The Relationship between Reading Skills and Children's Autonomy in the Classroom

Abstract

Record ID: 220

Type: Poster Presentation (in-person)

Advisor: Heidi Kloos

Abstract: Establishing intrinsic motivation for learning at a young age is essential for academic success. Autonomy is an important piece of intrinsic motivation, especially for students. However, the circumstances of when and how to give students choices in the classroom is unclear. There are endless amounts of book options with different contexts and reading levels, so incorporating choice seems simple. Despite this, the typical school context is not conducive to student autonomy; daily schoolwork and activities are rarely under control of the student. Adding choice, autonomy, or agency into classroom reading activities also requires deliberate action on the part of educators. To determine situations where autonomy is beneficial, a systematic review was carried out on research that incorporates student autonomy into reading instruction. We focused specifically on reading instruction and interventions that took place in school, as students spend most of their time reading in the classroom. To what extent does it support the development of reading skills? Results from 37 articles show that autonomy positively affected children's reading skills, but not without exception. To account for this discrepancy in findings, a new framework of autonomy is provided.