A Study On Junior High School Students’ English Reading Motivation In Rural Areas

Reading plays a vital role in language learning.To improve foreign language learners’ reading ability,it is not enough to only pay attention to reading patterns and reading strategies.Learners must also have strong reading motivation.According to the literature at home and abroad,great achievements have been made on English reading motivation,but there are few studies on rural junior high school students.A total of 352 rural junior high school students in Binzhou,Shandong Province completed the reading motivation questionnaire adapted from Mori(2002)and Wigfield and Baker(1999),as well as the mid-term and final English examinations in the autumn semester of 2021.In order to further explore the rural junior high school students’ real thoughts and feelings about English reading,the author conducts semi-structured interviews with 5 students.This research integrates the quantitative method and qualitative method to answer the following research questions: 1.What are rural junior high school students’ attitudes toward English reading and their reading preferences? 2.What are the main components of junior high school students’ English reading motivation in rural areas? Why? 3.What is the correlation between rural junior high school students’ English reading motivation and their English reading achievement? How are they related?With the help of SPSS 25.0 statistical software,factor analysis,correlation analysis and descriptive analysis are operated.The results reveal that on the whole,rural junior high school students hold positive attitudes toward English reading and they enjoy a wide range of reading materials;rural junior high school students’ reading motivation is multifaceted and 7 factors are identified including interest-extrinsic value of reading,reading recognition,reading efficacy,cost-performative value of reading,reading involvement,reading for grades and reading avoidance.This is mainly due to the limited economic conditions in rural areas,rural junior high school students’ recognition of the significance of English reading and their strong sense of competition;junior high school students’ reading motivation is correlated with achievement and 6 out of 7 factors including interest-extrinsic value of reading,reading recognition,reading efficacy,cost-performative value of reading,reading involvement and reading for grades are significantly and positively correlated with reading achievement and one factor---reading avoidance negatively and significantly relates to reading achievement.According to the research findings,the following implications are put forward to strengthen rural junior high school students’ English reading motivation.Provide students with enough English reading materials and carefully select reading materials;guide students to take a positive view of reading ability and make correct attribution;teachers give timely praise and feedback to help students form good reading habits and gradually cultivate their reading interest and confidence;reduce students’ learning burden and increase their reading time;provide reading conditions for students to reduce their economic pressure;enrich English classroom activities and make full use of students’ sense of competition.