PRESENTER: JANE LUO

ADVISOR: DR. TERESA HSU

DATE:103/10/27

Reading English for academic

purposes-What stiuational factors

may motivate learners to read?1

Citation

Hung, S.C.(2006).Reading English for

academic purposes-What situational factors

may motivate learners to

read?System,34(3),371-383.

2

Contents3

1 • Introduction

2 • Literature Review

3 • Method

4 • Result

5 • Pedagogical suggestion

6 • Limitation

Definition of Terms4

EAP: English for Academic Purposes

Introduction5

Background

Purpose of the study

Research questions

Background6

Three student informants were invited to

reflect on their own EAP reading

experiences and discuss pedagogical

situations in which they were more willing to

read.

Purpose of the Study7

It situated in EFL context where non-English

major college learners are usually required to

read content-area textbooks in English, tried

to determine what motivates student to

engage in EAP reading activities.

Research Questions8

Under what situations would learners be most

willing to read texts for EAP purposes?

Are there common factors underlying learners’

indicated motivation for EAP reading ? And if

yes, what are they?

Does content matter? If learners could choose

among subject areas, in which area would they

be most willing to read in English, and why?

Literature Review9

“argued that the traditional view that holds

language (including grammar and vocabulary)

and text length as major determinants for the

ease and difficulty of L2 reading texts is

insufficient.”

(Hauptman, 2000)

Literature Review10

They introduced theories from educational

psychology and analyzed learner motivation

from four levels: micro, classroom, syllabus,

and the out-of-class, long-term level.

(Crookes &Schmidt ,1991)

Method11

Participants

Materials

Factor Analysis

Participants12

•248 students in five randomly selected classes

in a university of science and technology in

Taiwan . With an 85% response rate, 212 data

sets were obtained.

Materials13

•A seven-point Likert questionnaire

Questionnaire14

Questionnaire15

Factor Analysis16

Results17

Under what situations would learners be

most willing to read texts for EAP purposes?

teachers were available to answer questions,

key points were highlighted clearly in

textbooks, reading skills were taugh

Results18

Are there common factors underlying

learners’ indicated motivation for EAP

reading ? And if yes, what are they?

EFL Teacher Facilitation,

Reading Requirements,

Text Facilitation

Results19

Does content matter? If learners could

choose among subject areas, in which area

would they be most willing to read in

English, and why?

Economics, Accounting, Marketing, Business

Pedagogical Suggestion20

•Provide convenient consultation to answer student

questions

•Take language-learning needs into consideration

in choosing texts

Pedagogical Suggestion21

•Use requirements tactfully

•Start from less-demanding content areas

Limitations22

•The sample was limited to two types of business

majors in a university of science and technology in

Taiwan.

•The questionnaire items were far from exhaustive.

•L1 translation, being one of the 18 items, was

excluded in the factor analysis because it attracted

ambivalent reactions from students.

Reflection23

•I think that the students should choose the

article which they are interested in to read.

24

Thank you!