Toward more motivationally-supportive reading interventions: Learning from young DLLs’ perceptions of English-only programmes

Abstract

How willing to participate in supplemental reading intervention programs are young dual language learners (DLLs)? Here we employ a qualitative case study design to consider two kindergarten and one first-grade DLLs’ motivation for doing reading tasks within a school-based, pull-out, English-only, reading intervention. Focal children’s motivation-related perceptions were elicited with two participatory interviews. Responses were compared with adults’ evaluations of the children’s behavioral engagement specific to the intervention. All DLLs shared their perceived benefits and costs of intervention involvement and made recommendations for improvement. Exercising autonomy within the intervention was found to be motivating for all children. The degree to which the intervention supported DLLs in sustaining valued connections with friends, family, and teachers also appeared to have a significant influence on motivation. The findings align with and extend existing literature that explores the reading motivation of older DLLs and young monolingual English speakers' motivations for reading within intervention programs. Collectively, findings imply that motivation theory and research, along with DLLs' own program-specific feedback, should inform intervention design and delivery.