SUKRAN SAYGI Department of Basic English,

Middle East Technical University susaygi@metu.edu.tr

The Nature of Reading Motivation and Student

Perceptions

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“Citizens of modern societies must be good readers to be successful. … The advent of computer and the Internet

does nothing to change this fact about reading. If anything, electronic

communication only increases the need for effective reading skills and the

strategies as we cope with the large quantities of information made available

to us” (Grabe, 2009: 5).

“Citizens of modern societies must be good readers to be successful. … The advent of computer and the Internet does nothing to change this fact about reading. If anything, electronic communication only increases the need for effective reading skills and the strategies as we cope with the large quantities of information made available to us” (Grabe, 2009: 5).

Inspiration for the study

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a never ending enthusiasm to change things to reach European standards

a central university placement exam – washback

private and state universities state and anatolian high schools (foreign

language oriented)

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Some facts about Turkey

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The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2003

by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

in 41 countries and Turkeymathematics, science and reading tests

Turkey has the second lowest performance in all tests among the OECD countries

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The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2001othe reading achievement of primary school fourth grade students: 449

Park, 2006:home literacy environments of the 25 participant countrieso early home literacy activities, index of parents’ attitudes toward reading and number of books at home Turkey was in the lowest group

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define the nature of motivation to read in Turkish (L1) and in English (L2)

to explore the relationship between the students’ motivations to read and their success in reading exams

to gain an insight as to the educational value students assign to reading motivation in the classroom dynamics

Purpose of the study

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Questionnaire Population and Settingpreparatory school of a private university in Ankara, Turkey

pre-intermediate (N = 172)upper-intermediate (N = 101)

Student intervieweesstudents from the lower and upper third groups depending on percentile scores (N = 8)

Methodology

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InstrumentsI . The questionnaire was adapted from Wang &

Guthrie’s Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (2004) and Yamashita’s (2007) reading attitude questionnaire.

II. semi-structured face-to-face interviews the formation of their motivation to read the effect of contextual surroundings (such as

teacher, materials) on their motivation their expectations about their future education in

their departments11

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1. Nature of Reading Motivation (L1 and L2)

a. Principal Component Analysis b. Correlations between L1 Reading Motivaton Constructs and L2 Reading Motivation Constructs

Results & Discussion Quantitative

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Factor Extracted Sample ItemPersonal Reasons to Read

I have favorite subjects that I like to read about in English/Turkish.

Social Recognition I feel happy when someone recognizes my reading ability in English/Turkish.

Anxiety I feel anxious if I don’t know all the words when I read something in English/Turkish.

Comfort I don’t mind even if I cannot understand the content entirely when I read something in English/Turkish.

Value I can become more sophisticated if I read materials in English/Turkish.

Information I can acquire broad knowledge if I read materials in English/Turkish.

Principal Component Analysis

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L1 and L2 Constructs

Whole Questionnaire Population

Pre-intermeadite

Upper-intermediate

Anxiety . 203** .199** -

Reasons to read

.206** .203** . 210*

Value .368** .446** .284**

Recognition .655** .633** .678**

Correlation Analyses

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

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2. the relationship between motivation to read and success in reading

a. Hierarchical Regression Analyses

Results Quantitative

Question Result

relationship between L1 reading motivation and L2 reading achievement

No significant contribution was observed.

the relationship between L2 reading motivation and L2 reading achievement

L2 reading motivation factors

significantly predicted 8.1 % of

reading achievement.

Pre-intermediate Reading anxiety is a significant

predictor.Upper-intermediate Comfort is a significant predictor.

habits and behaviors in L2 Time spent reading in English is a

significant predictor & a positive significant correlation between the students’ reading achievement and

their online text preferences17

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I. Personal Factors value students put on readinginterest levelsbackground

II. Institutional Factorssyllabus

coursebookteacherexams22

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Barr & Dreeben, 1983

Reading motivation is a COURSE BOOK thing: “one size fits all mentality” the course book’s syllabus is the syllabus students like the reading texts in the course book because they are short and easy --- they are not accustomed to dealing with long texts due to the education system

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the teacher- the only motivator - higher levels of student motivation

when they see that the teacher care about their progress

Classroom Conditions

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having the freedom to choose motivates students to become engaged in their reading

students are more interested in soft texts than pen-and-paper texts

more technology in class

What to do, then?

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syllabus – needs analyis institutionalized syllabus course book selection

beyond the teacher’s control …

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Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Mendi, H.B. (2009). The relationship between reading strategies, motivation and reading test performance in foreign language learning. Unpublished master’s thesis, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Park, H. (2008). Home literacy environments and children’s reading performance: A comparative study of 25 countries. Educational Research and Evaluation, 14 (6), 489-505.

Wang, J. H. & Guthrie, J. T. (2004) Modeling the Effects of Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Amount of Reading, and Past Reading Achievement on Text Comprehension between U.S. and Chinese students. Reading Research Quarterly, 39, (2) pp. 162-186.

Yamashita, J. (2002). Influence of L1 reading on L2 reading: different perspectives from the process and product of reading. Studies in Language and Culture, 23 (2), 271-283.

Yamashita, J. (2007). The relationship of reading attitudes between L1 and L2: An investigation of adult EFL learners in Japan. TESOL Quarterly, 41 (1), 81-105.

References

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for further information or your comments

susaygi@metu.edu.tr

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THANK YOU …