Students' interests matter: enhancing motivation and engagement on reading activities through interest-based texts.

Abstract

In an increasingly interconnected world, reading plays a pivotal role in enabling college students to process complex information and apply it in real-world contexts. However, students' motivation to practice this important skill is often diminished by a clear absence of personal connections with the reading materials. Textbooks, articles, and exercises are often designed to fulfil the curricular requirements, neglecting students' cultural and personal frameworks. These conditions place reading as a compulsory task, hindering students’ active participation and meaningful learning. This qualitative study examined whether aligning reading materials to students’ self-reported interests could change perceptions, motivation, and engagement among pre-intermediate (A2 CEFR) learners at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Quintana Roo. Using a combined action-research and case-study design, the researchers implemented an eight-session intervention across four weeks with a purposive sample of the course (15 participants meeting inclusion criteria). Data were collected with a validated questionnaire, two rounds of semi-structured interviews (pre/post), and structured classroom observations; instruments were piloted and refined prior to implementation. Interest-based texts were created and adapted to match students’ topics and the A2 curriculum. Qualitative data were transcribed, imported to MAXQDA, and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework; coding and theme development were conducted inductively with independent double-coding and consensus meetings to enhance trustworthiness. Findings show improved affective and behavioural indicators: postintervention interviews and observations revealed more positive perceptions of reading, greater voluntary participation, increased peer collaboration, and emergent use of higherorder reading strategies (pre-reading and inferencing). Reported lexical gains were tentative and uneven. Limitations (small purposive sample, fluctuating attendance, short duration, and use of AI-assisted text generation) restrict generalizability. Nevertheless, the study provides evidence that carefully scaffolded, interest-aligned reading materials can enhance motivation and engagement in A2 EFL classrooms and recommends iterative, scaffolded implementation for sustained impact.