Teacher Influence on Book Selection of Third Grade Students

This study explored the ways that two teachers taught their students to select books for independent reading and the ways the students demonstrated their understanding of those lessons. Two teachers and 12 third-grade students participated in this qualitative, comparative case study. Results suggest that students who learned to select books based on personal interests and to judge the book’s level of difficulty independently demonstrated higher levels of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation to read. Conversely, students who learned to use external criteria for choosing books demonstrated an external locus of control and relied on external motivation for reading.