Furthermore, according to the National English Curriculum released in 2011, it says that the aim of the language skills including reading is subject to “what students can do” in certain grades, which helps activate students’ enthusiasm, improve students’ ability to apply language and evaluate students’ learning outcome scientifically and reasonably. However, as far as the present situation of reading teaching, what the National English Curriculum required doesn’t meet the standard at all. What’s worse, due to the exam-oriented education in China, students now remain less interest in English learning. Therefore, activating students’ enthusiasm for reading is just like an arrow on the bowstring.文献综述

We all know that motivation plays a central role in second language learning. Belonging to intrinsic motivation, interest is one of the important factors that influences the effects in junior school English reading. Moreover, it has been suggested that students’ interest in learning a foreign language is a vital factor on acquiring one language by some studies. This paper will explore the relationship between interest and reading competence in the light of motivation aiming to apply this relationship to reading teaching in junior school. The paper’s ultimate intention is to motivate students’ interest from effective methods and proper reading material in learning reading, so that students’ reading competence can accordingly be improved.

2. Literature Review

Interest belongs to intrinsic motivation, which is rooted in the learners to a large extent. This part introduces the concept of motivation, interest, reading competence. Moreover, the theoretical framework about the relationship between interest and reading competence is presented in theory according to studies and researchers at abroad and home.

2.1 The definition of motivation

     Motivation provides the primary impetus to the initiate learning the L2 and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process; indeed, all other factors involved in L2 acquisition presuppose motivation to some extent. (Dornyei 117) In his introduction to the survey of motivation research in 1998 Dornyei claims that motivation plays a crucial role in foreign- or second- language learning.

     In the educational psychology, motivation can be pided into extrinsic motivation (motivation resulting from factors external to the inpidual and unrelated to the task being tasked) and intrinsic motivation (motivation resulting from internal characteristics or inherent in the task being performed) from perspective of incentive. (Ma & Li 71) Learners are mostly to show the beneficial effects of motivation when they are intrinsically motivated to engage in classroom activities. Learners motivated intrinsically are comparatively willing to handle with assigned tasks and eager to learn classroom materials, likely to process information more effectively, and more likely to achieve at a high level. On the contract, learners motivated extrinsically may need some external factors like rewards from parents and teachers, may process information only superficially, and may be only enthusiastic about finishing easy tasks. (Jeanne 364)

     Students express their enthusiasm in learning new things at school in the early elementary grade. With the older age, their intrinsic motivation declines gradually but they are more promoted by extrinsic motivation, such as good grades, graduation, and the pressure from the college entrance examination. Though extrinsic motivation can get the students in the way to get great achievements in learning, intrinsic motivation is eventually what will support students in the long term.

2.2 Interest and motivation来`自^优尔论*文-网www.youerw.com

     The concept of interest has appeared in works of philosophy, psychology and pedagogy as early as late 18th century. Later, lots of researchers go further into the researches. Dewey was the first person to pay attention to the role of interest in learning. He believes that deep learning is always resulting from interest. Under the efforts of some psychologists, different kinds of interests have appeared. Krapp, Hidi, and Renninger (1992) point out that interest can be conceptualized as personal interest and situational interest.