AN EXPLORATION OF STUDENTS’ READING ABILITY AND THEIR MOTIVATION TO READ: GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ IN FOCUS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine students’ reading ability and their motivation to read. It was affected by internal and external factors. Motivation is theoretical concept used to explain the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior. The study was conducted in grade 10 Jinka secondary school. These schools were selected by using lottery sampling techniques, the research takes consists of 160 students. To show the method of the research used descriptive case-study method. The instruments used in this study are questionnaires and test. It was found that Students’ reading ability and their motivation to read in Jinka high school students showed that reading competence in foreign language was below half in the passage part of the test .This could be due to students’ poor reading ability in the classroom which might result different factors. Such as, cultural background of students, lack of motivation, Shortage of text books, lack of interest in reading and efficient method of teaching. Finally, based on the above findings, the following recommendations were forwarded. Motivation is the most essential factors that have a direct impact on the development of reading ability. English Language teachers need to use mixed ability grouping and provide students with the support they need to focus on the main idea of the text as well as the words and structure of the text. The classroom teacher ought to orient motivate, encourage, give reward, praise the students that develop confidence in the minds of his learners and this in return maximize the students participation reading classes.