Chapter 2: An Interview With Allan Wigfield: A Leading Force in Developing Research on Expectancy-Value, Motivation, and Academic Literacy

When we talk about innovative research exploring and describing the nature, processes, and individual differences in human learning, development, and motivation, the name Allan Wigfield immediately comes to mind. For more than 4 decades, Wigfield has been a pioneer in the theory, methodology, assessment, and application of motivation research to practice. With Jacquelynne S. Eccles, he created a dynamic duo explaining the essential role expectancy-value plays in all aspects of human functioning and agency. They and their colleagues have done research on students’ subjective task values, relevance for student motivation and learning, and cross-cultural perspectives. They explore the foundations of achievement values and the development of achievement motivation and engagement. They uncovered the trajectories of change in students’ self-concepts of ability and values in diverse school disciplines and college major choice with methodological rigor and crystal theoretical framework. Wigfield also explores how perceptions of importance support from a reading intervention affect students’ motivation, engagement, and comprehension and how students’ affirming patterns and underlying motivation for reading information texts predict different reading outcomes. He has recently examined the associations between grit, motivation, and achievement among learners and whether gritty students are successful in school.