The effects of cognitive reading strategy instruction on first-year students’ reading motivation and self-efficacy at Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of cognitive reading strategy instruction on first-year EFL students’ reading motivation and self-efficacy at Addis Ababa University. A quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design was employed involving two intact groups: an experimental group (N = 48) and a control group (N = 46). The experimental group received explicit instruction in cognitive reading strategies such as predicting, summarizing, inferring, and analyzing texts, while the control group followed traditional reading instruction. Data were collected using a reading motivation questionnaire and a self-efficacy scale adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that cognitive reading strategy instruction had a selective but meaningful impact on students’ motivational and affective outcomes. Intrinsic motivation improved notably, particularly curiosity (d= 0.72, p < .001), indicating increased interest and engagement in reading activities. Challenge-related self-efficacy also showed a moderate and statistically significant improvement (d = 0.55, p < .001), suggesting increased confidence in handling difficult reading tasks. However, other dimensions of intrinsic motivation (importance and involvement), extrinsic motivation (competition, grades, and compliance), and overall self-efficacy showed only small or non-significant changes. In contrast, the control group exhibited minimal or negligible changes across all measured variables, indicating that traditional instruction had limited influence on students’ motivational development and self-beliefs over the study period. Overall, the study concludes that cognitive reading strategy instruction is effective in enhancing students’ intrinsic motivation and task-specific confidence, particularly curiosity and willingness to engage with challenging tasks. However, its impact on broader self-efficacy and extrinsic motivation is limited. The study recommends integrating cognitive strategy instruction with explicit motivational and metacognitive support to foster more comprehensive development of learners’ reading motivation and self-efficacy.