Arab World English Journal, August 2015 Bejaia University, International Conference Proceedings – 2015 Pp. 206 – 218
The Impact of an Extrinsic Reward in Intensive Reading Activities on Learners’ Intrinsic Motivation and Performance
Imene BILOUK
Faculty of Arts and Foreign Languages, Mentouri University Bros
Abstract:
Notwithstanding the incontrovertible role of reading in English as a foreign language in advancing students’ literacy levels, not all students are successful readers, nor are all of them endowed with the desire to read. This paper is rather an attempt to scrutinize the long-term impact of a literacy-related reward, a type of extrinsic rewards, on concurrently learners’ intrinsic motivation and reading performance. A total sample of 91 LMD students enrolled in the second year—at the Department of Letters and English Language, Mentouri University Bros.— was partaken in two experimental conditions. In the no-reward condition, the subjects were involved in reading and performing intensive reading activities, whereby the reward was internal to the experimental activities. In the reward condition, the same subjects performed intensive reading activities; however, their successful performance was rewarded tangibly by a short story. The major findings substantiated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two experimental conditions, submitting that short stories were a good incentive to enhance adult students’ intrinsic motivation as well as performance during an intensive reading practice phase.
Keywords: a literacy-related reward, extrinsic rewards, intensive reading activities, intrinsic motivation, reading performance