I (do not) like reading!: a narrative inquiry into general reading motivation

Using the narrative inquiry design, this is a study which would like to analyze deeper and more intimate onto the reading motivation of senior high school students. As reading involves lots of complex processes, many do not find it easy to do and end up with being unmotivated to do it. However, the importance of reading is something that could not be ignored as it provides us with a lot of information on daily basis. Students, without exception, are those who have to master reading skill since it is essential for their learning activity, but many learners are getting unmotivated in reading because of several aspects, such as: the inability of fulfilling inherent needs, the absence of autonomy, disability to show competence, lack of sense of belonging feeling, and social factors from family and/or peers. Looking at this current issue in literacy, particularly in general reading comprehension which often mistaken as ‘easy reading’ (Grabe, 2009), there are two research questions that came up to the surface: 1) What are the general trends of reading motivation among students of Blue Star Senior High School? 2) How do focal participants’ experiences establish reading motivation? Under the Self-determination Theory (SDT) from Deci & Ryan as the framework and the adjusted version of Motivation Reading Questionnaire by Wigfield and Guthrie, this study tried to explain the familiar reading motivation tendency in between the students from Blue Star Senior High School and later, specified the vast number of respondents into four main participants whose experiences were gathered and evaluated. It was later found out that in general, Blue Star Senior High School’s students are more likely to be extrinsically motivated when they read and the biggest encouragement to their extrinsic motivation is their social circle. While for our main participants, their past experiences were the ones that played important roles in constructing their motivation, either intrinsically or extrinsically