earticle

영어

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of motivation on English reading proficiency of college students, employing the perspective of Self-Determination Theory(SDT) on motivation. Four hundred and nineteen college students participated in the study. Regarding the questions on whether there exist any preferred types of self-determinational motivations for each English reading proficiency group and on which self-determinational motivation is the most important to enhance English reading proficiency, this study revealed that intrinsic regulation among self-determinational motivations was the most preferred one for all proficiency groups, having a positive correlation with English reading proficiency, and that the most influential self-determinational motivation on English reading proficiency is amotivation, which had a negative effect on it. Regarding the relation between self-determinational motivations and grades or gender, this study showed that both introjected and identified regulations affected more strongly sophomore students' reading proficiency, compared with those of the other two grades (juniors and seniors), and that female students showed stronger intrinsic regulational motivation use than male students. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as a basic framework for developing a more learner-centered and self-directed English reading program by providing an understanding of the causal relationship between Korean college students’ English learning motivations based on SDT and reading proficiency.