Enhancing EFL Students' Reading Motivation through Digital Extensive Reading: Evidence from Let's Read Asia in a Rural Indonesian Junior High School
TL;DR
The preliminary findings suggest that using Digital Extensive Reading with Let's Read Asia may be associated with increased reading motivation for EFL students, especially in rural areas where English reading materials are limited.
Abstract
Reading motivation plays a crucial role in fostering students' engagement in reading activities and supporting long-term literacy development. However, some Indonesian junior high school students may experience low motivation to read in English because they have limited access to engaging materials and the predominance of intensive reading activities in class. This study examined changes in students’ reading motivation following a Digital Extensive Reading (DER) intervention using Let's Read Asia. The research used a one-group pretest-posttest design with 28 seventh-grade students from a rural public junior high school in North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Motivation was measured using an adapted Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) with 12 items across four areas: Reading Efficacy, Curiosity, Involvement, and Persistence. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired-samples t-test, and effect size calculations. The results showed a significant increase in students' reading motivation after the intervention. The average score rose from 35.61 (SD = 8.74) before the intervention to 40.64 (SD = 6.43) after the intervention. Statistical tests confirmed a significant difference between the two sets of scores (t = 10.41, p < .001).The intervention was also associated with a very large effect size (d = 1.97). All areas of motivation showed increases, with Reading Efficacy showing the largest increase. These preliminary findings suggest that using Digital Extensive Reading with Let's Read Asia may be associated with increased reading motivation for EFL students, especially in rural areas where English reading materials are limited. However, given the one-group pretest-posttest design without a control group, these results should be interpreted with caution, and further research with more rigorous designs is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.