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Educational Psychology Review

, Volume 13, Issue 3, pp 191–209 | Cite as

Interest, Reading, and Learning: Theoretical and Practical Considerations

  • Suzanne Hidi
Article

Abstract

After a brief historical overview of how interest and its role in learning had been conceptualized, the focus of the paper shifts to the specific relationship between interest and reading. The issues considered are the effect of interest on readers' comprehension and learning, the variables that determine readers' interests, and the specific processes such as attention that may mediate the effect of interest on learning. It is suggested that to allow researchers a better understanding of the mediating variables, dynamic measures of interest are needed in addition to the more traditional self-reports and questionnaires. In the final section of the paper the author discusses the importance of utilizing students' interest in classrooms.

interest reading attention learning motivation 
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© Plenum Publishing Corporation 2001

Authors and Affiliations

  • Suzanne Hidi
    • 1
  1. 1.Ontario Institute for Studies in EducationUniversity of TorontoCanada

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