were available for them to engage in. The children were therefore allowed to be and they experienced the freedom to choose. With the availability of various interesting activities, it was easy for the children to decide what they wanted to read. Thus, when I observed the children, they seemed to know what they wanted to do, and moved smoothly between the reading activities (as discussed in Chapter 5). This is in line with De Naeghel et al. (2016), whose findings showed the positive impact of providing guidelines and instructions on autonomy. children’s In the next section, I move on to consider the need for competence. Need for Competence The findings show that the need for competence was highly supported due to changes that occurred during the project. It is evident from the data that all the changes that were made in the project have played some part in enhancing need for competence. children’s The findings indicate that the children who participated in this research enjoyed being competent at completing reading-related activities in the project. The sense of children’s competence was supported by a number of factors: by providing structure and clear guidelines for children to follow, offering optimal challenges, and providing informational feedback (Reeve & Jang, 2006). In the following sub-sections I will discuss and analyse how these factors were used in the project in ways that meant they had a positive effect on the need for competence. Although I did children’s not use any specific tools to measure the competence, my observations during children’s the project allowed me to judge how they became more competent in their reading activities, for example, reading independently, not needing to ask questions, using the different iPad features confidently and effectively. Providing Structure and Guidelines Structure and guidelines emerged from the data as an important factor that supported the competence. This aligns with SDT theory which suggests that structure children’s enhances the need for competence (Stroet et al., 2013). The data showed that children’s structure supported children and helped them master the activities, as structure refers to amount of information in the context about how to effectively achieve desired “the & Belmont, 1993, p. 572). It is important to recognise the difference outcomes”(Skinner
were available for them to engage in. The children were therefore allowed to be and they experienced the freedom to choose. With the availability of various interesting activities, it was easy for the children to decide what they wanted to read. Thus, when I observed the children, they seemed to know what they wanted to do, and moved smoothly between the reading activities (as discussed in Chapter 5). This is in line with De Naeghel et al. (2016), whose findings showed the positive impact of providing guidelines and instructions on children’s autonomy. In the next section, I move on to consider the need for competence. Need for Competence The findings show that the need for competence was highly supported due to changes that occurred during the project. It is evident from the data that all the changes that were made in the project have played some part in enhancing children’s need for competence. The findings indicate that the children who participated in this research enjoyed being competent at completing reading-related activities in the project. The children’s sense of competence was supported by a number of factors: by providing structure and clear guidelines for children to follow, offering optimal challenges, and providing informational feedback (Reeve & Jang, 2006). In the following sub-sections I will discuss and analyse how these factors were used in the project in ways that meant they had a positive effect on the children’s need for competence. Although I did not use any specific tools to measure the children’s competence, my observations during the project allowed me to judge how they became more competent in their reading activities, for example, reading independently, not needing to ask questions, using the different iPad features confidently and effectively. Providing Structure and Guidelines Structure and guidelines emerged from the data as an important factor that supported the children’s competence. This aligns with SDT theory which suggests that structure enhances the children’s need for competence (Stroet et al., 2013). The data showed that structure supported children and helped them master the activities, as structure refers to “the amount of information in the context about how to effectively achieve desired outcomes”(Skinner & Belmont, 1993, p. 572). It is important to recognise the difference