Reading in the Foreign Language Classroom: Students’ Perception of the Interrelation among the Context, Reading Materials and Themselves as Readers

Abstract

This study was carried out in a private Colombian university in order to answer the following research questions: How do university students perceive the interrelation among the context, reading materials, and themselves as readers? How does an academic context shape students’ self-perception as readers? and How does an academic context determine students’ engagement in reading activities? Findings indicated that, although students were highly exposed to reading events in the academic context and that they had to understand and analyze a great diversity of texts, they continue perceiving themselves as “average readers” along the reflective process, due to the reduced opportunities the university gives them to select readings that they voluntarily would read.

Keywords

• Reading
• academic context
• self-perception
• motivation and engagement