1. The Nature of Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions
SUKRAN SAYGI
Department of Basic English,
Middle East Technical University

2. “Citizens of modern societies must be good readers to be successful
“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. 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).

5. 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)

6. PISA (2003)
PIRLS (2001)
Park, 2006

7. 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

8. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2001
the reading achievement of primary school fourth grade students: 449
Park, 2006:
home literacy environments of the 25 participant countries
early home literacy activities, index of parents’ attitudes toward reading and number of books at home  Turkey was in the lowest group

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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

12. Results & Discussion Quantitative
Nature of Reading Motivation (L1 and L2)
Principal Component Analysis
Correlations between L1 Reading Motivaton Constructs and L2 Reading Motivation Constructs

13. Principal Component Analysis
Factor Extracted
Sample Item
Personal 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.

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

15. low or moderate correlations
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

16. Results Quantitative
the relationship between motivation to read and success in reading
Hierarchical Regression Analyses

17. Comfort is a significant predictor.
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 preferences

18. no significant contribution from L1 reading motivation
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

19. significant contribution from exposure period
“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

20. Contribution of time spent reading in L2
class hours are valuable for the students
time was significant contributer at upper-intermediate level – fuency

21. text type preferences online materials’ contribution
new type of reading – “navigation”
students’ gains from the online materials and hyper-reading 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

22. Results & Discusiion Qualitative
I. Personal Factors
value students put on reading
interest levels
background
II. Institutional Factors
syllabus
coursebook
teacher
exams

23. instructional efficiency
time
personnel
materials
money
Barr & Dreeben, 1983

24. 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

25. the teacher - the only motivator
Classroom Conditions
the teacher
- the only motivator
- higher levels of student motivation when they see that the teacher care about their progress

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

27. beyond the teacher’s control …
syllabus – needs analyis
institutionalized syllabus
course book selection

28. 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),
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
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),
Yamashita, J. (2007). The relationship of reading attitudes between L1 and L2: An investigation of adult EFL learners in Japan. TESOL Quarterly, 41 (1),

29. for further information or your comments susaygi@metu.edu.tr
THANK YOU …