Reading motivation levels of bilingual primary school students: Suggestions for increasing reading motivation

Increasing reading motivation

Abstract

One of the difficulties bilingual primary school students in Turkey face in acquiring a second language (Turkish) is reading skills. Bilingual students who cannot read the second language texts fluently for various reasons cannot understand what they read. Reading turns from being a temptation to a challenge for bilingual learners. In such cases, bilingual students begin to feel the need to be motivated to read. The research aims to determine bilingual students’ reading motivation levels, discuss it in the context of various variables, and develop solutions to increase reading motivation. Consisting of bilingual students (n=256) and primary school teachers (n=32) teaching bilingual students, this research was carried out with a mixed method. The study group of the research was determined by the criterion sampling method. Students at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year due to the adverse conditions and restrictions create adverse pandemic; It was collected separately from the teaching at the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year. As a result of the research; Gender and preschool education were effective on bilingual student reading motivation. It has been stated that there is a consensus on increasing the capacity of primary school teachers to increase the reading motivation of bilingual students.