Maximizing Motivation for Literacy Learning

Barbara A. Marinak, PhD, is Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Mount St. Marys University. Before coming to Mount St. Mary's, she spent more than two decades in public education, where she held a variety of leadership positions. She co-chairs the Response to Intervention (RTI) Task Force of the International Reading Association and serves on the National Joint Commission on Learning Disabilities. Dr. Marinak's research and publications address reading motivation, intervention practices, and the use of informational text. Linda B. Gambrell, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Education and former Director of the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University. A past president of the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Reading Conference (NRC), and the College Reading Association, she is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award and the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the IRA, the Albert J. Kingston Award from the NRC, and the Oscar Causey Award from the Literacy Research Association, and is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Dr. Gambrell's research and publications focus on comprehension and cognitive processing, literacy motivation, and the role of discussion in teaching and learning. Susan Anders Mazzoni, MEd, is an independent literacy consultant who works with administrators and teachers to improve literacy practices in elementary school classrooms. Since the late 1990s, she has worked with teachers on implementing phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary instruction in ways that promote student engagement and literacy motivation. Ms. Mazzoni has taught reading courses and served as a research assistant for the National Reading Research Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research and publications address reading motivation, reading engagement, emergent literacy, and discussion.