critical relationship, teachers and particularly learning support teachers may miss out on instructional methods that addresses students' reading deficits and that can enhance their enjoyment of reading. Instructional approaches that do not consider motivational strategies for reading, may not capitalise on the added influence that improving students' motivation for reading has on their long term development as skilled readers. Hence, instruction for struggling readers should be designed in a way that addresses their motivation for reading while simultaneously developing core reading skills.

There are also potential implications for the practice of classroom teachers in primary schools emanating from this study. Findings sugges<sup>t</sup> that practitioners interested in maximising reading achievement among all students should include motivational components in their literacy teaching [85]. The FORI strategies employed in this study are not exclusively designed for the learning support class. Techniques and activities such as choral reading, echo-reading, reader's theatre and antiphonal reading are readily transferrable to the mainstream classroom. In this regard, the study demonstrates that promoting oral reading fluency among students is an imperative responsibility for all teachers of reading.

## *4.3. Limitations*

There were limitations to this research that require acknowledgement. This is a relatively small-scale project that involved fifteen students from three schools. A larger sample would be more sensitive to possible effect differences in reading motivation among students with particular reading difficulties. Secondly, since the result of this study are based on a limited sample composed of students from schools designated as educationally disadvantaged, care should be taken in over-generalising results. Teachers and students in these intervention schools were operating under more challenging conditions than may be found in other less disadvantaged communities and so the findings from

this study may not have the same implications in other schools. Finally, the study was conducted intentionally with struggling readers in First Class because of the critical period this age represents in a student's reading development. Therefore, we must be careful not to over-generalise the results to primary school students in more senior classes.

#### *4.4. Recommendations for future research*

Research has documented that primary schools include large numbers of alliterate students who are capable readers but choose not to read [86]. Given the positive influence of FORI in this study in increasing students' orientation towards reading and interest in reading, there is a need for further research studies that explore the e ffects of FORI on these students. In other words, enhancing reading motivation should be a concern not only for struggling readers but for all readers.

Additional research featuring a population that di ffers from the student population in this study is also recommended. This study was conducted in schools comprised of students predominantly from disadvantaged backgrounds. Future research needs to be conducted with struggling readers in schools from non-DEIS backgrounds. These studies would need to include a no-treatment group so specific fluency-building procedures could be contrasted with a control group and contrasted against each other.

There is also a need for longitudinal research that examines the impact of fluency oriented reading instruction on the motivation for reading of di fferent types of readers at di fferent points along the age continuum. Longitudinal studies of the impact of these procedures could clarify how long the intervention benefits can be maintained.
