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ESSENTIALIST BELIEFS, READER IDENTITY, AND READING OUTCOMES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE

Abstract

Reading comprehension, a key predictor of college students’ academic success, is shaped by reader identity, or how students see themselves as readers. However, prior research on reader identity has largely focused on K-12 education, with little knowledge on how reader identity develops in higher education settings. The current research examines whether social essentialism, a basic cognitive tendency to view social categories as biologically determined and coherent, contributes to the development of students’ reader identity during the first year of college. One hundred and thirty-two undergraduate students at a large public university in Southeast USA completed an online survey assessing their reader identity, reading motivation and comprehension. Essentialist beliefs about reader identity were measured along two dimensions: naturalness (the belief that reader identity is biologically determined), and cohesiveness (the belief that good or bad readers form coherent groups). Results showed that stronger essentialist beliefs were significantly associated with positive reader identities (naturalness: r (119) = .200, p = .027) and greater reading motivation (naturalness: r (123) = .195, p = .03; cohesiveness: r (123) = .182, p = .044). In turn, both positive reader identity (r (62) = .317, p = .012) and reading motivation (r (62) = .298, p = .019) were associated with better comprehension scores. The current findings highlight social essentialism as a cognitive foundation of reader identity, linking basic socio-cognitive processes to reading motivation and performance outcomes in higher education.

Acknowledgements

KSU RCHSS Seed Grant

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