Reading motivation and reading habits in University students in Malta

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that self-efficacy and the home environment have an impact on reading proficiency but results on gender differences are still inconclusive. Some studies suggest that female pupils are more inclined to read, but other studies show that these disparities lessen as students advance in their education. This study looks into the factors that affect Reading Motivation and Reading Habits in university student in Malta. Factors like gender, age, home language, history of speech and language therapy, and field of study were deemed to have an impact on motivation and habits. The sample consisted of a total of 111 University of Malta students who were chosen at random filled out a structured questionnaire that included questions from the Dimensions of Adult Reading Motivation questionnaire (Schutte, 2007) and the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ-R; Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997), along with extra questions about reading habits. ANOVA and post-hoc analyses were used in SPSS to analyse the data. According to the results, Reading Motivation and Reading Habits were not significantly impacted by gender, age, home language, or history of speech and language therapy. Nonetheless, differences were found among academic disciplines, with students taking distinct courses exhibiting differing degrees of motivation and habits in reading. These results help to clarify the reading motivation and habits of Maltese university students in Malta and imply that different reading motivators and habits are linked to different career pathways. Future studies should re-examine these factors with a greater sample and the additional ways that multilingualism, neurodiverse experiences and digital reading trends influence student's literacy development.