article review 4

An investigation into the relationship between L2 reading motivation and reading achievement

The lack of correlation between L2 reading motivation and reading achievement might probably have resulted from the nature of specific constructs measured by the FLRAMS. Since this scale measures overall attitudes and motivation to read in a foreign language, it probably did not interact with students’ level of comprehension of the written text used in this particular study. Rather than general reading behaviors, language learners’ task-specific behaviors such as reading strategies or situated reading motivation might be a better indicator of reading achievement. Situational interest refers to a temporary state of mind which is a result of existing environmental conditions such as some particular features of a reading text, beyond established internal needs of a person. There is a better chance of exhibiting motivated behaviors in the long run when such situational interest develops into motivation by way of enjoyment and engagement in the activity. The fact that engagement in reading results in better comprehension and greater reading achievement justifies the need for researching reading comprehension in relation to text generated interest or task generated motivation. Thus, a future research route to follow in a Turkish EFL context might be a study on the interaction between reading comprehension and situated reading motivation, rather than general reading motivation. In other words, L2 reading motivation might be studied in relation to the situational factors specific to the relevant reading task through further research.