Gifted Boys, Literacy and Flow 11

Annotated Bibliography

Articles

Baker, L., & Wigfield, A. (1999). Dimensions of children's motivation for reading and their relations to reading activity and reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 452-477.

A)This study presents the results of an administration of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ), designed by Wigfield and Guthrie in 1997 to assess 11 dimensions of student reading motivation. Closely related to the engagement model subsequently presented in Guthrie & Wigfield (2001), the 11 dimensions of reading motivation are divided into three broad categories: competence and efficacy beliefs (encompassing self-efficacy, challenge and work avoidance), children's purposes for reading (encompassing the intrinsic dimensions of curiosity, involvement and importance as well as the extrinsic dimensions of recognition, grades and competition), and social purposes for reading (encompassing social reasons and compliance). Results confirm the multidimensional construct of reading motivation proposed by Wigfield and Guthrie and that they can be measured reliably using the MRQ. Seven distinct clusters of students with similar motivational profiles suggest that it is unproductive to think of students as high or low in reading motivation. Rather, a more useful lens emerges from the consideration of individual children as existing at unique intersections of several continua, some of which will tend to motivate the student to read in a given learning environment while others will tend to demotivate performance. Correlations between particular combinations of motivational factors and reading achievement were weak in this study, although none of the students in the sample read above grade level. Girls scored higher than boys on all motivational dimensions but two (work avoidance and competition), demonstrating overall more positive attitudes and greater motivation toward reading activity. The authors conclude by reiterating their assertion that children should not be seen as either motivated or not, but rather motivated for particular purposes in particular contexts.

B)This study provided strong support for a multidimensional, context-sensitive construct of reading motivation, putting it in agreement with most of the other motivational research I studied. The lack of any students in the sample that could read above grade level seriously limits the generalizability of the study's poor correlations between motivational variables and reading achievement to the population of gifted readers. However, the significant differences discovered between boys and girls in the study do provide empirical support for the widely circulated impression that boys disengage from reading in greater numbers than girls.

Barrs, M. (2000). Gendered literacy? Language Arts, 77(4), 287-293.

A)This article, based on findings reported by Moss (1999), presents an argument against researchers who suggest that making the literacy curriculum "boy-friendly" by catering to boys' reading and writing practices is misguided when goals for engagement with texts remain aesthetic. Favoring an aesthetic stance toward literature herself, Barrs emphasizes that contexts of reading instruction need to be changed so as to "make … more accessible to boys" the emotional intelligence underlying an aesthetic experience of literature. (289) In other words, teachers should develop techniques that foster a classroom reading culture that values engaging with the "lived through experience" of personally meaningful connections with literature.

B)The chief value of this article, which is not an empirical study, is to critique the kind of curriculum reforms suggested by Brozo & Schmelzer (1997) that advocate inclusion of "boy-friendly" texts without challenging the contextual norms of the literacy classroom. Such approaches oversimplify the picture by not considering the influence of context, especially peer group norms. Reorienting boys' stance toward texts does not imply that boys are somehow "broken" and need to be "fixed," but rather that the contextual norms of literacy instruction have socialized boys into a corner that forecloses further literacy development. Such dysfunctional contexts are what Dewey called miseducative experiences. Remaking the context can unlock abilities and developmental avenues that current sociocultural classroom norms mask.

Bintz, W. (1993). Resistant readers in secondary education: Some insights and implications. Journal of Reading, 36, 604-615

A)This study seeks to uncover factors that influence students' declining interest in reading as they progress through school. The researchers composed autobiographies of 44 students' reading experiences using information gathered from interviews with the students, their parent(s) and at least one of their teachers. Students were then classified as avid, passive or reluctant readers based on these autobiographies. Few students were avid readers, but among them, two main factors contributed to their love of reading: positive role models for reading and an interest in reading widely as a tool for learning. Passive students could be described as mildly aliterate in that they read fluently but did not actively seek out opportunities to read or get much out of their reading experiences. Reluctant readers in this study were highly aliterate in that they could read at a particular level of proficiency, but actively avoided reading as much as possible. These students had a history of reading difficulty and failure. The autobiographies revealed great variability in attitudes toward reading, depending upon the context (for example, displaying avid reading behaviors in non-school contexts but reluctant behaviors in school contexts). Interviews with teachers reveal a deep ignorance of students' reading preferences and an inclination to force students to read "quality" literature by any means necessary. Bintz concludes that the adolescents in the study are not averse to reading per se, but rather resistant to the kinds of reading imposed upon them by teachers. He also concludes that just as students' stances toward reading depend upon the context, the strategies they employ to complete reading tasks also vary with context.

B)This study is particularly useful as a demonstration of Dewey's critique of traditional education as demotivating in its imposition of external controls upon the content and process of instruction. Bintz's interpretation of adolescents' reading preference as context-sensitive aligns well with Dressman's (1997) observations of third grade readers' "performances" of reading preference. The exhortation to teachers to be sensitive to the reading interests of their students also agrees with recommendations made by several other researchers.

Brozo, W. & Schmelzer, R. (1997). Wildmen, warriors, and lovers: Reaching boys through archetypal literature. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41(1), 4-11.

A)This article presents a review of the literature on boys' underachievement in literacy relative to girls, suggesting that boys' may underachieve because they come to associate reading with femininity. Dominant media images of boyhood and maleness with which they begin to identify as well as the overwhelming presence of women in instructional and administrative roles in elementary/middle schools are two factors that may influence this association. To counteract stereotypical conceptions of maleness, the authors advocate building a literacy curriculum around literature with protagonists who exemplify positive male archetypes. They suggest scaffolding instruction by starting with easy reading or adolescent novels, gradually building up student proficiency to tackle more difficult classic literary selections. The authors cite empirical studies suggesting that matching texts with students' reading preferences enhances learning, and that this effect may be more pronounced with boys.

B)This article was helpful mainly for its synthesis of studies into boys' underachievement and the contextual variables that might cause boys to reject reading because of its gendered connotations. The extensive list of suggested works for building a curriculum around positive male archetypes is helpful, but the authors offer little advice as to what kinds of activities might effectively engage students in these particular texts. The authors are also silent on the risk of turning girls off from reading with such a male-oriented approach. Finally, no empirical evidence is present to bolster the authors' recommendations.

Church, G. (1997). The significance of Louise Rosenblatt on the field of teaching literature. Inquiry, 1(1). 71-77.

A)This article provides a concise overview of Louise Rosenblatt's major ideas in the area of Reader-Response Theory. Rosenblatt theorized that the meaning of a text (called "the poem") is what happens in the interaction between a text and a reader. It is not a static property waiting inside of a text to be teased out by close reading. She distinguished between two opposing stances a reader could take toward a text: the efferent, in which a reader focuses on what information or concrete understanding he or she can take away from a text; and the aesthetic, in which a reader seeks to engage with a text via his/her lived through experience. Rosenblatt critiques much of what passes for literature instruction as forcing students to take an efferent stance toward literature, when the aesthetic stance results in greater engagement with the process of making meaning in the interstices between the reader's lived experiences and the vicarious experiences presented in text.

B)This article, which I read midway through my research, was extraordinarily helpful because it provided me with a basic orientation to Rosenblatt's theories, which lie at the heart of most of the theoretical frameworks employed by researchers into reading motivation. The idea of meaning as situated in the interface between reader and text is also at the heart of Flow Theory: texts are meaningless both if their task demands do not match the reader's competencies and if the reader cannot connect the text to his/her immediate lived experience.

Clark, A. (1998). Resistant boys and modern languages: A case of underachievement. In A. Clark & E. Millard (Eds.), Gender in the secondary curriculum: Balancing the books (pp. 27-42). London: Routledge.

A)This essay explores differential achievement by gender of English students in modern language classrooms. Three issues that cut across both genders inform interpretations of data that show lower achievement in modern languages relative to other school subjects by teenagers in general. For one, English students tend to see the study of a foreign language as irrelevant to future success, in sharp contrast to Continental students who see the acquisition of English as key to future opportunities. Secondly, the level of grammatical rule-mastery and vocabulary memorization necessary to use a second language productively creates a pervasive impression that foreign language study is the most difficult of core subjects in England's National Curriculum. Lastly, foreign language study tends to lack intrinsic appeal to teenage learners because of a mismatch between the uses to which teenagers would like to put their new abilities and the limitations on what they can actually do with the language. For boys especially (at least as socialized under currently dominant gender regimes), the "steady slog" approach of second language learning is particularly off-putting as is the interpersonal relational context inherent to learning a second language. The potential for public embarrassment in the sometimes awkward process of learning to master a new spoken language is seen as more demotivating for boys than for girls.

B)While this study would appear to be unrelated to issues of gifted boys' disengagement with literacy, I include a discussion of it here as a case study in factors that could prevent boys from achieving flow states in their school learning. The failure to see immediate relevance, the frustrating gap between students' abilities and the challenges students would like to be able to meet with those abilities, and the extreme level of self-consciousness bred by fear of public embarrassment for poor performance are the polar opposite of conditions that would be conducive to flow. When all three are present on a daily basis in the foreign language classroom, potential to experience flow is virtually non-existent.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990b). Literacy and intrinsic motivation. Daedalus, 119, 115-140.

A)This article begins with a critique of the information-processing model of human consciousness that centers on the divergent forces that motivate a computer and a human being to action. Computers are motivated to optimal performance only by the logic of their inputs, whereas human beings are motivated by aesthetic needs, no matter how logically a case for action is put before them. The author presents a definition of literacy as "the ability to code and decode information preserved in … extrasomatic memory systems … A person who is literate has access to the knowledge stored in a particular system." (120) Two questions must be considered in any age during which literacy issues arise: what is the purpose of being literate, and who benefits from literacy? In the present day, the author asserts that modern American society does not provide meaningful answers to either question for the vast majority of citizens, and hence our short-term goal in the quest to encourage greater engagement with literacy should be "to provide realistic motives for the acquisition of literacy to more young people." (123) Csikszentmihalyi argues that intrinsic motivations for any action arise from primitive extrinsic survival needs that society has managed to fulfill for most people. For example, gourmands could not have emerged in Western society until the mass of men no longer had to rely on their own wits to satisfy their basic gastronomic survival needs. In terms of literacy, we can only go so far in convincing learners of the extrinsic needs for engagement in literacy; to expand literacy engagement, we need to do a better job of cultivating intrinsic motivation. Csikszentmihalyi reviews the components of his Flow Theory of intrinsic motivation (in which people are most motivated to engage in activities that provide them with enjoyment; see Csikszentmihalyi, 1990a), then turns to the question of how can we turn engagement with literacy into a more widely enjoyed experience? Teachers are key here. They can convey to children both their own enjoyment of literacy and a sense that language is worth mastering for its own sake, as well as carefully select reading materials for individual students that fall within their zones of proximal development for reading. Teachers must also strive to understand what students might want to use literacy for and then engage them in experiences that will help them reach (and exceed) their intrinsic goals. Csikszentmihalyi concludes with a review of "creativity killers," as conceptualized by Theresa Amabile: excessive self-consciousness; excessive imposition of external rules, procedures and time constraints; excessive evaluation; and excessive competition.

B)This article was enormously helpful in helping me conceptualize literacy engagement within a framework of Flow Theory. While Csikszentmihalyi avoids writing rigid prescriptions for literacy learning contexts that produce flow, he does offer an ample array of "don'ts" that can impede flow. As a concise statement of the power of intrinsic motivation (especially through the lens of Flow Theory), there is no parallel. Csikszentmihalyi's focus on the aesthetics of learning experiences predates much of the contextualist research discussed here and provides a useful road map for conceptualizing the construct of engagement. The theories presented here are rooted solidly in Deweyan ideals of educative experiences and the Vygotskian tradition of instruction within the zone of proximal development.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Flow and evolution. NAMTA Journal, 22(2), 37-58.

A)This is the transcript of a presentation given by the author to a gathering of Montessori educators. He presents the basics of his model of Flow Theory, in which optimal experiences occur when challenges and skills are evenly matched such that the individual develops toward greater proficiency and greater complexity in skills. If flow were not such a pleasurable experience, Csikzentmihalyi asserts that humanity would not have evolved culturally to its current level. The capacity for flow, thus conceived, is an adaptive advantage.

B)This article provided a solid (if not entirely polished) reiteration of the basic elements of Flow Theory. New twists on the theory offered here include evolutionary speculation as to why humans should have the capacity to experience flow, plus a more nuanced definition of "challenge" as "opportunity for action." Thus, while a given activity that provides a flow experience (such as encountering particularly evocative artworks in a gallery) doesn't appear on the surface to be particularly challenging, it does afford one an opportunity to exercise some physical, intellectual or aesthetic ability that leaves one more complex in some regard.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Evolution of adolescent behavior. NAMTA Journal, 24(1), 106-118.

A)This article theorizes that much of the emotional turmoil and tendency toward extreme behaviors that characterize adolescence stem from a mismatch between evolutionarily developed biological imperatives and a modern human civilization that no longer needs or values predatory and reproductive instincts in its teenagers. Deviance results from society's failure to provide opportunities for adolescents to follow their genetic programming within an accepted social framework. The author discusses a number of obstacles in our society to teens' consistent experience of enjoyment (defined not simply as pleasure, but rather as the experience of flow), among them a decline in opportunities for physical activity and isolation from adult role models. Providing teens with social, educational and/or recreational contexts more conducive to enjoyment is the key to healthy adolescent development.

B)The sociocultural and evolutionary explanations for teens' propensity for extreme (and sometimes deviant) behavior are at the very least thought provoking, if largely unsubstantiated by empirical evidence (within this article, at any rate). Csikszentmihalyi's "mismatch" hypothesis for adolescent pathologies dovetails neatly with Piechowski's interpretation of gifted children's "overexcitabilities" as rooted in a failure of the home/school environment to accommodate the children's unique needs. "Miseducative experiences" from this perspective do more than stunt the potential for future learning; among gifted students, such experiences can have harmful psychological repercussions, as the frustration of a drive to develop a particular talent will be felt more acutely by the gifted.

Davies, J. (1998). Taking risks or playing safe: boys' and girls' talk. In A. Clark & E. Millard (Eds.), Gender in the secondary curriculum: Balancing the books (pp. 11-26). London: Routledge.