The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of academic stress in determining grade differences of reading motivation. A total of 496 elementary students in Kaohsiung City were administrated by a questionnaire assessing academic stress, academic and extracurricular reading motivations. Participants were classified into low, middle, or high graders. The final exam was used to manipulate change of academic stress. Students¡¦ academic stress decreased as their grades increased. Academic stress was positively correlated with reading motivation in both academic and extracurricular reading domains. Further, the effect of academic stress on academic reading motivation was in accordance with that on extracurricular reading motivation. Together the findings seem to indicate that academic stress play a crucial role in determining the relationship between grades of elementary students and reading motivation. Specifically, a decreased reading motivation as grades increased stems from the descending tendencies of academic stress. Finally, the primary findings were discussed and educational implications were provided.

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