Prospective ELT Students’ Foreign Language Reading Attitudes and Motivation

AbstractThis article reports the results of a study investigating prospective ELT students’ foreign language reading attitudes and motivation. The study also examined the relationship between the participants’ academic achievement (GPA) and their attitudes and motivation in foreign language reading and the existence of any gender-related difference in the participants’ reading attitudes and motivation. The study was carried out in January 2015 in English Language Teaching (ELT) Department at Hacettepe University. This study was conducted with a quantitative research design using a survey methodology to collect data about the participants’ reading attitudes and motivation. A total of 104 undergraduate students (females: 76 and males: 28) enrolled in the department voluntarily participated in the study. Further quantitative data were also gathered from the participants’ cumulative grade point average (GPA) scores and their gender. The results revealed that prospective ELT students have positive attitudes and motivation in foreign language reading. Also, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between academic achievement (GPA) and attitudes and motivation in foreign language reading. The results indicated that there was no significant difference among groups regarding reading attitudes and motivation according to their GPA