THE RELATIONS AMONG MOTIVATION, THE AMOUNT OF OUT-OF-CLASS READING, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE READING

This paper reports the results of a study on the relations among motivation, the amount of out-of-class reading, and achievement in foreign language reading among 322 English language learners in the Chinese tertiary setting. Motivation in English reading was measured by five scales representing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation components. The amount of out-of-class English reading consisted of academic and non-academic English reading. Achievement in English reading was tested by a reading section of a practice College English Test Band-4. The results showed that intrinsic motivation comprised of involvement and avoidance, and extrinsic motivation comprised of utility value, academic value, and recognition value. The path analysis, which examined the extent to which motivation and the amount of reading contributed to achievement in English reading, revealed that the amount of academic English reading was the only significant direct predictor to achievement in English reading, but intrinsic motivation indirectly contributed to achievement in English reading with the amount of academic English reading being a mediator.