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Literate Actions, Reading Attitudes, and Reading Achievement: Interconnections Across Languages for Adolescent Learners of English in Korea
Author(s) -
Lee Juhee,
Schallert Diane L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the modern language journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.486
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1540-4781
pISSN - 0026-7902
DOI - 10.1111/modl.12088
Subject(s) - reading (process) , psychology , feeling , reading comprehension , affect (linguistics) , cognition , language proficiency , comprehension , developmental psychology , social psychology , mathematics education , linguistics , communication , philosophy , neuroscience
Using the three components of attitude in Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) Reasoned Action Theory— cognition (personal and evaluative beliefs), affect (feelings, emotions), and conation (behavioral intentions)—the present study investigated relations among L1 and L2 reading attitudes, the relative contributions of reading attitude and language proficiency to reading achievement, and various factors that shape L2 reading attitude. Participants were 289 middle school students studying English in Korea. Their language proficiency, reading achievement, and reading attitudes in L1 and L2 were measured. Results indicated that measures of L1 reading attitude factors correlated with scores on the corresponding L2 reading attitude factor. Despite the correlations between cross‐linguistic reading attitudes, reading attitudes in L1 and L2 exhibited different tendencies. Both cognitive attitude and language proficiency predicted L1 reading comprehension, whereas language proficiency was the sole contributor to L2 reading achievement. Reading frequency significantly contributed to reading attitude and achievement scores in L1, but such patterns were not as clearly apparent in L2. Also, proficiency in both L1 and L2 was associated with more positive reading attitudes and fewer negative feelings about reading in the corresponding language. Finally, several factors predicted L2 reading attitude: access to books, length of private instruction, teachers' encouragement, and participant gender.