PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA
MINISTRY OF HIGER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Abd Elhafid Boussouf University - Mila
Institute of Literature and Languages
Department of Foreign Languages
Branch: English
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Master Degree in Didactics of Foreign Languages
Presented by: Supervisor:
1)Ms. Ines MERIOUECHE Ms. Sabah BOUGUERNE
2) Ms. Nor El Houda BENZAID
Board of Examiners:
Chairman: Dr. Djalal MANSOUR
Supervisor: Ms. Sabah BOUGUERNE
Examiner: Dr. Souad ALLILI
Investigating the Effect of Independent Reading on
Students’ Motivation to Read
The case study of 2
ndyear EFL students at Abdelhafidh Boussouf Mila
University
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Dedications
I, Miss Ines Merioueche dedicate this work to all the precious people in my life. To my source of happiness, my parents: Mohammed and Souhila, thanks for all the
love, courage and support that you gave me. Words can never express my love for
them.
To my only beloved brother Salah, and my sister Amel, thank you so much for being
there for me.
A special thanks to my fiancé A. Aymen, who sincerely supported me all the way. To my partner Houda, thank you for being such a good person to work with. To my dearest, exceptional and precious friends:AmelDjoghlal and Halima Djebli,
thank you for all the good times we have spent together.
To all my dearest cousins especially: Wafa, Selma and Iman. Thank you for all the
support.
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I, Nor El Houda Benzaid dedicate this work to the dearest people in my life. To my mother Fatima and my father Mokdad, who supported me all the wa.y To my beloved sister Leila and my brothers: Hamza, ChemsEddine, thank you for
being there for me.
To my partner Ines, I have never been happier for knowing someone like I did with
you, thank you for all the efforts.
To Romaissa, Amani, and Safa.
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Acknowledgements
First of all, we wish and praise to thank Allah the almighty for giving us help and the ability to complete this work. Peace be upon our prophet Mohamedة who has brought
us from darkness to faith.
This work would not reach completion without the support and guidance of many people.
We want to express, first, our deepest gratitude to our supervisor Mrs. SABAH BOUGUERNE, who kindly helped us to complete this work, by providing us with professional help, guidance, and valuable comments, and for being generous and patient enough to accept directing our dissertation, with all her academic engagements.
Also, special thanks go to the honorable members of the jury: Dr DJALAL MANSOUR and Dr. SOUAD ALLILI for accepting to read, evaluate, and examine
our research work.
Finally, we would like to give special thanks to all our teachers, and the participants of our survey, at the University of Mila, and all those who contributed in a way or
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Abstract
Reading is considered as one of the dominant elements in the process of teaching/ learning English as a foreign language. The present study aims at investigating the effects of independent reading on students’ motivation to read. This research treats students’ reluctance to read English texts, which is reflected on their reading abilities and their low academic achievement as well. This study was guided by the hypothesis that Students’ motivation to read in English would be increased if they read independently. The research work takes the case of Algerian second-year EFL students at Abdelhafidh Boussouf Mila University, for the academic year 2019-2020. To reach the research aim and test the validity of the hypothesis, and answer the research questions, a study was conducted that consisted of two types of research tools: a students’ questionnaire and a teachers’ interview. Eighty (80) second year EFL students, were selected randomly out of the whole population, and asked to fill in the questionnaire. In addition, a teachers’ interview was delivered to ten (10) English teachers, at Mila University. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results obtained from this study show that independent reading has a significant role in making EFL learners more motivated towards reading. Thus, the hypothesis is confirmed. The data collected from teachers, at Abdelhafidh Boussouf University, proved that: 1/ the reading materials are the students’ choices, and the teacher’s role in promoting learners’ independent reading is crucial. On the basis of these results, the dissertation ends with a number of pedagogical implications, and recommendations. They are proposed to help teachers and students guarantee effective outcomes.
Key Words: Reading, Independent reading, Motivation, Reading Motivation, Academic Achievements, Reading abilities.
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List of Abbreviations and Symbols
EFL: English as a Foreign Language EM: Extrinsic Motivation
FL: Foreign Language
LMD: License Master Doctorate L1: First Language
L2: Second Language Q: Question
SDT: Self-Determination Theory U.K: United Kingdom
U.S: United States %: Percentage
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List of Tables
Table 01: An Attributional Analysis of Causes………...30
Table 02: Period of Studying English………..50
Table 03: Students’ Choice for Studying English………...51
Table 04: Students’ Level………52
Table 05: Students’ Interest in Reading………...54
Table 06: The Students’ Frequency of Reading………...55
Table 07: Students’ Self Evaluation in Reading………..56
Table 08: Students' Independent Reading………57
Table 09: Students’ Frequency to Read without Being Asked………58
Table 10: Students' Interests in the Topic………60
Table 11: Students' Choice for Reading………...61
Table 12: Students' Reason for Reading ……….62
Table 13: Students’ Years of Choosing Their own Reading………63
Table 14: Students’ Reading Improvement………..65
Table 15: Students’ Evaluation of the Effect of Independent Reading on their English…….66
Table 16: Students’ Engagement when Reading independently………..68
Table 17: Students’ Preference of Reading after Experiencing Independent Reading………69
Table 18: The Students’ Evaluation of Understanding Authentic Materials after Reading Independently………71
Table 19: Students’ Opinion about the Role of Independent Reading in Developing their Communicative Competence………72
Table 20: Teachers’ Academic Degree………81
Table 21: Years of Teaching English………...82
Table 22:Teachers’ Opinions about the Importance of Reading for E.F.L Learners………...83
Table 23: Requirement of Reading in the English Courses ………85
Table 24: Teachers’ Attitude toward Learners’ Independent Reading………86
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Table 26: Teachers’ Evaluation of Students’ Reading Abilities………..89 Table 27: Teachers’ Attitude towards the Significance of Motivation for Reading to Take Place………..90 Table 28:Teachers’ Attitude towards Students Read in English………..91 Table 29: Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Role of Independent Reading in Increasing
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List of Graphs
Graph 01: Period of Studying English………51
Graph 02:Students’ Choice for Studying English………...52
Graph 03:Students’ Level………53
Graph 04: Students’ Interest in Reading……….54
Graph 05: The Students’ Frequency of Reading……….55
Graph 06: Students’ Self Evaluation in Reading………56
Graph 07: Students' Independent Reading………..57
Graph 08: Students’ Frequency to Read without Being Asked………..59
Graph 09: Students' Interests in the Topic………..60
Graph 10: Students' Choice for Reading……….61
Graph 11: Students' Reason for Reading ………62
Graph 12: Students’ Years of Choosing Their own Reading………..64
Graph 13: Students’ Reading Improvement………65
Graph 14: Students’ Evaluation of the Effect of Independent Reading on their English……66
Graph 15: Students’ Engagement when Reading independently………68
Graph 16: Students’ Preference of Reading after Experiencing Independent Reading……..69
Graph 17: The Students’ Evaluation of Understanding Authentic Materials after Reading Independently………71
Graph 18: Students’ Opinion about the Role of Independent Reading in Developing their Communicative Competence………72
Graph 19: Teachers’ Academic Degree………...81
Graph 20: Years of Teaching English……….82
Graph 21:Teachers’ Opinions about the Importance of Reading for E.F.L Learners……….83
Graph 22: Requirement of Reading in the English Courses………85
Graph 23: Teachers’ Attitude toward Learners’ Independent Reading………...86
Graph 24: Teachers’ Attitude toward Students’ Interest in Independent Reading…………..87
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Graph 26: Teachers’ Attitude towards the Significance of Motivation for Reading to Take Place………..90 Graph 27:Teachers’ Attitude towards Students Read in English………92 Graph 28: Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Role of Independent Reading in Increasing
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List of Figures
Figure 01: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs………...28 Figure 02: Expectancy–Value Model of Achievement………....33 Figure 03: Motivational-Cognitive Model of Reading………43
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Table of Content
Introduction
1. Statement of the problem ………..…..………...………..02
2. Aims of the study ………..……..………...………..04
3. Research questions and hypothesis ………...………04
4. Tool of research………...……….. 05
5. Structure of the dissertation ………....……….05
Chapter one: Independent Reading
Introduction………..……….06
1. Definition of Reading………...………..08 2. Models of Reading………...………...09 2.1 Bottom-up Model………...……...………... 09 2.2 Top-down Model ………..….….…..………10 2.3 Interactive Model ………..………11 3. Types of Reading ………..……….12 3.1 Intensive Reading ………..………...12 3.2 Extensive Reading………..………...12 4. Strategies of Reading ……….…………...……….134.1 Types of reading strategies ……….…….……….14
4.1.1 Pre-reading strategies ……….….………..14
4.1.2 While reading strategies ……….……..………15
4.1.3 Post-reading strategies ………..………..………..16
5. Reading in Second and Foreign Language ……….………...16
5.1 Differences between L1 and L2 Reading Context and Readers ..……….17
6. Independent Reading ………..………19
6.1 Definition of Independent Reading ………..………20
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6.3 Benefits of Independent Reading ……….………21
Conclusion ………...……….24
Chapter Two: Motivation and Reading Motivation
Introduction ……….………..261. Definition of Motivation ……….……….26
2. Theories of Motivation ………...………..29
2.1 The Attribution Theory ………….……….………29
2.2 The Goal Theory ………..………..30
2.3 Expectancy-Value Theory ………...……….32 2.4 Self-Efficiency Theory ………..……….33 2.5 Self-Determination Theory ………....………35 3. Types of Motivation ………....……….36 3.1 Intrinsic Motivation ………...………..37 3.2 Extrinsic Motivation ………..………...………..38 4. Reading Motivation ………...……….40
4.1 Importance of Reading Motivation ……….…………..42
4.2 Attitudes towards Reading Motivation ………..………45
Conclusion……….………47
Chapter Three: Data Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation
Introduction ………..491. The Students’ Questionnaire ………..49
1.1 The Sample………49
1.2 Description and Administration of the Questionnaire ………..49
2. Analysis of the Questionnaire……….………50
3. Discussion of the Questionnaire Results ……….………. 75
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Chapter Four
:
Data Collection Reinforcement, Analysis, Interpretation of
the Results, and Pedagogical Implications
Introduction………..……….79
1. The Teachers’ Interview……….………79
1.1. The Sample………..………...79
1.2. Description and Administration of the Interview………..………80
2. Analysis of the Interview……….………...80
3. Discussion of the Results………95
Conclusion ……….………96
4. Limitations of the Study………..………96
5. Further Study Recommendations………... 97
6. Pedagogical Implications……….………...98 General Conclusion………100 List of references ………..………...103 Appendices………..………...111 Résume………...117 صخلم………...118
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Introduction
1. Statement of the problem ………..…..……….02
2. Aims of the study ………..……..……….04
3. Research questions and hypothesis ………..04
4. Tool of research……….………....05
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Introduction
1. Statement of the Problem
Learning a foreign language is a challenge for almost all learners; it is both time consuming and energy demanding. It requires all the necessary skills needed for an efficient learning, students need to learn the speaking, listening, writing and reading skills to reach success. Researchers devote a great interest in reading, showing that it is a crucial language skill that has an enduring remarkable place in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. It gives students the opportunity to communicate successfully, exchange ideas in different locations, and expand their horizons of knowledge of the world. Without the ability to read, learners cannot have access to the available information of all sorts.
Reading in a foreign language is very important, as mentioned before; it is a bridge for achieving success and improvement. Therefore, some EFL learners glorify reading and devote a lot of their time inside or outside the classrooms in doing so. They are independent readers, they read what interests them, goes with their needs, and in a time and place that suit them. In another hand, other EFL learners tend to show a remarkable reluctance towards reading activities because they are less motivated to read (Morgan and Fuchs, 2007). This, in fact, affects the student’s reading abilities and hinders the process of learning of English.
Some studies start to consider reading with the idea that the reading process and outcomes are influenced by some factors related to the learner’s internal features such as feelings and interest. One of the domains investigated is motivation, which leads to the emergence of the reading motivation concept. For sure, and as mentioned before, motivation has a great importance over learner’s reading process, and thus their achievements, “without
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motivation to read, students may never reach their full potential in their learning” (Guthrie et al., 2007). For this reason, many studies are conducted to highlight the relation between the two variables and to investigate what could increase or decrease learner’s motivation toward reading. Researchers prove that students, who read from their own, expand and diversify their reading topics, are better learners, in which their interest in reading increases, and is one way to positively affect their reading motivation, which in turn helps in improving their learning skills and achievements. Meanwhile, students who rely only on their teacher and read only content specific materials cannot achieve high learning levels because they lose interest, desire and motivation to read, and become bored and develop a negative stigma about reading.“Real-world readers do not wait for a teacher to tell them what to read. They read what interests them, what suits their purpose” (Johnson & Blair, 2003, p. 1). Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests, in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not (Krashen 1993; Cunningham and Stanovich 1991; Stanovich and Cunningham 1993).
From what has already been stated, the effect of independent reading on learner’s motivation to read is really worth investigating.Yet, the process of reading is not given much attention. Algerian students are still encountering language learning difficulties that are attributed to the lack of reading. Moreover, first year EFL students, in Mila University, are asked to read intensively and extensively. However, shedding light on this topic, and trying to get facts from teachers and learners, through informal conversations, about students’ motivation to read in English; in the first, second, third, and the fourth semester, resulted in displaying the fact that students’ motivation is considered low, at the beginning, then, it starts increasing, at a low pace. This problem can be attributed to the lack of independent reading, at the middle and secondary schools. Therefore, students spend the building stages of their
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learning demotivated to read in English. There is a need to answer the overwhelming question if really independent reading helps learners in increasing their motivation to read. This is important, especially, that the majority of Algerian EFL learners lack the interest and motivation to read.
2. Aim of the Study
The research work intends to provide a deeper understanding of the effects of independent reading on reading motivation. It aspires to make learners aware of the importance of reading independently as it will pave the way to serve learner’s success through enhancing their motivation towards reading especially and learning generally.
The present research study aims at examining the important role of independent reading in increasing learners’ motivation to read. It seeks to explain the idea that learners need to read when motivating factors, such as independent reading, are provided to meet learners’ motivational interests.
3. Research Questions and Hypothesis
The present dissertation aims at answering the following research questions:
1.
Does independent reading increase students' reading motivation?2.
Are the reading materials the teachers’ choices or the students’ ones?3.
Does the teacher have an active role in promoting learners’ independent reading?5
Students’ motivation to read in English would be increased if they read independently.
4. Tools of Research
In order to test the validity of the hypothesis stated above, we rely on two tools of investigation. The first is a questionnaire directed to a random sample of 80 second year students of English, in Mila University (representing two groups of the population). This tool aims to gather data about the student’s opinions about reading, and to investigate the effect of reading independently on their motivation to read. Data is collected through questionnaire because it is the most practical method that enables to gather data from a large number of students in a short time. The second tool of investigation is an interview directed to teachers, to benefit from their experience as they are the most knowledgeable people about their students, and to confirm the student’s questionnaire results.
5. Structure of the Dissertation
The present work is divided into four main chapters: the first two chapters provide a theoretical conceptualization of the studied variables; the third and the fourth chapters are devoted to the fieldwork of the research. It begins with a general introduction and a conclusion. Chapter one spotlights the different aspects related to reading, including its definition, models, types, and strategies, also reading in a foreign language and independent reading. The second chapter also provides general information about motivation, its definition, types, and most leading theories, in addition to a considerable focus on reading motivation, its importance, and the learners’ reading attitudes and motivation.
The third and the fourth chapters, of the research, embody the practical aspect. They deal with the analysis of quantitative data collected by tools of investigation: students’ questionnaire and teachers’ interview, followed by a general discussion which is the end of this part. After analyzing and interpreting the results, pedagogical implications and recommendations are introduced for teachers, learners, and researchers.
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Chapter one: Independent Reading
Introduction………...……… 07 1. Definition of Reading………...………...08 2. Models of Reading………...………...09 2.1 Bottom-up Model………...……...………... 09 2.2 Top-down Model ………..….….…..………10 2.3 Interactive Model ………..………11 3. Types of Reading ………..……….12 3.1 Intensive Reading ………..………...12 3.2 Extensive Reading………..………...12 4. Strategies of Reading ……….…………...……….13
4.1 Types of reading strategies ……….…….……….14
4.1.1 Pre-reading strategies ……….….………..14
4.1.2 While reading strategies ……….……..………15
4.1.3 Post-reading strategies ………..………..………..16
5. Reading in Second and Foreign Language ……….………...16
5.1 Differences between L1 and L2 Reading Context and Readers ..……….17
6. Independent Reading ………..………19
6.1 Definition of Independent Reading ………..………20
6.2 Importance of Independent Reading ………...……….21
6.3 Benefits of Independent Reading ……….………21
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Chapter One: Independent Reading
Introduction
Reading has always been one of the most important skills in the learning process; it has given learner-s accessibility to acquire knowledge and information about the language. Moreover, reading has opened doors for readers toward life experiences, which in turn, have helped them build their personalities and enhance their use of the language. This chapter has discussed the essence of reading from different perspectives, it has explored reading in second and foreign language, then, the different models, types and strategies of reading, and finally, it has highlighted independent reading.
1. Definition of Reading
Reading has been a core of attention to many researchers in the fields of linguistics, psychology and language teaching. For a long time, many different definitions of reading have been set, but none of them have gathered all the aspects of the actual reading activity. Most of the definitions collected to explain reading agree upon one basic notion.
Some psycholinguists such as harmer (1993) and Boudoinet.al (1994) viewed reading as a combination of two processes “word recognition” and “comprehension”; but they mainly shed light on the mechanism, at the cost of comprehension and getting the intended meaning. As Harmer (1983) suggested, “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain [...] the eyes receive messages and the brain has to work out the significance of these messages” (p.53). In his work, Harmer emphasized the importance of “word recognition” process in which the readers have recognized written pieces, and then matched them with the identical sound, i.e., they have considered that decoding written words separately was enough to obtain an overall understanding of the text.
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Even though “word recognition” was considered a necessary step for reading to be effective, Goodman (1988) and other linguists argued that it was not sufficient for the reading process. For them, an effective reading was based on “Comprehension”. As Goodman (1988) cited, “Reading is a receptive psycholinguistic process, wherein the actor uses strategies to create meaning from text” .The reader received the written pattern in order to analyze it, process it, and give it a logical sense that matches with the intended meaning of the written piece, i.e., reading was a matter of understanding written language rather than just decoding it into sounds.
Another interesting definition was the one given by Anderson (2000). He considered reading as:
The interaction between the reader and the text. During that process, presumably many things are happening. Not only the reader looking at print, deciphering in some sense the mark on the page, ‘deciding’ what they ‘mean’ and how they relate to each other. The reader is presumably also ‘thinking’ about what he is reading: what is means to him, how it relates to other things he knows, to what he expects to come next in texts like this. (p.3)
Anderson viewed that besides the “word recognition”, i.e., the process of decoding written symbols into sounds, and “comprehension”, i.e., the process of making sense of the written patterns, a reader should link what knowledge he got from the text to the one already existing in his mind, to fully and successfully understand the written passage.
Snow’s (2002) definition of reading was also very interesting since it had something to do with reading motivation. She stated that “Reading is a simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with the written language”. Snow, in her definition, added the involvement factor as a significant step for reading to be complete.
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Even though the definitions have differed in some points, they have still shared and agreed upon the basic notion that reading has always been the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to obtain meaning.
2. Models of Reading
A model was defined by Davies as “A formalized, usually visually represented theory of what goes on in the eyes and the mind when readers are comprehending (or miscomprehending) text”. It meant that a model presented a description to what would come across, at the level of perception by the eyes and analysis by the brain, during the process of reading. On this basis, researchers have developed three different models of reading: the bottom-up model, the top-down model, and the interactive model.
2.1 The Bottom-up Model
In the bottom-up model, reading was viewed as a strictly serial process. It was described as a mechanical process, in which the reader would decode the text letter by letter, word by word and sentence by sentence to construct the meaning of the text. It was more clarified by Nunan (1993) as:
the bottom-up model assumes that the reader first identifies each letter in a text as it encountered, these letters are blended together and mentally sound out to enable the reader to identify the word they make up, words are chained together to form sentences, are linked together into paragraphs are ties together to for complete text. (p.76)
According to Anderson (1994), the bottom-up model considered textual meaning as the sum total of the meanings of words that built up clauses. This means that the meaning
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existed in the text, and the reader was supposed to get this meaning naturally and gradually, through a series of steps starting with the smallest units to the higher ones.
This model was criticized by some cognitivists who thought that it reduced the role of the reader, in which he was just a passive decoder of the printed letters into sounds. Also, this model prevented the readers from understanding the written text as a whole, or reading between the lines since it emphasized understanding each item of the text separately.
2.2 The Top-Down Model
Opposing to regarding reading as a serial processing of word perception; Goodman (1967) proposed the top-down model as a reflection to the psycholinguistic vision of information conversion. This model suggested that reading was directed by the brain (the reader and the brain rather than the text were the center of the reading process), in which readers were more concerned about bringing meaning to the print rather than just decoding letters into sounds. The top-down model gave greater emphasis on the background knowledge which the reader brought to reading in order to predict meaning. As cited by Goodman (1967), in Carrell and Eisterhold (1983), and smith (1994), they defined reading as the process of connecting information obtained from the text to the already existing knowledge (background knowledge) that the reader brought to the act of reading. This prior knowledge that the reader relied on to determine the content was referred to as schema. Ferris and Hedgcock (2009) illustrated clearly how reading proceeded from the top, the higher mental stage, down to the text itself. As a starting point, the reader would sample the text as a whole: its design, genre and the title to make hypotheses and interpretations about the content, on the basis of his/her previous knowledge. Then, to verify the correctness of these hypotheses, the reader would progress throughout the print, from paragraphs, to distinct sentences to isolated
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words, to incoherent letters; in order to confirm, adjust or completely reject the hypotheses leaving the place for new ones.
Nevertheless, the top-down model faced some criticism, that was it minimized too much of the role of decoding (the reader focus was on grasping the meaning of the text and not on decoding the written language to spoken language). It was also assumed that readers with little knowledge about the text might prevent them from generating hypotheses, even skilled readers with high abilities, to generate assumptions, consume much more time on doing so than simply recognizing the word.
2.3 The Interactive Model
The interactive model was one of the most promising approaches to the theory of reading today. It attempted to make connection between the bottom-up model and the top-down model, in which it took into account the strong points of the two models, and tried to avoid the criticisms stated against each. The interactive model was explained by Rumelhart (1977) as a simultaneously process of reading which started at the level of perceiving written symbols, and went through stages where information from all sources (orthographic, syntactic, semantic and lexical) were used by the reader to predict meaning and accomplish the task. Nonetheless, Rumelhart did not give a clear explanation about how the different sources of information cooperate in the reader’s mind while reading. Additionally, Dechant (1991) explained how the interactive model combined the two previous models in an interactive way; that was the reader processed letters, words and sentences, at the same time as the hypotheses about the meaning of the text were formulated. In other words, the reader started processing information at the highest level, but while facing a difficulty in doing so, he/she couldn’t shift to the bottom-up processing.
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3. Types of Reading
Throughout the long history of research in reading, only two types of reading were set by the scholars. As Suparman (2005) stated “there are two types for reading: reading for pleasure and reading for information”.
3.1. Intensive Reading
Reading intensively has been the process where readers have required not only to comprehend the passage and explore certain information, but to master the structure and vocabulary, i.e., the reader has to be very careful with the different language items: word, grammar, language expression and ideas, in order to understand the meaning of the text as a whole. Brown (1989) explained that “Intensive reading calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like”. Intensive reading sometimes required some exercises of translation, especially in the case of foreign languages, as it was cited by Day and Baniford (1998), “to take a text, referring at every moment to our dictionary and our grammar, comparing, analyzing, translating and retaining every expression that it contains”. Since it required the learners to pay attention to the smallest units of the text to the larger ones, intensive reading should be applied on short and interesting texts.
3.2 Extensive Reading
Extensive reading has meant reading longer texts usually for one’s own pleasure. This type of reading has required learners to choose for themselves what to read within their language competency, for the sake of pleasure, entertainment and language improvement. Reading extensively developed learners’ fluency over accuracy, as Palmer (1964) claimed that it was “Rapidly reading a book after book”. Additionally, Brown (1989:35) stated that
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“extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of texts”; this meant that it aimed to reach a general comprehension, i.e., learners were more concerned with obtaining the meaning from the text, thus, they skipped complex sentences and words rather than spending much time on decoding them through dictionaries. Since it was a process done for entertainment and in a relaxed manner, extensive reading did not require much attention to the linguistic rules of the language. Also, Hedge (2003) stated that “extensive reading enables learners to achieve their independency by reading either in class or at home”, this meant that selecting genius books by themselves could really enhance the student’s self- confidence and independence.
4. Reading Strategies
Various views, in the area of foreign and second language learning, have defined reading strategies from different perspectives. Numara (2007) sees that “reading strategies are various cognitive and behavioral activities readers make for the sake of achieving comprehension”. This means that reading strategies are a main tool that readers use to accomplish the ultimate goal of reading which is constructing meanings rather than just decoding symbols. Urquhart and Weir (1998) share the same definition of reading, which is “ways of getting round difficulties encountered while reading”. That is to say that reading strategies are the key elements for overcoming the reading difficulties faced by students during the reading task. Grabe and Stoller (2002) define reading strategies as” a set of abilities under conscious control of the reader”. The reading strategies represent a set of techniques put in a specific order and used in a particular way in a conscious manner as a response to the local problems in texts. The reading strategies are divided into three main categories: pre-reading strategies, while reading strategies and post reading strategies.
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4.2 Types of Reading Strategies
Reading has been a complex cognitive process which has required a deep attention to reach a fully understanding of texts. This ability of comprehending texts has been the difference between successful and failed readers. Successful readers have a plan to guide their reading comprehension through the texts, these plans have been the so-called: reading strategies. Reading strategies have been a combination of many strategies divided under three main titles: post-reading strategies, while reading strategies and post-reading strategies.
4.2.1. Pre-reading Strategies
Readers have always used strategies that have included activities to activate their background knowledge about the topic, so that they can make predictions about what would be read later. Researchers have agreed that the pre-reading strategies have depended more on the background knowledge of the reader.
According to Françoise Grellet (1981), activation of background knowledge was a strategy that required readers to use their background knowledge, which they brought to the act of reading, by discussing it orally to build the relevant knowledge and vocabulary that helped them understand what they were reading. Thus, later when they started processing a text, readers would use their pre-existing concepts which were recalled such as life experiences and pre-stored information, in an attempt to make connections by relating the text to themselves, previous knowledge and to the new one they encountered in a text. Urquhart and Weir (1998, p.184) note that “since previewing helps the reader in guessing what the text is about, it facilitates the decision of reading”.
Predicting, as a strategy, was based on the reading comprehension and readers‘abilities to get meanings from texts. Before reading a text readers might open discussions using what
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they knew about the author, the title or the settings, so they could make some guesses of what would happen later. As Françoise Grellet (1981) stated that” It is a faculty of predicting or guessing what is to come next, making use of grammatical, logical and cultural clues”. This strategy would help learners predict the content and focus their attention on the meaning, by linking it to the previous knowledge, thus would increase their comprehension of the written passage.
4.2.2. While Reading Strategies
Before reading, students use the pre-formed hypotheses as a starting point to explore the text. They move from the general understanding of the text to the deep one in order to check their hypotheses, and then, answer questions like choosing a title, or selecting the sentence that best sum up the text.
Doolittle et al., (2006) perceived that during the reading process, the readers used gradually to check their pre-formed predictions as they moved through the text. These predictions now could be conformed or changed, according to what knowledge and ideas the author would present, in the coming lines, in an explicit or implicit manner. This clarification would show readers the intended meaning of the text by drawing a map of what ideas existed in the passage rather than on what existed in their minds.
Self-questioning strategy included students asking questions about whatever texts they read. This helped them focus their reading and guide their attention by asking the most relevant questions of the topic, thus identifying the main ideas and integrating the needed information from texts. Willoughby et al. (1995) stated that” asking the right questions enable readers to focus on the most important information in a text”.
Many researchers have argued that this strategy has mainly been learnt by practice. Making inferences strategy has most been built on readers’ comprehension and thinking skills. It has demanded readers to get information and draw conclusions from the written passages and
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linking them to their prior knowledge. Since that authors has not always provided all the needed information right on sight, readers may have got the non-written meaning that was only referred to by clues. Nuttall (1996) argued that “Inference is the process that readers use to draw implications and certain conclusions from facts, opinions and arguments stated in the text”.
4.2.3. Post Reading Strategies
Post reading strategies may have involved repeating some of the pre-reading and while reading strategies as well as using new ones, which can only exist in post reading strategies. These later mainly have depended on summarizing whatever has been dealt with during the reading process.
Summarizing involved the readers’ capacity to synthesize information and explain in their own words what the main ideas were and how they were connected to each other as to increasing their awareness of text organization. Diamond et al. (2000) considered summarizing as an important strategy because it enabled readers to recall quickly what the text was about. The application of this strategy differed from text to text, according to what kind it was. For example, historical texts were not summarized in the same way as the scientific or political ones.
5. Reading in Second and Foreign Languages
Reading, in second and foreign language, carried even greater potential importance than in the first language since it was often the only readily available exposure to the target language. Numerous researchers who have been interested in teaching foreign languages have raised a very important question that has needed to be answered. It was voiced by Alderson (1984), namely whether reading was a reading problem or a language problem? After
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conducting his study, he found out, unsurprisingly, that it was a combination of both, depending on which stage the L2/FL readers were in. This meant that, in the first stage of L2/FL development, the reader’s knowledge of L2/FL played a crucial role in the reading process rather than his L1 reading abilities, i.e., without any knowledge about the language, the reader could not accomplish the reading task even with high reading abilities. L2/FL readers should at least be little competent, so they could generalize their L1 reading abilities into the target language. Eskey (1988) asserted that L2/FL readers “no matter how proficient in their first language reading, cannot transfer their skills to their second language reading until they have mastered more of the language.” Progressively, after reaching a high level of language knowledge, proficient L1 readers were now able to transfer their reading abilities and generalize them on the L2/FL even in the case of different writings. Proficient L1 readers could easily apply their L1 reading strategies to overcome reading problems faced while reading other languages, thus, they could achieve a high proficient reading level.
5.1 Differences between L1 and L2 Reading Contexts and Readers
It has been widely accepted that reading in first language has differed from reading in a second language. Among the differences between L1 and L2 reading contexts and readers have been the following:
5.1.1 The Amount of Knowledge about Vocabulary, Structure and Discourse
Grabe&Stoller (2002) stated that when children began to read in their first language, they already had a long list of vocabulary, knowledge of thousands of words, good control of grammar, and good knowledge of reading conventions. Children were more prepared while reading in L1 because they used to listen to stories and talk with adults and others about stories they heard. Those habits would develop children’s learning skills from early ages, which would make later the learning or reading processes easier and better. Things were
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different while learners or children were exposed to second language. They were less familiar with words, text structure or discourse, which made reading, in foreign language, a bit difficult and efforts demanding.
5.1.2 Metalinguistic and Metacognitive Awareness
Metalinguistic awareness referred to the conscious knowledge of how language worked; for example, knowing words and parts of speech, and knowing sentences and their parts (Grabe&Stoller, 2002). Metalinguistic awareness enabled learners to rewrite sentences, and play with words, by keeping sentences correct and maintaining meaning. L2 learners were usually older than L1 learners, therefore, they tended to develop greater metalinguistic awareness than usually L1 readers who started reading at early ages, and had a more intuitive knowledge of their native language.
Metacognitive awareness referred to the conscious awareness of what readers know. That was, it allowed them to “reflect on their planning, goal setting, processing of tasks, monitoring of progress, recognition of problems, and repair of problems” (Grabe&Stoller, 2002). L2 readers usually acquired literacy skills in their L1, thus they developed a greater metacognitive awareness which would help them to ameliorate their L2 reading comprehension through transferring L1 acquired reading strategies to assist in the L2 reading comprehension.
5.1.3 Text Structures
The manner in which ideas were organized, in texts, differ from one language to another, at the expense of its culture, thus knowledge about text structures was a highly important factor to consider in L2 reading. It helped in comprehension; made it easier to identify the topic, key sentences, and relationship between sentences/paragraphs. Conversely, lack of such knowledge might hinder comprehension. L2 learners often seemed to lack
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exposure to L2 texts and were not accustomed to L2 text structures (Chikamatsu, 2003). A study made by Sugita (1995) supported the argument that L1 and L2 text structure distance had an impact on L2 reading. The study was on native Japanese speakers and English learners of Japanese, who were asked to reorder twelve sentences, scrambled from an original Japanese text. English learners tended to place topic sentences at the beginning, while Japanese native speakers tended to put them at the end, which reflected their conventional L1 text structure. Also results showed that English learners tended to skip some sentences because they thought they were irrelevant to the overall text. Results showed that L1 text structure had an impact on L2 reading.
5.1.4 Socio-cultural Backgrounds
Literacy was the first effective exposure to a certain language that learners used. Difference in cultures led to difference in languages, which in turn led to difference in the way people viewed literacy. The way people valued reading was different from one culture to another, in some cultures, literacy was relatively uncommon, while in others, like in the U.S., or U.K., it was almost necessary for everyone to be literate. Another point of difference was that cultures tended to have different assumptions about how texts were used (Grabe&Stoller, 2002). Consequently, “individuals are socialized in their L1 education to engage with texts in specified ways” (Grabe&Stoller, 2002, p.25). Thus, L2 learners were likely to face some difficulties when reading L2 texts that reflected cultural assumptions unfamiliar to them.
6. Independent Reading
Independent reading has always been considered as one of the key factors affecting the language learning process. For that, numerous researchers have devoted their interest for investigating the influence of independent reading on the learners’ habits and attitudes toward reading specifically and learning generally. The findings of the studies conducted by some
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researchers (Krashen, 2004, 2006); Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988); Routman (2002) tended to show the great importance of independent reading, and its role in enhancing the learners’ motivation toward reading, which, in turn, could lead the learners to achieve success, in the language learning process, and become readers for life.
6.1 Definition of Independent Reading
Over the years, independent reading has gained many forms of identifications. Krashen (2004), for example, referred to it as “free voluntary reading”, Anderson, et.al (1988) used the phrase “reading outside the school”, Hughes-Hassell and Rodge (2007) preferred the term “leisure reading”, also Manzo and Manzo (1995) chose “recreational reading”. Scholars differed in determining what exactly independence, in independent reading, has referred to, based on the angle one has viewed it from. Students’ choices of their reading materials, in relation to or out of schools, have been the point of difference between scholars. Russell Stauffer (1960) defined independent reading as “reading assignments kids did at school that allowed them a choice of reading materials”; his definition showed that independent reading was related to school and the only independent thing about it was the student’s choice of texts. The National Assessment people (year) view was different from Stauffer’s one, they consider student’s choice of whether to read or not as the one to determine independent reading. Other views, in the Nineteenth Century, claimed that independent reading was the reading students did for homework, even though it was out of the school building, but it was still related to the school. By the Twentieth Century, independent reading shifted to the students’ control of their reading materials as well as time and place to do so. Clark and Rumbold (2006) defined independent reading as a personal experience that “typically involves materials that reflect our own choice, at a time and place that suits us”, This meant that independent reading occurred when the students decided to read autonomously and make personal choices, choosing
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appropriate books for the purpose of pleasure or information, also it required students to choose a suitable place and time to practice their reading. Likewise Hpokins(2003) stated that” Independent reading is the act of participating in reading without anyone giving order to do so”. This meant that independent reading was a way of reading extensively, in which it was an individualized practice through which students applied their learning to the reading of self-selected texts.
6.2 The Importance of Independent Reading
The amount of time students read independently correlated strongly to academic success. Independent reading had a great impact on students to become expert readers, it gave them an opportunity to make references to their previous learning and reading knowledge and apply it to a self-selected text that reflected their personalities and accorded with their needs and interests. Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988) conducted studies, on independent reading, to explore its importance and effect on the student’s reading achievements. The studies proved that student’s reading achievement was highly related to the amount of independent reading they did. Also, Krashen (2006) referred to independent reading stating that “The secret of its effectiveness is simple: children become better readers by reading”. He proved that students, who read independently, became better readers, scored higher on achievement tests, in all subject areas, and they were more knowledgeable than those who did not. Additionally, independent reading was proved to effect student’s future success, in which good readers were more likely to have better jobs and college opportunities.
6.3 Benefits of Independent Reading
Independent reading has been a context that has allowed students to see themselves as readers. It has given them an opportunity to read large quantities of self-selected texts and build habits as readers for life. Beyond the enjoyment that students have got, from the
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opportunities of selecting and exploring texts, independent reading has effected the student’s educational as well as personal development. Krashen (2006, p. 60), through his research, found that through independent reading, students improved “vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and literacy competencies”. Thus, independent reading had a strong effect on comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, awareness of text structure and format, and finally, self-confidence and engagement.
Comprehension has always been the student’s ability to understand the meaning of what has been written, said or read. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go” Dr. Seuss (1965). Students who read independently produced improvements across reading skills, including comprehension. When students read independently, they would apply their learning in daily time reading; thus, they would learn more and expend their capacities to comprehend. Also, independent reading provided opportunities for students to acquire much information and knowledge than those who did not because relying only on classroom reading was not enough for students to know things of different fields, which could facilitate the process of comprehending texts while reading. Routman (2002), stated that students who read for fun, at least once a week, would score higher in reading comprehension and proficiency, than students who hardly ever did.
Fluency has meant speaking quickly, clearly, easily and without making much mistakes or stopping a lot. It is also known as music of the language which consists of rhythm, rate, phrasing and prosody. The more students read freely and independently, the more they become fluent.AsAllington (2012, p.22) stated: “Unless children read substantial amounts of print, their reading will remain laborious, lacking fluency and limited in effectiveness.” A research conducted by Bridge, Winograd, and Haley (1993) showed that when students read independently and read considerable amounts of text, their reading performance and achievement increased, which included fluency. And since independent
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reading was a way of reading extensively, it required from learners to be rapid and accurate, which were major factors for improving fluency.
Vocabulary has been a collection of words used by an individual within a language. Therefore, reading was the best way to improve student’s vocabulary (Krashen, 2004). “The more children read, the more their vocabularies grow” (Cunningham &Zibulsky, 2013). It was clear that learners who read a variety of books, newspapers, and magazines were the ones to gain thousands of new words and complex vocabulary knowledge each year, which in turn led to improvements in comprehension, as Cunningham and Stanovich (2001) claimed that students learnt the most unfamiliar words through reading. Researchers also have proved that vocabulary has not been acquired, as well as through direct teaching, as it has been through direct reading exposure (Krashen, 2006).
Background knowledge has been considered the prior information that the student has acquired on a certain topic. It has been considered as a starting point, for an effective reading comprehension. Students who have read independently, have been the ones exposed to diverse topics and information which they could , then, count on, in their future reading, for a better understanding. Serravalo (2012) stated: “the more children read, the more they build their background knowledge, which in turn strengthens their ability to comprehend”. Also Dochy, Segers and Buehl (1999) claimed that the most important factor in determining how much the reader would comprehend about a given topic was his level of knowledge about the topic. “Practical knowledge test” was a test created to measure the knowledge that was relevant to daily versus academic knowledge, the results showed that the more students read, the more knowledge they would have (Cunningham &Stanovich, 2003).
Independent reading has opened doors for students to learn more and be familiar with different kinds of genre, both literary and informational, as well as the structure, format, and
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elements of text, and how those elements have been joined to create coherent and cohesive texts, which, in turn, would play a major role in improving students’ writing, and in facilitating the text comprehension; As Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) argued that knowledge of how texts were structured and how discourse was formed facilitated text comprehension. For Silberstein (1994), reading comprehension was achieved when readers were aware of text structure. It also helped students know how written language was organized and assembled (letter, sounds) and how they Worked together (decoding written patterns into sounds) to produce the sound system of the written language.
Independent reading has provided opportunities for students to choose their own reading materials, which could help in increasing their self-confidence. Students would be more independent and confident, which, in turn, would build in them engagement in reading. The more students have been engaged, the more their efforts and commitment, toward reading, would increase, which would generate motivation in students to read more and build habits as readers for life.
Conclusion
To sum up, reading has been a very important skill that students should learn and develop as much as they could. This process of learning how to read has much been based on the question whether learning has been seen as a reading problem or a language problem; which has, in its part, uncovered the differences between L1 and L2. Furthermore, any reading program would not be complete or reach the final stage unless if there has been a huge awareness from the students' part of its models and a real use of its strategies. In additionto that, independent reading has always been considered as a key element for reading to become a habit due to its great important and massive benefits.
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Chapter Two: Motivation and Reading Motivation
Introduction ……….………..26 1. Definition of Motivation ……….……….26 2. Theories of Motivation ………...………..29
2.1 The Attribution Theory ………….……….………29 2.2 The Goal Theory ………..………..30 2.3 Expectancy-Value Theory ………...………32 2.4 Self-Efficiency Theory ………..……….33 2.5 Self-Determination Theory ………....………35 3. Types of Motivation ………....……….36 3.1 Intrinsic Motivation ………...………..37 3.2 Extrinsic Motivation ………..………...………..38 4. Reading Motivation ………...………..40
4.1 Importance of Reading Motivation ……….…………...42 4.2 Attitudes towards Reading Motivation ………..………45 Conclusion……….………47
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Chapter Two: Motivation and Reading Motivation
Introduction
Motivation has been very essential in foreign language learning; it has long been considered as one of the key factors that has positively affected the language learning and its effectiveness as well. For this, researchers in the field of psychology and education have made great efforts in finding the best ways to foster students’ motivation toward the different tasks of the learning process including reading. Accordingly, this chapter presents a comprehensive view of motivation, along with its theories and types; followed by an explanation of the reading motivation, and an identification of its importance, and finally, learner’s attitudes toward reading motivation.
1. Definition of Motivation
Because of its complexity and importance, motivation has attracted the attention of many researchers, theorists and psychologists from ancient times, as it has been known in various ways and names, but none of these last has carried the full image of what motivation has been holding within its folds.
In the first place, the common sense use of the word motivation, which had its origin in Latin “movere”, signified to move. It specified the factors that forced people to “move” in their environment (Jorden, Carlile, & Stack, 2008). However, Nakata (2006:24) stated that: “Motivation cannot be explained by a single definition. Because of the complexity in defining the term, there has been a paradigm shift in our understanding of motivation over the last 50 years.” Accordingly, “to be motivated means to be moved to do something. A person who feels no impetus or inspiration to act is thus characterized as unmotivated, whereas someone who is energized or activated toward an end is considered motivated” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p.54). Moreover, according to Grabe (2001, P.41), motivation referred to “everything that
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drives and sustains human behavior”. Brophy (2010, p.3) defined motivation as: “a theoretical construct used to explain the initiation, direction, intensity, and quality of behavior, especially goal directed behavior”. This meant that motivation was seen as an explanation of people’s behavior and the driving force behind their actions. Hence, being motivated required working seriously and with energy to complete a certain task, even though the person was bored or tired. In this regard, Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004, p. 33) pointed out that motivation was “The attribute that moves us to do or not to do something ", which meant motivation was the abstract force that pushed the people to act and behave in a certain way, or totally prevented them from doing so.
From a psychological point of view, and according to Maslow (1970), motivation that derived people to do a certain thing was based on some needs, i.e., people were motivated to satisfy certain needs. In his hierarchy of needs theory, Maslow presented the needs that would create in humans the motivation to do something; in which those needs were classified, starting with the human psychological needs (air, food, water), which were considered as basic needs, then safety needs, social needs (also called love and belonging), to esteem needs (referred to the self- respect) and ended up with self-actualization needs which referred to the human need to reach his/her full potential. Maslow explained that people’s motivation would increase, in each time they fully satisfied a certain need, in order to accomplish the next ones, and that was how motivation was strongly related to people’s needs. As it was more explained in the coming figure that was propounded by Maslow:
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Figure 01: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1954).
Since motivation has been a multifaceted concept, which has drawn the attention of many researchers from different fields, educational and second language learning scholars have provided as well a definition of the concept motivation, in relation to the field. Gardner (1985, p.32) defined motivation as: “a combination of effort and desire to obtain the aim of learning language as well as positive attitude toward learning the language.” This meant that a truly motivated student showed three characteristics: a desire to learn the language, a desire to expend effort, and a positive attitude toward language learning. In the same line, other L2 researchers have defined motivation keeping the same components; Williams and Burden (1997:126) stated that “motivation may be construed as a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to attain a previously set goal”. Arkes also (1981, cited in Zuria, M., &Mohammed Y., 2007:94) stated that “motivation is the
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process that initiates, directs and sustains behavior to satisfy physiological and psychological needs”. Unlike L2 researchers who have attributed success to cognitive factors such as intelligence, Gardner (1985) emphasized the role of motivation, in the second/foreign language learning achievements, and stated that it was one of the key predictors of success.
Due to the absence of a universal agreement, the concept of motivation has witnessed several definitions; however, researchers have revealed the general consensus that motivation has been a very complex term that could be aroused either by external (reward, punishment), or internal factors (needs, interests), and which has involved a goal, an effect, a desire, an energy, an active involvement and persistence.
2. Motivation Theories
The essence of motivation has seen many changes over time. Many theoretical developments and research orientations have tried to propound a clear image about this term. Consequently, shedding light on the significant researchers, who displayed a pioneering contribution, in the field of motivational theories, has been inevitable to reflect the crucial impact of each foundational theory on language learning.
2.1 The Attribution Theory
The attribution theory sought to investigate and answer the question to what reasons students linked their success and failure. Weiner (1984, 1992), who was considered as the founder of this theory, proposed four main factors: effort, ability, task difficulty and luck. These factors were divided by Pintrich (2003) into three main dimensions: “locus (internal vs. external), controllability (controllable vs. uncontrollable), and stability (stable vs. unstable)” (p.107). Each factor was analyzed and given a certain value that suited it from each dimension. Skehan (1989) suggested the following table to conclude these factors:
30 Locus of control
Internal External
Stable Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
Table 01
: An Attributional Analysis of Causes (Skehan, 1989, p.51)According to the attribution theory, students attributed their success or failure, at any field, to one of the four mentioned factors, as a way to make them feel much better about themselves. Therefore, if they succeeded at doing a certain task, they would attribute it to their own internal factors which they had control on, such as: the effort they made and abilities they got. However, if they failed at doing it; they would attribute it to the external factors, which they could not control, such as task difficulty, luck, bad teaching or the unhealthy atmosphere…etc. The theory also investigated how past experiences of success and failure would affect the students’ future expectations of goals. For example, if their failure was due to the low effort and weak abilities, then, their potentials to improve in the future would be limited.
2.2 The Goal Theory
Early researchers have focused on the idea that human needs have guided their motivation. However, in present years, this idea has seen a shift in which motivation has been now directed by the human goals rather than needs. Lock and Latham (1990, p. 2), defined the term goal as “something that the person wants to achieve”. Brophy (2004, p.7), suggested that
