The effect of experimental manipulation of student motivation on the situational representation of text

The present study investigated the effects of motivational instructions on interest, test anxiety, and text learning. Instructions to facilitate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were compared with a “neutral” instruction. The sample consisted of 375 ninth-graders. Text-related interest and test anxiety were assessed before and after the experimental instruction as well as after the text has been read. An inference verification test was administered to assess students' situational text representation. The results showed the expected effects of type of instruction on interest and test anxiety when measured directly after the treatment. With respect to the situational text representation, no significant main effects were obtained. Instead, the experimental instructions interacted significantly with gender and pretest interest. The hypothesized effects of type of instruction on the situational text representation were only observed for girls and for students with high pretest interest.