Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Keywords
Article Title [Persian]
Authors [Persian]
علاقه نقش مهمی در یارگیری و آموزش زبان دادر. این تحقیق نقش و میزان تاثیر استفاده از مطالب مطابق علاقه انتخاب شده را بر عملکرد دانشجویان در یادگیری زبان دوم (انگلیسی) بررسی می کند. تحقیق حاضر همچنین به بررسی تفاوت مابین عملکرد دانشجویان پسر و دختر در یادگیری مطالب در زمانی که مطالب مطابق علاقه انتخاب می شوند می پردازد.این تحقیق بر روی 60 نفر دانشجو رشته پرستاری انجام شده است که در رشته پرستاری مشغول به تحصیل بوده اند. برای یافتن پاسخ به سوالات این تحقیق از پرسشنامه و آزمون استفاده شده است. نتایج بدست آمده از این تحقیق نشان می دهد که استفاده از مطالب مطابق علاقه انتخاب شده بر عملکرد دانشجویان در یادگیری زبان دوم تاثیر مثبت و اصلاح کننده دارد. این نتایج همچنین نشان می دهند که جنسیت دانشجویان در میزان این تاثیرگذاری نقش موثری دارد، هرچند میزان این تاثیرگذاری در حد معناداری نیست. بنا بر نتایج بدست آمده از این تحقیق به پژوهشگران، مدرسان و برنامه درسی نویسان دروس زبان انگلیسی در دانشگاهها توصیه می شود که از مطالب مورد علاقه دانشجویان بعنوان مطالب درسی استفاده کنند و مفید بودن این موضوع را در اصلاح روند یادگیری زبان انگلیسی برای دانشجویان مورد توجه قرار دهند.
Keywords [Persian]
TheEffectofUsingInterest-basedMaterialsonEFLLearners' Performance in Reading: Focusing on Gender Differences
1Majid Asgari
2Saeed Ketabi*
IJEAP-1712-1129
3Zahra Amirian
Abstract
Interest plays a key role in education and language learning. This study investigated if selecting and using interest-based instructional materials could impact learners' performance in L2 reading. It also examined whether there were meaningful differences between male and female learners' performance, concerning the use of interest-based materials. Sixty first-grade university students participated in the study. To answer the research questions, a quantita tive method using the ' interest survey questionnaire' and the 'achievement test,' was employed. The collected data were compared and analyzed using t-test, and through SPSS. The results revealed that the use of Interest-Based Language Teaching (IBLT) made a significant contribution to the improvement of learners' performance in L2 reading. They also revealed some interaction of interest and gender, not at significant level though, with res pect to the learners' performance in learning. Thus, language teaching researchers, teachers, and particularly material developers are suggested to notice the use and importance of applying interest-based materials in L2 teaching. They should be aware that such materials can lead to better performance in L2 learning.
Keywords: Interest-based Materials; Student Interest; L2 reading; Learners' Performance; Interest- Based Language Teaching (IBLT),
1.Introduction
Interest can serve to prompt the struggling readers in any subject area because when they are interested they are attentive and focused (Ebbers, 2011). Interest focus often results in better strategy use, prompting inference facilitation, and yielding qualitatively deeper levels of comprehension and more reliable retrieval of information (Hidi, 1990). Using interest-based approaches to instruction can make good advances in language learning. Hence, teachers and language teaching researchers are expected to seek ways to contribute to student interest and improve achievement in L2 learning (Hidi
& Harackiewicz, 2000). As a result, language instruction should be based on interest and
characteristics of individual learners. Some education experts (e. g., Heilman, Collins-Thompson, Callan & Eskenazi, 2010; Renninger & Hidi, 2006; Walkington, 2013; Walkington and Be rnacki,
2014) contend that IBLT can contribute to raising students' interest. Eidswick (2010), too, insists on the importance of interest in learning and believes that it is easier for teachers to teach interesting
1PhD candidate, asgarimaj@gmail.com; Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
2Corresponding Author; Department of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran, ketabi@fgn.ui.ac.ir
3Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran; amirian_z@fgn.ui.ac.ir
topics for students, and subsequently to design interesting classroom activities. As Shiefle (1991) states, interest is an enduring characteristic of adults, and can be efficient for educators in applying interesting materials and methods in their teach ing. The review of the related literature around the role of interest in language learning shows that the construct impact has mostly been under investigation. Recently, however, an increase in focus on how features of the situation affect interest can be frequently seen (Ainley, Hidi, & Berndorff, 2002; Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Hidi & Renninger,
2006; Hoffmann, 2002; Renninger & Hidi, 2002; Wahjuni, 2012; Walkington, 2014 ). This study sought to examine closely the impact of interest-based material selection on learners' achievement in L2 learning, and find probable interaction that may exist between interest and gender. The study, indeed, investigated the effect of interest -based material selection on learners‘ performance in L2 reading because the materials used in English courses at universities in Iran, where the study is carried out, mostly involve reading skill.
2. Review of the literature
Hidi and Renninger (2006) refer to interest as heightened attention and emotional engagement. They believe that interest emerges in response to positive interaction with a content or task. Renninger (2000) divides interest into three types: situational, individual, and topic interest. Situational interest refers to focused attention and the affective reaction that is triggered in the moment by environmental stimuli, which may or may not last over time (Hidi, 1990). It is context - specific and of short -term value. In contrast, individua l interest refers to a person‘s relatively enduring predisposition to reengage in particular content over time (Renninger, 2000). It is topic -specific and has long-lasting personal value. The third type of interest, topic interest, has also been introduced, which is a learner‘s level of interest when a specific topic is studied ( Ainley et al., 2002; Hidi, 2001). They believe that these two types of interest are interactive, and topic interest cannot only be individua l or situational interest, and has characteristics of both types. However, Schiefele (1991) defines topic interest as a form of individual interest and contrasts it with situational or text -based interest. Situational interest has been shown to positively influence cognitive performance such as reading comprehension (Hidi, 1990). In addition, it has been shown to narrow inference ( McDaniel, Waddill, Finstad and Bourg, 2000), focus attention (H idi, 1995), and enable integration of information with prior knowledge (Kintsch, 1980). Similarly, individual interest has been found to have a positive impact on attention, recognition, and recall (Renninger & Wozniak, 1985); persistence and effort (Renninger & Hidi, 2002). Hidi and Renninger (2006) describe interest development across four phases. In phase one, situational interest is triggered by the environmental phenomena; in phase two, it is maintained either because the individual finds the environment to be enjoyable or perceives that the learning task has value; in phase three, interest that is maintained becomes an emerging individual interest, which then in phase four matures into a well-developed individual interest.
Ebrahimi and Javanbakht (2015) inves tigated the effect of topic interest on EFL learners' reading comprehension. The results demonstrated the significant influence of interest on learners' achievement. Wahjuni (2012) investigated whether IBLT in EFL can improve learners' English communicative competence. The results proved that IBLT increased the respondents' communicative skills. Magliano, Durik, and Holt (2011) revealed that topic interest affected learners' performance in a standardized text. They concluded that this effect occurred by increasing the engagement with the text, and the presence of interest led to better comprehension, because it facilitated the processes that supported comprehension. Celik (2010) in a study reported the results of an action research conducted in an ELT classroom in a high school in Turkey to examine the effects of IBLT on intrinsic motivation and language production. The results disclosed that IBLT had the potential to generate intrinsic motivation, and increase participation in classroom. Eidswick (2010) in a study examined interest and prior knowledge in relation to reading comprehension. The study results revealed significantly higher scores for the high-interest texts than for those of the other texts. Schiefele and Krapp (1996) investigated the role of topic interest on free recall of expository texts, and concluded that topic interest significantly influenced the recall of idea units and high-level information, increased the amount of what learners recall, and also led to a deeper comprehension of the texts.
The role of interest has been studied greater in L1 learning than in L2 learning. These studies mostly disclose the impressive positive influence of interest, particularly on L1 reading. Lee and
Pulido (2017), for instance, refer to the previous L1 empirical studies reporting strong effects of topic interest on reading comprehension. They report that sometimes with the effects of this factor being mediated by other individual difference factors, such as language proficiency and even gender.
Nevertheless, the results of several researches provide support that the attempt to increase interest in pedagogical context may not always promote learning. Clark and Mayer (2003), for instance, caution against adding irrelevant information such as background music that may distract learners. Harp and Mayer (1998) assert that such extraneous information is often labeled as ―seductive details,‖ and in some L2 settings may lead to negative effects on learning even while interest increases. Flowerday, Schraw, and Stevens (2004) reported no statistically reliable associations with learning from the text for either choice or personal interest in a lab study on reading engagement, attitude, and learning. The study by Reber, Hetland, Chen, Norman and Kobbeltvedt (2009) disclosed that example choice affects interest and probably attention, but not learning. However, referring to Hidi and Harackiewicz (2000), they argued that example choice can enhance student interest, which is at the core of motivating students to learn and to stay in school. Sedeghpour (2013) in her study found that topic interest did not significantly influence immediate and delayed recall of readings for EFL advanced-level learners. Even though previous L1 studies have reported strong impact of interest on reading comprehension by young learners, which has sometimes been mediated by other individual differences, like language proficiency and gender, more research is required to be done on the effects of interest on L2 learning diverse areas. Besides, a limited number of such studies have examined the relation between interest and gender in L2 learning (Linnenbrink-Garcia, Durik, Conley, Barron, Tauer, Karabenick & Harackiewicz, 2010). Therefore, to discover more on the interaction of interest in L2 learning context, learners' performance and gender, the following research questions were followed in this research project.
1. Does interest-based selection of instruct ional materials have an effect on EFL learners' performance in reading?
2. Is there any interaction of interest and gender when course materials are selected based on learners' interest?
3. Method
3.1 Participants
Sixty university students (28 males and 32 females), majoring in nursing, from a nursing college in Iran participated in this study. They were in the first year of college, and their age mostly ranged from 19 to 21. The reason for selecting the students of the first year was the point that the course of ‗general English,‘ as a university course, is usually presented in the first year, when students' general English background is not usually high. The other reason was related to practicality issues. In fact, such participants were not available for the study other universities.
3.2. Procedure
The participants were randomly divided into two groups, each with thirty students. One of them acted as the experimental group and the other as control. To ensure that the participants were not different in their reading prof iciency level before the research, an OPT test, whose purpose was testing reading comprehension, was administered. The results showed that the experimental and control groups were homogeneous regarding their reading proficiency. Then, the experimental group took the 'Reading Interest Survey' in the form of a questionnaire which aimed to identify learners' interest areas, while the control group did not experience this phase. Using the survey results, the level of interest for the students in the experimental group to each of the five general topics of the course book was determined. The results revealed that among the five general topics, the students were most interested in the topic, 'health,' which was the last section in the textbook, and had five le ssons around this topic. After that, all of the learners were taught five units by the same teacher in separate classes.
In teaching the experimental group, the lessons were selected and taught based on the students‘ interest areas. In fact, based on the r esults of the reading interest survey, the participants in the experimental group were taught the five units that were around the topic of 'health.' On the other hand, for the control group, the units were taught as listed in the book, or, the teacher did not apply any changes in the order of teaching the lessons. Finally, all participants took a teacher-made achievement test so that the researcher could determine any probable differences in learners‘ performance in achieving the course materials. To provide responses for the research questions, using t-test, and through SPSS, the collected data were closely compared and analyzed, which are reported in the 'results' section.
3.3 Instrumentation
3.3.1 The Oxford Placement Test (OPT)
This was a 20-item test that was used to determine the participants' homogeneity concerning their reading proficiency. It is a generic and standardized test that is frequently used in L2 teaching research for such purposes. We found an acceptable level of internal consistency (α=0.693) for this instrument using the data collected in the present study. The test was further reviewed by several experts of the field, who believed that it could be appropriately employed for the determined purpose.
3.3.2 Reading Interest Survey
This survey included five general topics taken from the textbook used in the study, and was to allow the researcher to provide readin gs tailored to students' interest. The topics included Explorers, Health, World issues, Mishmash and Science.‘ In fact, the five general topics of the textbook along with lesson titles of these topics were used in a survey form (questionnaire) to discover the learners' interest to each of the topics. To form this survey, the form and template of Read ing Interest Survey from Heilman et al. (2010) was exploited. The survey was reviewed by four experienced experts of L2 teaching research, who confirmed it as valid and appropriate to be used for the determined purpose.
3.3.3 Achievement Test
The achievement test was developed on the taught materials to identify the students‘ achievement in learning the course materials. It was a 30-item test, which consisted different sections comprising comprehension, multiple-choice, synonym and matching questions. Its reliability was examined by the researcher using the test scores of the present study. They showed a high level of internal consistency (α=0.894) which was found using KR—21 method, and its validity was verified by four field experts.
4. Results
4.1 Testing Reading Proficiency
Even though the participants had randomly been divided into two groups, to ensure that the learners of the two groups (experimental and control) were homogeneous regarding their reading proficiency level, the OPT for reading comprehension was administered. Table 1 shows the related descriptive statistics.
Table1. Descriptive Statistics of the OPT
|
N |
Mi ni mum |
Maxi mum |
Mean |
Std. Devi ation |
Std. error means |
OPT (G1) |
30 |
7 |
20 |
13.9 |
3.526 |
0.644 |
OPT (G2) |
30 |
7 |
19 |
12.76 |
3.349 |
0.611 |
Note: G1=experimental group and G2=control group
As shown in Table 2, the mean score for the experimental group was 13.9 with a standard deviation (SD) of 3.526, while for the control group, the mean was 12.76 with an SD of 3.349. The
difference between the mean scores of the two groups was compared using an independent samples test. The results are shown in Table 2.
Table2. Independent Samples Test for Reading Proficiency Test
Levene's Test for Equality of Vari ances
t-test for Equality of Means
|
F |
Sig. |
t |
df |
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
Equal vari ances assumed |
|
0.11 |
0.917 |
1.276 |
58 |
0.207 |
Equal vari ances assumed |
not |
|
|
1.276 |
57.487 |
0.207 |
As it is shown in Table 2, the level of significance in Levene's test is 0.917 which is higher than 0.05, suggesting lack of significant difference between the variances of the scores of the two groups. Thus, the level of significance of the independent samples test with equal varianc es assumed can be used for the judgment. This amount is 0.207 that is higher than 0.05. So, there is no significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups, or, the experimental and control groups are homogenous regardin g their reading proficiency.
4.2 Learners' Interest Level
A questionnaire was designed to determine the most interesting topic among the five topics of the textbook. The book that was used as the course book for the student contained five general topics:
'Explorers,' 'world issues,' 'mishmash,' 'science' and 'health.' The respondents indica ted their interest level to each topic by choosing one of the choices 1 to 5. The lowest mean (2.76) was for the topic of
'world issues,' while the highest one (3.8) was for 'health.' This was suggesting that the students in the
experimental group were most interested in the topic, 'health,' that was the last section in the textbook. Table 3 shows the students' interest level in the five determined topics. It shows their responses to each of the items in percent.
Table3. Descriptive Statistics Related to Respondents' Level of Interest to Each Topic
Topi cs of readi ngs |
N |
Mean |
Not i nterested at all |
Not very i nterested |
Nei ther |
Somewhat i nterested |
Very i nterested |
Explorers |
30 |
2.96 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
23.33 |
16.67 |
World issues |
30 |
2.76 |
23.3 |
13.3 |
33.3 |
23.3 |
6.7 |
Mishmash |
30 |
3.56 |
0 |
26.67 |
20 |
23.33 |
30 |
Science |
30 |
3.4 |
13.3 |
3.3 |
30 |
36.7 |
16.7 |
Health |
30 |
3.8 |
6.7 |
10 |
16.7 |
30 |
36.7 |
Note: Except for the column N and Mean, the numbers are in percent.
In Table 3, if the columns of 'somewhat interested' and 'very interested' are summed up, there will be a total number which can be used to show the interest level of the students to the topics. As seen in the Table above, 66.7% of the respondents are either 'somewhat' or 'very interested' in the topic of 'health.' This total number, demonstrating the students' interest level, for the other topics includes 'science,' 43.4%; 'mishmash, 53.3%; 'world issues, 29.9%; 'explorers, 40%. A comparison of these total numbers can help decide that the topic of 'health,' among all the mentioned topics, has attracted the greatest level of interest.
4.3 Research Question 1
The first research question involved whether IBLT can predict learners' performance in learning course materials. To provide an answer to this question, the achievement test scores were compared and analyzed. The descriptive statistics for the achie vement test is shown in Table 4.
Table4. Descriptive Statistics of the Achievement Test (Experimental and Control Groups)
Tests or Scales |
N |
Mi ni mum |
Maxi mum |
Mean |
SD |
Std. error |
|
|
|
|
|
|
means |
Achi evement test (G1) |
30 |
13 |
20 |
17.10 |
1.688 |
0.308 |
Achi evement test (G2) |
30 |
8 |
19 |
15.56 |
3.126 |
0.570 |
As it is shown in Table 4, the mean score for the experimental group is higher than the control. T he test for equality of variances was conducted on the achievement test scores, followed by the test for equality of means. The results are shown in Table 5.
Table5. Independent Samples Test for the Achievement Test
Levene's test for
Equali ty of Vari ances
t-test for Equality of Means
|
F |
Sig. |
t |
df |
Sig. |
Equal vari ances assumed |
6.928 |
0.011 |
2.364 |
58 |
0.021 |
Equal vari ances not assumed |
|
|
2.364 |
44.599 |
0.023 |
As shown in Table 5, the level of significance in Levene's test is 0.011 which is less than 0.05 which suggests a significant difference between the variances of the scores. Thus, the level of significance of independent samples test with equal variances not assumed can be used for analysis. Its amount is 0.023 that is less than 0.05, thus, there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups in the achievement test. This reveals that the experimental group has performed significantly better than the control group in achieving the course materials.
4.4 Research Question 2
The second research question sought to find differences between the male and female learners in the achievement of course materials, in terms of interest. To respond to this question, the initial requirement was dividing the participants in the experimental group into two groups (male and female). Sixteen females and fourteen males were sorted out. Accordingly, the achievement test scores of the identified learners in the two groups were sorted out separately. The means of these scores were compared and analyzed. The descriptive results are shown in Table 6.
Table6. Descriptive Statistics of the Achievement Test (Females and Males separated)
|
N |
Mi ni mum |
Maxi mum |
Mean |
Std. |
Std. error |
|
|
|
|
|
means |
|
Learners (femal e) |
16 |
13 |
20 |
17.375 |
1.833 |
0.455 |
Learners (mal e) |
14 |
13 |
19 |
16.785 |
1.568 |
0.408 |
The test for equality of variances was first conducted on the achievement test scores of the two groups (male and female). It was then followed by the test for equality of means. Table 7 shows the related results.
Table7. Independent Samples Test for the Achievement Test (Females and Males separated)
Levene's test for
Equali ty of Vari ances
t-test for Equality of Means
|
F |
Sig. |
t |
df |
Sig. |
Equal vari ances assumed |
0.235 |
0.631 |
0.952 |
28 |
0.349 |
Equal vari ances not assumed |
|
|
0.963 |
27.962 |
0.344 |
As shown in Table 7, the level of significance in Levene's test for equality of variances is
0.631 which is higher than 0.05, suggesting the lack of a significant difference between the variances of the scores. Thus, the level of significance of independent samples test with equal variance s assumed can be used for analys is. This amount is 0.349, higher than 0.05. So, there is no significant difference between female and male learners regarding their performance in learning the course materials, when teaching is interest-based.
5. Discussion
This study fo llowed two objectives. It sought to uncover whether using interest-based materials can help learners in obtaining the targeted materials in L2 reading. The study also examined differences between learners of different gender s in learning course materials, when the materials were interest-based. Even though there have been some limitations in conducting this investigation, considering the lack of studies concerning the role of different dimensions of interest in L2 learning (Hidi and Renninger, 2006; Schraw & Lehman, 2001), the findings can extend the literature on the role of interest in L2 learning.
The results of this study demonstrate d that selecting interest-based instructional materials assists L2 learners in learning course mater ials in English reading. These results are, to some extent, in contrast with the conclusions reached in some previous research, like the study by Sadeghpour (2014) who found no significant influence of interest on immediate recall and delayed recall of readings for the EFL learners. Similarly, they are inconsistent with the findings of some earlier studies (e.g., Carrell & Wise, 1998; Joh, 2006) that reported no significant impact of topic interest on learners' L2 reading. This contrast appears because the results related to the mentioned researches does not reveal an improving effect of interest exerted on reading performance, whereas the findings here confirm existence of a positive impact of interest. However, the findings generally give support to the idea presented by Eddy-U (2015) and Myers and Claus (2012) who argue that learning in L2 settings is under the influence by situational factors such as the role of the class atmosphere. The findings, indeed, provide empirical support for Laufer and Hulstijn's (2001) involvement load hypothesis, because they confirm the role of motivational and cognitive factors in improving L2 vocabulary learning and reading. The results are further supported by some earlier research findings (e.g., Ebrahimi & Javanbakht, 2015; Eidswick, 2010; Magliano et al., 2011; Schiefele & Krapp,1996), where interest was shown to play an effective role in facilitating L2 learning. These results can be explained by the idea that the generated situational interest can assist learners in performing with higher motivation and attention in L2 class, which can possibly facilitate and improve their learning (Ebbers, 2011; Hidi, 1990; McDaniel et al., 2000). More importantly, They can also be justified by the argument that interest helps class dynamism grow as learners encounter heightened level of interest and enhanced motivation that assist them to stay in a state of attentiveness, which can further change their learning into a more efficient experience (Celik, 2010; Hidi, 2001; Renninger & Hidi,
2002). The improvement in learners' performance in L2 reading can also lie in the novelty or surprise that learners experience because they face an uncustomary trend of learnin g, while they have been used to a customary trend of teaching. Simply, they usually encounter a system of language teaching that rarely has changes, mostly due to varied reasons like the lack of permission for teachers from higher officials, or the policies of the educational system (Guya & Izadi, S., 2002). The improvement in L2 reading can also be explained by the idea that the attention and desire resulted from such interest raise can possibly evolve facilitated learning for EFL learners. In other words, learners usually
learn more readily when they are intrinsically motivated to learn (Celik, 2009; Stevens, 1980; Walkington & Bernacki, 2014) simply because they consider the context to be consecutively stimulating. Learners, prompted by higher interest in L2 class, come up with a successful learning as a result of being more attentive and respectful to all of the immediate elements in teaching context including the teacher, materials, and classmates. Furthermore, it seems that heightened interest contributes learners to struggle more in their learning, and consequently be more diligent and effortful in learning, which provides them with better performance in achieving their course objectives.
The results also suggest that male and female learners, dealing with texts that match their interest areas, perform almost similarly in obtaining the presented materials in L2 learning. This indicates that the effect of interest-based material selection on learners' L2 reading stays nearly stable across males and females. This is in line with the findings of a study by Simsek and Cakir (2009) who found out that there were no significant differences between male and female learners through personalized and non-personalized problems. Accordingly, as Katz, Assor, Kanat-Maymon and Bereby-Mayer (2006) assert, interest serves as a factor that enables both boys and girls to tolerate the inconvenience resulted from different types of feedback conditions. They predict that girls and boys with high interest would experience high levels of intrinsic motivation irrespective of whether they receive positive feedback or not. On the other hand, the results show some interaction of gender and interest in obtaining the course materials. In other words, the interaction between interest and gender in L2 learning is partially supported, because the mean score for females is a little higher than for males, not in significance level though. These results echo LeLoup's (1993) findings that disclosed significant effects of topic interest on L2 reading, where females were more facilitated by high- interest topics than males. They also support the findings of Katz et al. (2006) who showed that among children with moderate interest, absence of positive feedback was associated with decreased intrinsic motivation for boys, and increased motivation for girls. They further support the results found in the study by Lee and Pulido (2017) that showed a significant interaction of gender and topic interest in word-form recognition, although not statistically significant. They found that for the lower interest text, females recognized significantly more word forms than males, whereas for the higher interest text, males recognized more word forms. The results are also inconsistent with the conclusions that Sadeghpour (2013) had in her study where she found female participants more successful than males in recalling from more interesting texts. One possible explanation for such findings can be derived from Ainley, Hillman and Hidi (2002) and Pulido's (2004) path analyses, where they concluded that female ado lescents are more likely to continue reading lower interest texts, while male adolescents tend to discontinue reading. The findings can also be explained by Graham, Tisher, Ainley and Kennedy's (2008) idea, explaining gender differences in achievement orientations. They see gender as a system of values that has attitudes, approaches, and behaviors. They explain that girls, facing with a choice of activities, select reading for the high value they assign to it, but boys mostly select physical activities. Accordingly, because of such preferences for particular activities, males and females prefer to learn the related and needed skills for those activities, which consequently lead to gender differences in reading engagement. However, it is possible that the interaction between interest and gender in L2 learning becomes more evident in case the study is conducted with higher numbers of participants in other L2 teaching situations and investigations.
6. Conclusion
Individual or group differences have currently found a highlighted share or significant role in L2 teaching. It is normally expected that IBLT will have an important and impressive effect in promoting L2 learning and teaching in the coming years. The results of this study showed that IBLT can make a significant contribution to the enhancement of learners' performance in L2 reading. The findings also confirmed that when instructional materials are selected based on learners' interest areas, which leads to improvement in learning performance, th ere is little interaction between learners‘ interest and gender, not at a significant level, though. In other words, females are slightly better than males in learning course materials when selection of materials is interest-based.
The findings of the current study suggest that the use of adaptive approaches to instruction provides language learners with persuasive advances in their achievement in learning. Hence, an instruction is expected to consider the individual traits of the learners, and so try to present instructional materials tailored to such traits. It is possible that IBLT will be easily performed in L2 learning. It should be noticed that this way of language teaching has the power to change the direction and nature of L2 learning through enhancing learners' interest and providing more customized, controlled and desired learning environment. T eachers or material developers, seeing the impact of using student interest in teaching, should try to make changes in the textbooks through including more diverse and attractive topics and materials, because their support for students is highly efficient in triggering interest (Hidi, 2001; Renninger & Hidi, 2002; Schraw, et al., 2001). More importantly, L2 teachers and researchers are strongly suggested to consider that interest is a complex construct with many dimensions, each in need for particular investigations to be closely unearthed. Therefore, they have to get more updated about learners' individual or group traits, interests, and motives in order to prepare more efficient language learning settings. F inally, L2 teaching researchers and decision makers are strongly suggested to provide learners with those course materials that are attractive and increase learners' interest. In doing this, language teachers‘ potential in contributing to the selection of instructional materials should be crucially emphasized.
The researchers of this investigation have confronted with the inevitable limitation regarding the sample size. As the sample size was relatively small, to make stronger generalizations further research will be required. Also, the participants came from just one university, which was another limitation in doing this research. Certainly, conducting such research in different L2 learning contexts will give support to the findings of this study. A further limitation dealt with the fact that the participants were studied concerning just one L2 learning skill (i.e. reading) in this research project. Different results may be achieved, in case other skills of L2 learning are examined. Therefore, further studies are required to take a deeper and closer look into the effect of IBLT on different learning skills in different L2 learning contexts. T his study was, yet, limited to the learners of only one field (i.e. nursing). Future studies need to consider studying the performance of learners coming from different fields, probably to find differences that may be field-related. Finally, learners of single general English proficiency participated in this study, and thus, coming investigations are expected to seek to see if the same results are echoed with L2 learners of different proficiency levels.
References
Ainley, M., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning, and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(3), 545-561.
Ainley, M., Hillman, K., & Hidi, S. (2002). Gender and interest processes in response to literary texts: Situational and individual interest. Learning and Instruction, 12, 411–428.
Carrell, C.L., & Wise, T.E. (1998). The relationship between prior knowledge and topic interest on second language reading. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 285–309.
Celik, M. (2010). Interest-based language teaching to increase motivation and output in Turkey. Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi (İLKE), (24), 29-44.
Ebbers, S. M. (2011). How to generate interest so reading comprehension improves. Retrieved from http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/pdf/.
Ebrahimi, S., & Javanbakht, Z. (2015). The effect of topic interest on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2 (6), 80–86.
Eddy-U, M. (2015). Motivation for participation or non-participation in group tasks: A dynamic systems model of Task-situated Willingness to Communicate. System (50), 43–55. doi:10.1016/j.system.2015.03.005.
Eidswick, J. (2010). Interest and prior knowledge in second language reading comprehension. Retrieved from http://jalt-publications.org/files/pdf-article/art2_0.pdf.
Flowerday, T., Schraw, G., & Stevens, J. (2004). The role of choice and interest in reader engagement. The Journal of Experimental Education, 72 (2), 93 – 114.
Graham, J., Tisher, R., Ainley, M., & Kennedy, G. (2008). Staying with the text: The contribution of gender, achievement orientation, and interest to students’ performance on a literary task. Educational Psychology, 28, 757–776.
Guya, Z., & Izadi, S. (2002). The role of teachers in decision-making on curriculum development. Journal of Humanities of Alzahra University, 42, 147-173.
Heilman, M., Collins-Thompson, K., Eskenazi, M., Juffs, A., & Wilson, L. (2010). Personalization of reading passages improves vocabulary acquisition. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 20(1), 73–98.
Hidi, S. (1990). Interest and its contribution as a mental resource for learning. Review of Educational Research, 60(4), 549-571.
Hidi, S. (2001). Interest, reading and learning: Theoretical and practical considerations. Educational Psychology Review, (13), 191-210.
Hidi, S., & Harackiewicz, J. (2000). Motivating the academically unmotivated: A critical issue for the 21st century. Review of Educational Research, (70), 151-179.
Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 111-127.
Hoffmann, L. (2002). Promoting girls’ interest and achievement in physics classes for beginners. Learning and Instruction, (12), 447-465.
Joh, J. (2006). What happens when L2 readers recall? Language Teaching Research, 42, 205–238.
Katz, I., Assor, A., Kanat-Maymon, V. & Bereby-Mayer, Y. (2006). Interest as a motivational resource: Feedback and gender matter, but interest makes the difference. Social Psychology of Education (9), 27–42. doi: 10.1007/s11218-005-2863-7
Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J.H. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22, 1–26.
Lee, S. & Pulido, D. (2017). The impact of topic interest, L2 proficiency, and gender on EFL incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Language Teaching Research, 21 (1), 118– 135.
Leloup, J.W. (1993). The effect of interest level in selected text topics on second language reading comprehension. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Ohio State University, OH, USA.
Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Durik, A. M., Conley, A. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J. M., Karabenik, S. A. & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2010). Measuring situational interest in academic domains. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1-24. doi:10.1177/0013164409355699
Magliano, J.P., Durik, A.M., & Holt, J.K. (2011).Assessing the impact of topic interest on comprehensionprocesses.Retrievedfrom http://www.lsac.org/LsacResources/Research/RR/RR-11-02.asp.
McDaniel,M. A.,Waddill, P. J., Finstad, K., & Bourg, T. (2000). The effects of text-based interest on attention and recall. Journal of Educational Psychology, (92), 492–502.
Myers, S., Martin, M., & Mottet, T. (2002). Students’ motives for communicating with their instructors: considering instructor socio-communicative style, student socio communicative orientation, and student gender. Communication Education, 51 (2), 121–133.
Myers, S. A. & Claus, C. J. (2012). The relationship between students’ motives to communicate with their instructors and classroom environment. Communication Quarterly, 60 (3), 386-402. doi:10.1080/01463373.2012.688672.
Pulido, D. (2004). The relationship between text comprehension and second language incidental vocabulary acquisition: A matter of topic familiarity? Language Learning, 54, 469–523.
Reber, R., Hetland, H., Chen, W., Norman, E., & Kobbeltvedt, T. (2009). Effects of example choice on interest, control, and learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences, (18), 509-548.
Renninger, K. A. (2000). Individual interest and its implications for understanding intrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J.M. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. New York: Academic.
Renninger, K. A., & Hidi, S. (2002). Student interest and achievement: Developmental issues raised by a case study. In A. Wigfield and J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Development of achievement motivation. New York: Academic.
Sadeghpour, M. (2013). The impact of topic interest on second language reading comprehension. International Journal of Linguistics, 5 (4), 133–145.
Schiefele, U. (1991). Interest, learning, and motivation. Educational psychologist, 26, 299-324. Schiefele, U., and Krapp, A. (1996). Learning and individual differences. Journal of psychology and education, 8(2), 141-160.
Schraw, G., & Lehman, S. (2001). Situational interest: A review of the literature and directions for future research. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 23–52.
Simsek, N., & Cakir, O. (2009). Effect of personalization on students’ achievement and gender factor in mathematics education. International Journal of Social Science, 4, 278-282.
Stevens, K. (1980). The effect of topic interest on the reading comprehension of higher ability students. Journal of Educational Research, 73, 365–368.
Tobias, S. (1994). Interest, prior knowledge, and learning. Review of educational Research, 64(1), 37-54. doi.org/10.3102/00346543064001037
Wahjuni, S. (2012). Interest-based language teachings in EFL for Yahya school teachers: Increasing communicative skills and student-centered learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, (66), 267–282.
Walkington, C. (2013). Using adaptive learning technologies to personalize instruction to student interests: The impact of relevant contexts on performance and learning outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105 (4), 932-945.
Walkington, C. & Bernacki M. L. (2014). Motivating students by personalizing learning around individual interests: A consideration of theory, design and implantation issues. Advances in Motivation and Achievement, 18, 139-176.