A study of students' reading engagement and perception of eil materials

Abstract

The popularity of English as an International Language has been rapidly growing, contributing EIL materials to have become more widespread in learning. This study discusses students’ reading engagement and their perception of EIL materials, which aims to (1) investigate students’ engagement in reading EIL materials, (2) explore student perception of EIL materials, and (3) explore the relationship between students’ level of reading engagement and their perception of EIL materials. 113 undergraduate students at one private college who use English as a medium for their instruction were participated in this study. A mixed-method study which Reading Engagement Questionnaire and EIL Perception Questionnaire were adopted and constructed to explore the findings and an interview protocol was designed to triangulate with the questionnaires’ findings.

The study revealed that students engaged in reading EIL materials in a neutral level and perceived EIL materials positively. Students possessed all four constructs of reading engagement in EIL materials: competence-related beliefs, task values, behavioral engagement in reading texts, and engaged readers. Furthermore, students perceived positively with four principles of EIL: current status of English, varieties of English, strategies for multilingual/multicultural communication and English reader’s identities. Interestingly, there was a positive relationship between students’ reading engagement and their perception of EIL materials.