Reading, Motivation, and the Power of Social Relationships: Learning from Middle School Students in a Title I Reading Classroom

Adolescent students’ social relationships have myriad influences on their lives. Therefore, it is important to ascertain how students’ social relationships can inform teachers’ efforts to create authentic learning experiences and increase student motivation to develop life-long reading habits. This paper examines middle school students’ perceptions of reading and the connections between social relationships and reading. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with eighth grades students, this paper discusses the role of social relationships in students’ motivation to read. The authors explore the students’ perceptions and some share some insight into how social relationships might increase students’ motivation to read.