| dc.description.abstract | Reading motivation and engagement in English are important for the student’s reading skills. However, there has been a scarce focus of Norwegian teachers’ views on the importance of motivation and engagement for reading in English among students in grades five to seven. Theory on teacher cognition explains that teachers’ views are affected by their own beliefs and thoughts from previous years in school, studies, and by their past classroom practices. This relationship affects each teacher to have individual views and perspectives on motivation and engagement for reading English. The limited attention on motivation and engagement for reading in English among Norwegian students and the interest in the individual teacher cognition led to this research which aims to investigate how teachers understand the importance of reading motivation and engagement among students in grades five to seven, and the teachers’ strategies for improving motivation and engagement for English reading.
Four individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with four teachers from three different elementary schools. The results indicate that teachers find motivation and engagement for reading important for students’ reading skills, although, their ability to separate and define the two concepts were perceived as difficult. Two topics were considered important for their students’ motivation and engagement for reading English. This included texts and technology. The teachers’ definitions of good texts vary, and their views on technology varies from believing it to be only advantageous to reading motivation and engagement in English or viewing it as both advantageous and disadvantageous. Additionally, their stated practices aligned with their beliefs on how to motivate and engage for reading English, and partially reflect existing theory on motivation and engagement for reading English as a foreign language. However, the teachers’ understanding of motivation and engagement for reading English leans further towards beliefs based on experiences rather than research. Therefore, this deserves more attention in the teacher education, in the teaching profession, and in educational research in Norway. | |
