Exploring Reading Motivation of Undergraduate Level Students: A Narrative Inquiry
Authors: - Maheshwor Mahat , - Dhanapati Subedi 
Published: February 2024

The research topic Exploring Reading Motivation of Undergraduate Level Students: A Narrative Inquiry sprouted from our confession as a late reader and our experience as a teacher in undergraduate level for past 12 years. Over the years, the researchers experienced very few students are motivated to read books even though book reading can benefit the students in many ways. Particularly, only handful of students remain as readers by the time they enrol in undergraduate levels. We were alarmed about the decline in reading habit and wanted to explore the reasons for motivation to read among the undergraduate level students. Purposefully, we selected four undergraduate level avid readers as participants from two different institutions in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts in Nepal.
The purpose of our study was to explore the reasons of reading motivation among avid undergraduate level students. We applied narrative inquiry and adopted interpretive paradigm relating to our ontological, epistemological and axiological stance and we were mindful that each undergraduate level student has her/ his own unique experience about book reading motivation. Collecting information via the participants’ narrative, with their prior permission, we recorded the interview and later on translated/ transcribed maintaining the ethics of research. They belonged to different socio-cultural background, and they had distinct motivation experiences of book reading.
For the theoretical foundation of the research, we substantiated motivational and social constructivist theories as the key theories since the students were motivated into reading for various reasons. In motivation theory, we applied self-determination theory and Value Expectancy Theory. On the other hand, we also applied social constructivist theory to analyse the societal influences in their reading. These theories were used as parallel of our research which, on the one hand, enabled us to think analytically and on the other hand, encouraged us to act reflectively throughout the entire research journey. Thus, the motivation and social constructivist theory provided a clear lens for exploring the reasons why undergraduate level students were motivated to be avid readers.
Furthermore, we got various insights from our research participants on reading motivation. According to stories of the participants, their social circle, teachers, home environment, and self-interest all served to drive them to read books. The home environment plays an essential role in motivating children from their early childhood. Home influence where parents impart love for reading and kindle reading yearning on children is central to influence children to imbibe reading habit from their early childhood. Similarly, their narratives indicated that individual teachers play instrumental role in motivating students to read even though the schools have no particular reading program. Next, it was also found that social circle like friends, book clubs, neighbours and social media encourages students to recognize reading as a social activity. Finally, in the initial stage, extrinsic reasons are instrumental to motivate students to read books; in later years, their self-interest or the ‘Me’ element support in becoming a lifelong reader.
This study contributes to raise an awareness of the stakeholders about the reasons why students read books informing them about major contributors in students’ motivation. This study more specifically helps parents, teachers, curriculum designers and policy makers to set the reader centric provisions for nurturing reading motivation in Nepal.
Raising the Curtain of the Study
We could not unleash our potentiality for two reasons during our childhood: our parents had no awareness of benefits of reading books and all of the schools we attended, lacked book reading environment. It took years for us to understand the importance of reading books before we became an avid reader. We think we are not only in this situation but this could be reality of thousands of students across the country. So, intrigued by this, we got interested in carrying out a research to explore the reasons why tertiary level students read books.
Being an important area of literacy, we have a stern belief that more studies should be interested in reading motivation so they the stakeholders and educators stay informed about the issues influencing adult reading habits and behaviors, especially in this digital age. In this regard, De Naeghel et al. (2012); Guay et al. (2010) indicate that not only reading motivation in general, but the type of students’ reading motivation in particular must be considered. Furthermore, many researchers, including Chen and Lu (2012), Guthrie et al. (2013), Klauda and Wigfield (2012), and Summers (2013), came to the same conclusion that people's reading behaviors and motivation are substantially influenced by their life experiences. These life experiences encompass the house and family, friends, the community, the educational system, and the teachers. In their studies, they lay emphasis on school and home environment and social reasons as crucial in shaping reading habit among students. However, in our experiences as students as well as teachers, we have realized that motivating children and adolescents in reading is a herculean task. Our situatedness could not yield the answer to this issue: How would students get motivated when their family and schools lack this environment? We would always challenge that if all the aforementioned findings common to students of university levels in Nepal? What are their contextual understandings? What are the experiences and stories Nepali undergraduate level students share? Our review also discovered that literature is silent about reading motivation from undergraduate level students from their own perspective. In this sense, reading motivation of undergraduate level students is an unexplored territory to look at. Therefore, we are interested to look at the experiences and stories of these students on this issue.
We also believe that promoting reading habit among students is only possible when their teachers encourage them to read becoming their role model (Chen, 2015). Teachers’ role can be only be effective when they read books and engage themselves with the students. Highlighting my notion, Fisher and Frey also pointed out that effective questioning by teachers encourage inquiry. Similarly, their modeling shows students how to read, analyze, and select suitable books offering students a chance to exert influence over learning. We also learned that a practice called sustained silent reading (SSR), which takes place in the classroom when pupils are given a brief window of uninterrupted silence for 15 to 20 minutes for reading whatever they choose, might motivate children. Furthermore, giving students access of e-books also stimulate them to read as they can enjoy the facilities of highlighting, annotating and searching for meaning for unfamiliar words and phrases which ultimately activate the text-to-speech feature (Larson, 2010). This means, these researchers recommend new techniques in implementing effective classroom instruction in the background of changing educational context. Hence, we are interested to understand what particular instructional assistance they expect from their instructors and teachers.
Moreover, reading motivation can be understood as a concept that specifically includes feeling experienced while reading (e.g., reading enjoyment), mental skills like reading include eye movements, visual perception, language processing, reasoning, and memory and the purpose to read (Artelt et al., 2010). Here questions may be raised: Is reading a construct of emotional and cognitive experiences only? What are other dimensions of reading motivation that are unexplored? We believe that for a student to be motivated, there are other dimensions in this changed world purely dominated by the digital technology. Next, is the contextual understanding of other research finding on this topic similar or context specific? What are the changing belief and priorities of undergrad level students in Nepali context? In this setting, as an avid reader myself and an instructor and an aspiring reading campaigner, we want to explore the contextual epistemic ground of reading motivation of undergrad level students from their own experiences. We still do not have a clear picture of the scenario how avid readers develop reading habits in Nepal.
Finally, methodologically, there are many methods like quantitative, mixed and qualitative to understand the ontological and epistemological meanings of reading motivation in relation to the ever changing educational world. After going through the literature such as Merga (2017); Brooks and Young (2011); and Neugebauer (2013), we realized study on reading motivation among students has been conducted from the post-positivistic approach. we believe, purely quantitative measure of reading motivation is unlikely to understand the all-inclusive aspects of motivations in adolescent students. Internationally, there have been few qualitative studies on interpretive standpoint. However, in Nepali context too, there is limited research giving voice to students' experience of reading in and out of educational institutions . Alongside, undergraduate level students who are in the crucial point between their high schools and upper level university degree are less studied. Therefore, there is need to expand knowledge in this area which could be a unique contribution to reading motivation and leadership literature.