Motivation to Read and Thoughtful Literacy in an English as Second or Foreign Language Context

Traditionally, English reading has been thought of as an approach used to acquire language proficiency rather than as a way to understand information and elicit thoughtfulness. Although a positive correlation has been found between motivation and engagement, no study has yet been undertaken to discover the relationship between motivation and Thoughtful Literacy often referred to as “depth of reading” in an English as second or foreign language (L2) context. This research study is the first academic inquiry to address the predictive power of reading motivation with respect to Thoughtful Literacy in Chinese L2 learners at the collegiate level. This research project is also one of a very few L2 acquisition studies that addresses the issue of depth of reading. The study utilized quantitative methods by which reading motivation and Thoughtful Literacy were quantified using data gathered from responses to two questionnaires administered to the project’s subjects. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to establish a model and identify the relationships between motivational variables and the inclination of L2 readers to respond thoughtfully to an English text. The multiple regression model included four predictors: the Intrinsic Value of English Reading, the Importance of English Reading, the Self-Efficacy of English Reading and the Extrinsic Value of English Reading. Intrinsic Value of English Reading was also found to have more predictive power on Higher Order Comprehension than Text-Based Reading while Extrinsic Value of English Reading was found to have more predictive power on Text-Based Reading than Higher Order Comprehension. The results of the study revealed that the different motivation constructs have impact on different levels of reading comprehension. Intrinsic Value and Importance of English Reading were also found to be the two most significant predictors of the four included in the model. These findings might subsequently encourage L2 educators to reevaluate instructional practices to enable them to more effectively inspire and motivate their L2 students.