The relationship between learners' Motivation and the construction of their autonomy in reading:The case of license students majoring in english at Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University,Jijel

Abstract

Achieving a high level of autonomy in reading is a key skill, a strong asserts for university graduates professional success and most probably the sole insurance that will continue to learn after graduation. The fostering of students’ autonomy in reading has always been an arduous for teachers of English especially in a foreign language context like ours. In the absence of a module that target specifically the development of students autonomy in reading, the only option left for teachers to promote high levels of proficiency in this important skill among learners and to help them become autonomous readers within and after graduation is above all awareness raising and motivation. In order to investigate this claim, this work aimed at studying the correlation between learners’ motivation and their construction of autonomy in reading. We hypothesized that the higher students are motivated to learn English, the more autonomous they become in reading. In order to verify this hypothesis, we used two research instruments, a motivation scale and a questionnaire of our own design in order to measure learners’ motivation and their autonomy in reading respectively. These two research instruments were administered to thirty-three (33) students representing the three levels of license students of English at Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University- Jijel. The results obtained supported the hypothesis advanced in this research; there exists a strong correlation between motivation and the construction of learners’ autonomy in reading.