Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Doug Eury

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to provide information on the factors that impact the male gender gap in reading. Disparities between the reading achievement of boys and girls have long been a concern for educators. There are many reasons boys are lagging behind in reading such as the lack of male role models, stereotyping, lack of interest in reading material, and differences in brain development in boys and girls. Peer pressure also plays a role in the reading success of boys and reading may be considered a feminine activity. Another reason boys do not perform well in reading is their great need for physical movement on a regular basis.

Students and teachers in three elementary third-grade classrooms were given a reading motivation survey. The constructs of the survey include reading efficacy, reading challenges, reading curiosity, reading involvement, the importance of reading, reading work avoidance, competition in reading, recognition for reading, reading for grades, social reasons for reading, and compliance. The 10 teachers also participated in an interview conducted by the researcher.

An analysis of the data revealed there was no significant difference in reading motivation between boys and girls. The data also showed that the reading motivation score had no impact on the end-of-grade reading score. In the teacher interviews, there were several factors teachers felt impacted the reading scores of boys. The lack of male role models and the classroom behavior of boys were two of the factors that were mentioned most often when talking with teachers about the reading performance of boys.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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