Students' Experiences When Not Initially Motivated for Literacy Learning

This report of an intepretive case study, conducted in a 5th/6th grade whole language classroom, provides (1) insights about students' thoughts, feelings, and actions when not initially motivated for literacy tasks, and (2) ways in which some of those students were able to become intrinsically interested. Students participated as co-researchers and reported their subjective experiences in three different motivational situations. Students in Situation I were initially not motivated but became so by combining empowering ways of thinking (e.g., searching for worthwhileness or self-regulating attention) with the completion of an activity. Students in Situation II lacked motivation throughout the particular activities but managed to complete the activity. That group focused on external purpose, and did not use metacognitive strategies. Their primary desire was to "get it over with." Students in Situation III lacked motivation, used avoidance strategies, and/or felt paralyzed, and did not complete the tasks.