Research On A Literature-based Reading Project And Motivation For Literature Reading: A Survey Of High-school Students

Many previous studies on literature reading at the university level have demonstrated its positive effects on language development. Moreover, previous extensive literature reading research at the level of high school students often use quantitative methods to measure whether or how much, literature reading contributes to language development. However, qualitative studies that reveal high school students’ perceptions of extensive literature reading are limited. Students’ motivation to read literature extensively, motivational change in particular, is under-researched.This study was intended to explore high school students’ perceptions of extensive literature reading, how their motivation to read extensively change over time, and what influences are behind the change. Thirty students from the author’s two teaching classes participated in the extensive literature reading project in which they are supposed to read as many graded readers of classic stories as they could outside class over four months. The data from interviews and journal entries were analyzed inductively and present thematically to build up a deep and full picture collaborated with a motivational questionnaire and classroom observations. Case studies were also presented to reveal the individual’s perception and motivational change in depth.Overall, the findings show that the participants held a positive perception towards extensive literature reading and they highly valued the voluntary nature of the reading project. A wide range of benefits(possible effect) and improvements(actual effect) were perceived. They viewed graded readers suitable and extensive reading conducive. However, there were individual differences among the examinations.The findings indicated that participants’ motivation to read extensively was dynamic and complex. Ups and downs in their motivation during the project were perceived. Various influences including contextual influences contributed to their motivational changes. The interplay of these influences led to individual differences of change in motivation. Also, negative influences were more powerful than positiveinfluences especially for the exam-oriented Chinese high school students.Drawing on the implications from the findings, the author maintain that voluntary extensive literature reading is desirable as additional learning opportunities supplementary to formal classroom learning.Importantly, the findings indicate that context such as testing system had a great influence on the participants’ perceptions and their motivation to read extensively. Therefore, it is argued that extensive reading needs to be considered from the sociocognitive perspective.