Jigsaw #1: Motivation

What is the role of motivation in literacy development? 

Motivation
Copy Right Ker GL 2012

Motivation is the force that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to take action. The forces that lie beneath motivation can be biological, social, emotional or cognitive in nature. (Theories of Motivation: A Closer Look at Some Important Theories of Motivation, Kendra Cherry)

Motivation definitely play an significantly important role in literacy development. A lack of motivation in students is at the ROOT of many of the problems the teachers face in teaching. (What teachers can learn about reading motivation through conversations with children, Edmunds and Bauserman, p.414). Therefore, in order to get the students start to read, we have to stimulate the main factors with a right method. 

The articles that shared by other classmates have the same theme, control and connection. Edmunds and Bauserman talk about few main factors that get students excited about reading including personal interest, choices, knowledge gain, characteristic of the book and etc. If we would take all these factors into consideration, definitely will give the students a sense of control of they want to read, and they will be more motivated to pick up a book. 

The factors can be due biological differences (boys's literacy skills are lower than girls due to biological differences), or might be because of positive/ negative reinforcements, for example rewards/ punishment. Each students are a different individual, way to motivate students definitely need to think of the age group, gender, cultural background and etc. Some of the factors that mentioned in those articles are more suitable for primary year students, for example involve parents in reading club one a month (Edmunds and Bauserman). However this might not work well for middle year and high school students. What drives them to read might come from other aspect, for example their peers and emotion. 

Everything happen for a reason. It is very important for us as a teacher, to be aware of all these factors and differences between each students before jump into any conclusion/ judgement about the students' ability.  

Literary History

I grew up reading mangas (comics) at my neighbor's who open a bookstore. My family wasn't very wealthy, my parents couldn't afford to buy us any extra story books, not to mention manga, the so call unhealthy readings according to my father. My neighbor was really nice to my brothers and I, he just let us read whatever we like in his store for free, without telling my father. Sometimes we will help him a bit at the store but most of the time we were just immerse in the world of manga. I do not understand a lot of the words in the manga, but my brothers will always discuss the stories with his friends, that's when I start to connect the pieces that I pick up from the manga and try to make sense of it. I strongly believe that was the time that my imagination and creativity starts to develop. Still remain a big fan of manga.  =)

Although I did not get any pocket money to buy the story books that I like, but for some reason, there was a big bookshelf that full of books at home. Those were the books left behind by my uncles, aunties, some belonged to my parents and sister. Finished reading all the books in that shelf was my one of my childhood goals, not too sure if I eventually achieve it, but I definitely read a lot from there. Whenever I had words that I do not understand, I'll go to everyone in the family to look for answer. One day, my father had enough from me, and decided to teach me how to use the dictionary, I was about 7. Since then, I become a more independent reader. 

<The Stories of the Sahara> by Sanmao, 1974

After reading <The stories of the Sahara>, a semi- autobiographical account of the life of Sanmao, the author, while she was in the Sahara Desert during the early 70's. Her stories   full of love and pain in life, expressed in a sense of humour and sensibility inspired me to start writing. With the help from the dictionary, I will not have problem with difficult words. 

Reading and writing habits continue through my schooling life. Born and grew up in Malaysia, a multiethnic country, I am very fortunate to be able to study in my mother tongue, went through traditional Chinese education with many supports, especially in terms of materials, e.g. books, magazines, newspapers, radio broadcast etc. For some reason, the Chinese newspaper in Malaysia uses the mix of Traditional Chinese font and Simplified Chinese font. That makes me very comfortable reading and writing using both fonts and eventually help me a lot in my current teaching. I can easily read and translate the texts from Taiwan or Hong Kong (mainly Traditional Chinese font) to Simplified Chinese font that suit the China students (who use Simplified Chinese font).     

Look back at these experiences, the society that I grew up and my families give me great opportunities to explore into literacy and develop literacy skills. These have become one of the life skills that I most appreciate and wish to pass them to my student.

Day 1 activity in Content Area Literacy course 2013 Summer