Sessions

L2 readers’ attitude & its effect on word count

Even though it is logical that students who have a good reading attitude should read more books, that truism still needs to be investigated in detail. The presenter verified whether Nuttall(2005)’s virtuous circle is true by asking two research questions : (1) Does a student's reading attitude influence the amount of reading they can accomplish? (2) How does the amount of reading affect their reading attitude? Questionnaires based on Lee and Schallert (2014) were given to fifty-five university freshmen before and after a fifteen-week extensive reading program. One of the constituents of reading attitude, i.e. conative (behavioral intentions) factor, was analyzed by investigating the correlation between the subjects’ answers and their total reading word count. Statistically significant relationships between the variables were found. The English proficiency level of the subjects was ranging from false beginner to lower intermediate. The number of words they read during the semester was recorded by MReader. The average word count was 105,147. The scores of TOEIC Bridge test was also scrutinized. The findings indicated that the subjects’ word count steadily increased even when they did not start with a positive reading attitude. On the other hand, it was determined that increasing the amount of reading promoted a more positive reading attitude. The findings imply that the total amount of reading increases even if readers do not have a positive reading attitude at the outset, but the increased amount of reading will then have a marked influence on the subjects’ reading attitude.