Attitudes, Motivations and Beliefs about L2 Reading in the Filipino Secondary School Classroom: A Mixed-methods Study

Abstract

This study is a two-part investigation. The first part focuses on ESL learners' attitudes and motivations for reading in the target language. The second part deals with ESL teachers' beliefs about motivating L2 learners to read. The study involved 100 ESL learners (N=100) and 30 teachers (N=30) from rural schools in Mindanao, the Philippines. All the participants were recruited through convenience sampling. In other words, participants were selected based on their convenient accessibility and proximity. The current study is a mixed-methods project. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to collect different types of data. The instruments used were: a L2 reading attitude survey, a questionnaire dealing with motivations for L2 reading, a survey on beliefs about motivating L2 learners to read in English, a semi-structured interview and a L2-reading-lesson observation. The quantitative data were statistically analysed. Whenever appropriate, the data were presented in tables and on graphs. The qualitative data were analysed through thematic coding and used to support the quantitative data. The findings show that students have both positive and negative attitudes towards various aspects of L2 reading. They also have different levels of motivation for reading in English, with female participants having higher scores than male participants. The teachers, on the other hand, hold diverse beliefs about motivating learners to read in English. No significant correlation was found between teacher beliefs and students' motivations for reading in English. After the findings have been described, implications for teacher education and instructional practice are offered.

Exploring the Implications of English as an International Language in Reading Instruction

“…Regardless of the various definitions found in literature, there is one common ground in all of them: reading cannot be viewed as a purely passive or receptive activity due to the various variables that come into play (N. J. Anderson & Nunan, 2008;Cirocki & Caparoso, 2016). These various parts correspond to the recognition of a variety of language signals, as well as the application of background information, inference, text interpretation, monitoring, and correction of understanding difficulties.…”