Kelly Gallagher opens his "The Nine Reading Reasons" by critiquing a reading program his daughter participated in which she was rewarded for reading by getting a free slice of pizza from a local pizza parlor. Gallagher states "What bothered me the most was the message the program was sending my daughter. It was telling her that the act of reading itself, the pleasure of a great book, was not enough inducement to become a reader. Rather, it suggested that reading is a chore that we need to offer rewards or bribes, to get you to do it."(pg. 18) He goes on to quote author, Alfie Kohn, who believes reward demotivate the students.
Interestingly, I recently read an article by William Heward titled "Ten Faulty Notions About Teaching and Learning That Hinder the Effectiveness of Special Education. In this article Heward argues for the use of extrinsic motivation in the classroom stating, "It is naive and irresponsible, however, for educators to expect students who do not already have the skills needed for experiencing success to work hard without positive consequences."(pg. 193) Students need to be able to contact some form of reinforcement to show they are taking the correct steps in their educational process, that they are on the right track in becoming fluent with whatever skill they are trying to master. Some students contact this naturally through quick success, others struggle and take much longer to reach that same level. It should not matter whether students are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to learn how to read as long as they learn how to read. One does not have to enjoy literature to be literate.
Great post. Lets talk about this in class. Many undergrad/grad students remember these pizza programs in their own schools and so this is always a good discussion point. I do think we often position reading against other pleasurable things. Read or.. If you don't read you won't get...
ReplyDeleteI am so glad someone has brought this up! Literally, the same article came to my mind as I read about extrinsic motivation and I felt so torn. Before reading Heward's article I would have completely agreed with Graves and Gallagher, but now it does not seem so simple. It bothers me because it seems like everything concerning extrinsic motivation says it's not good because students will actually end up liking the activity less when they are rewarded for doing it. I am just know sure how I feel about it. Looking at myself, I have always been motivated to get good grades, but I also love to learn. I like how you said it doesn't matter how a student learns to read, just that they do. Perhaps that is what we should be focused on instead.
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