A Correlational Study Between English Extracurricular Reading Motivation And Reading Strategies Of Junior High School Students

The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)points out that teachers should guide students to carry out extracurricular reading,and focus on cultivating and developing students’ reading literacy.Extracurricular reading helps stimulate students’ reading motivation,promote the use of reading strategies,and develop students’ thinking quality and learning ability.Students’ reading motivation and reading strategies in the reading process have attracted much attention in the field of English reading research,but few studies have focused on their actual situation in junior high school students’ extracurricular English reading.Based on this,this study investigates the extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategies of junior high school students,and explores the correlation between the two.In this study,students from Grades 7 to 9 of M Junior High School in Changchun City were the subjects.A questionnaire on the motivation of English extracurricular reading was developed based on the MRQ questionnaire,and a questionnaire on the use of English extracurricular reading strategies was developed based on the classification of reading strategies by O’Malley & Chamot and Oxford.The questionnaire was distributed to students in Grades 7 to 9 of M Junior High School,and a total of 533 copies were collected.Based on the framework of Learning Motivation Theory and Learning Strategy Theory,this study explores the following three questions:(1)What is the current status of junior high school students’ English extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategies?(2)What are the gender differences and grade differences in junior high school students’ English extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategies?(3)What is the correlation between junior high school students’ English extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategies?In this study,SPSS25.0 analysis software was used to perform descriptive statistical analysis,independent sample T-test analysis,ANOVA and correlation analysis.The results of the study showed that:(1)the English extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategy of M junior high school students are at the intermediate level;(2)there was no gender difference in English extracurricular reading motivation and reading strategy of M junior high students.As for grade difference,in terms of students’ motivation level of English extracurricular reading,Grade 7 is higher than Grade 9,and Grade 9 is higher than Grade 8;in terms of students’ use of English extracurricular reading strategies,Grade 7 is higher than Grade 9,and Grade 9 is higher than Grade 8;(3)the English extracurricular reading motivation in M junior high school students was significantly positively correlated with reading strategies.Through this study,the author proposes the following teaching enlightenment:(1)teachers should stimulate students’ self-efficacy and enhance students’ extracurricular English reading motivation;(2)teachers should cultivate students’ ability to comprehensively use cognitive strategies,metacognitive strategies and emotional strategies;(3)teachers should pay attention to the influence of English extracurricular reading motivation on the ability to use extracurricular reading strategies.(4)teachers should focus on the Grade 8 students’ English extracurricular reading.