Transcript Motivation to Read: Its Nature and Classroom Conditions

The Nature of Reading
Motivation and Student
Perceptions
SUKRAN SAYGI
Department of Basic English,
Middle East Technical University
[email protected]
“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).
2
Inspiration for the study
“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).
3
4
Some facts about Turkey
 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)
5
PISA
(2003)
Park,
2006
PIRLS
(2001)
6
The Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA), 2003
by Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD)
in 41 countries and Turkey
mathematics, science and reading tests
Turkey has the second lowest performance in
all tests among the OECD countries
7
The Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2001
othe reading achievement of primary
school fourth grade students: 449
Park, 2006:
home literacy environments of the 25
participant countries
o early home literacy activities, index of
parents’ attitudes toward reading and
number of books at home  Turkey was
in the lowest group
8
Purpose of the study
 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
9
Methodology
 Questionnaire Population and Setting
preparatory school of a private university
in Ankara, Turkey
pre-intermediate (N = 172)
upper-intermediate (N = 101)
 Student interviewees
students from the lower and upper third
groups depending on percentile scores
(N = 8)
10
Instruments
I . 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 departments
11
Results & Discussion
Quantitative
1. Nature of Reading Motivation (L1 and L2)
a. Principal Component Analysis
b. Correlations between L1 Reading Motivaton
Constructs and L2 Reading Motivation Constructs
12
Principal Component Analysis
Factor Extracted
Personal Reasons to
Read
Sample Item
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
13
in English/Turkish.
Correlation Analyses
L1 and L2
Constructs
Whole
PreQuestionnaire intermeadite
Population
. 203**
.199**
Upperintermediate
Reasons to
read
Value
.206**
.203**
. 210*
.368**
.446**
.284**
Recognition
.655**
.633**
.678**
Anxiety
-
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
14
• social recognition (Will I
look smart?)
• no correlation between
L1 reading anxiety and L2
reading anxiety proficiency in the target
language
• linguistic threshold
(cannot be determined)
• a tentative relationship
low or
moderate
correlations
15
Results
Quantitative
2. the relationship between motivation to read
and success in reading
a. Hierarchical Regression Analyses
16
Question
Result
relationship between L1 reading
motivation and L2 reading
achievement
the relationship between L2
reading motivation and L2 reading
achievement
No significant contribution was
observed.
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
17
their online text preferences
• role of grammar & vocabulary
• more difficulty in extracting
print information -frustration
• reading enjoyment can come
only when the reading is
reasonably fluent and
effortless
• students may prefer to read
materials that don’t help
them in exams
• social desirability
no
significant
contribution
from L1
reading
motivation
18
• “Reading is a language
problem. ”
• “comfort” vs “anxiety”
• “Reading is a reading
comprehension problem.”
• necessity of teaching skills
that should have been learnt
before
• strategy training 
autonomy  motivation
significant
contribution
from
exposure
period
19
• class hours are valuable for
the students
• time was significant
contributer at upperintermediate level – fuency
Contribution
of time
spent
reading in L2
20
• online materials’
contribution
• new type of reading –
“navigation”
• students’ gains from the
online materials and hyperreading take time to
transfer to classroom
practices and exams
• “digital”kids lacks the ability
to read deeply and to
sustain a prolonged
engagement in reading
text type
preferences
21
Qualitative
I. Personal Factors
value students put on reading
interest levels
background
II. Institutional Factors
syllabus
coursebook
teacher
exams
22
time
money
instructional
efficiency
personnel
materials
23
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
24
Classroom Conditions
 the teacher
- the only motivator
- higher levels of student motivation
when they see that the teacher care
about their progress
25
What to do, then?
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
26
beyond the teacher’s control …
 syllabus – needs analyis
 institutionalized syllabus
 course book selection
27
References
 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.
28
for further information or your
comments
[email protected]
THANK YOU …
29