Choice of reading material and EFL learners’ motivation to read

Abstract

This study explores the impact of providing choice of reading material on the emergence of EFL reading motivation in four university students using the Complex Systems Theory (CST). Qualitative research design and grounded theory were employed to explore the effects of the intervention. The population is university students taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in a private Lebanese university. The sample included four participants with a specified English language proficiency that allowed them to appropriately and sufficiently express themselves in interviews. For that reason, non-random purposeful sampling method was used. The main instruments of data collection were interest and motivation questionnaires. In addition, open-ended interviews, and classroom observations were carried out in order to address the study questions. One-hour teaching sessions were held from Mondays till Thursdays over a period of three weeks. Students were interviewed at the end of each week, observation notes were taken in class, and teacher reflections were written after each session. In-depth, iterative reading of the textual data was done to trace the motivational outcomes of choice provision. The process involved coding segments in the texts and sorting the codes into hierarchical categories. Through repeated and iterative processes of sorting the categories, themes were generated and supported with selected evidence from the data. The findings show that the participants’ reading motivation was not affected by choice, but by the reading material themselves. That is, providing choice of reading material did not in itself influence the students’ reading motivation, however, it was the conditions under which choice was provided.