The Differential Effects of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation on Higher-Order Comprehension: Mediating Roles of Reading Strategy Use and Lower-Order Comprehension

This study investigated how intrinsic motivation (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) shape Chinese fourth graders’ higher-order comprehension (HO) through the mediating roles of reading strategy use (SU) and lower-order comprehension (LO). A total of 564 students from Chinese mainland completed a literary and an informational reading passage. Structural equation modeling was applied. Results showed that both IM and EM predicted HO indirectly via SU, underscoring strategy use as a pivotal metacognitive mechanism. Notably, EM exerted a stronger indirect effect than IM, reflecting the cultural and curricular contexts where extrinsic incentives effectively prompt systematic strategy application. By contrast, IM uniquely predicted HO through LO, highlighting that foundational skills of retrieval and straightforward inference act as a cognitive gateway to deeper comprehension. Pedagogically, this suggests fostering IM to strengthen LO as scaffolding for higher-order reasoning, while thoughtfully leveraging EM to encourage metacognitive strategy use in structured classroom settings.