Summer+Reading+Loss+&+Motivation+(Ashley)

=__**Summer Reading Loss and Motivation for students**__=
 * This literature review looked in depth at the summer reading loss of adolescents, and what motivated students to read during their time off. Summer reading loss in adolescents is not widely researched so I wanted to look further into it to see how I could better help, or be prepared to help the adolescents in my area. I am highly aware that many students do not enjoy reading, so how do we change this as educators?
 * My topic has been studied in a few different ways. The first difference is mainly that not much research has been done on this topic as compared to research in Elementary. There was enough for my literature review, but there wasn't an abundance of it. I also looked at studies that weren't of just summer programs, but also of the motivation of adolescents. Some studies showed that students in Western cultures were motivated extrinsically to read, while another study that I looked at showed that students in Hong Kong read for intrinsic reasons and motivations.

Three Important References:

 * 1) //Reading motivation. perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount: a comparison of junior and senior secondary students in Hong Kong// by Kit- Ling Lau was an interesting article to read because the students in Hong Kong seem to be the complete opposite to students in the United States. They read for pleasure, but it is usually tied to school in some way. They are also motivated to read intrinsically for their own reasons, and to share with each other their knowledge. Junior secondary students had better intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self efficacy, and social motivation than senior secondary students.
 * 2) //Assessing High School Students' Reading Motivation in a Voluntary Summer Reading Program// by Julie McGaha and L. Brent Igo was another good resource. Julie, the assistant principal at a large high school in the southeastern United States was giving the job of creating a summer reading program to help minimize reading loss as well as extend the school year. So her school created a research based program consistent with literature related to reading motivation. The school went through the state assessment reading list and college summer reading lists, and created a reading list of five books that were appropriate for their school. The students were encouraged to choose which book they wanted to read, and were given a copy of it for free (the school had used state incentive money to purchase the books). When the students came back to school in the fall, there were two guest speakers who came to their school for a literacy day and the students were involved in small group discussions about the books that they read the previous summer. They were assessed on their reaction or involvement in this activity. The study continued for a few more years and led to some great research.
 * 3) //What's Happening in YA Literature? Trends in Books for Adolescents// by Melanie Koss and William Teale was very informative about the new trends that I didn't realize were going on in new literature. Typically we think that YA novels are mostly for girls and are mushy gushy and focused on love. These assumptions are acually not correct since things are changing in literature for today's adolescents.

=What this means to different people:=

To administrators:

 * This means that you may want to look into how your students are motivated in the classroom, and how they are achieving. What can you do in your schools to help motivate your adolescent students more? And maybe in a diverse school if your students are achieving at different levels this could explain why. Something to look at when trying to get a summer program started and off the ground would be possibly using Title 1 funds to purchase books and resources to use for this program.

To Parents:

 * This research might indicate that your students are stressed financially and feel much better when they receive free books. Many adolescent students have summer jobs, or other engagements during the summer to help their family financially. While this may be the case, the research points out that many struggling readers come from lower socioeconomic homes, as well as how important it is for students to be academically challenged and reading everyday. The students who participated in many of the studies and read during the summer were the students who showed the most progress when school started in the fall.
 * The research that I have presented may lead you to think more about ways to motivate your child to read, as well as motivate them in other ways in education.

=Links for more help!= For Administrators and Teachers

For Parents and guardians

[|Book list for boys]

[|Los Angeles Public Library]

[|Boston library - FOUR Links here for boys]