Computer‐based reading technology in the classroom: The affective influence of performance contingent point accumulation on 4th grade students

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the number of Accelerated Reader points accumulated by students and their level of self‐efficacy and value of reading. The fourteen week study examined 68 fourth grade students who attended an elementary school in a suburban location near a large Midwestern city. Self‐efficacy and value of reading were assessed using the Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996). Results of a pre/post‐test administration of the MRP showed the group of children who accumulated the largest number of points reported increases in reading self‐efficacy, while the students in the groups who accumulated fewer than 35 points showed decreases in the same field. All three groups demonstrated decreases in their mean value of reading scores.