Significant motivational predictors of the amount of reading by EFL learners in

Although there is extensive research into what constitutes second language learning motivation and how it works, most of the existing work is carried out in ESL environments, and is mainly concerned with motivation to communicate using the target language. However, in EFL environments such as Japan, students have quite limited contact with target language communities, and consequently need to rely largely on written form of input. Thus, this study attempted to investigate the relationship between how students ’ motivation/attitudes toward reading in English and a specific reading task, and how much they read outside of class. The results of the study imply that the following two motivational constructs were significant predictors of the amount of reading: (1) a factor indicative of students’ study habits, and (2) a factor of task-specific motivation indicative of students ’ lack of intrinsic value of stories. Surprisingly, neither sub-factors of reading motivation nor proficiency scores were found to be significant predictors