A narrative inquiry of an undergraduate student in TEFL in developing her identity as an engaged reader

Purpose This retrospective narrative inquiry explored an undergraduate student’s lived experience in negotiating her identity as an engaged reader of English as a foreign language. Design/methodology/approach Narrative inquiry was employed to gain a deeper and better understanding of the participant’s engagement in reading courses. Olif (pseudonym, female) was recruited due to her significant learning achievements and willingness to share her experiences. To collect the data, we conducted several online interviews with her. To triangulate our findings, we also asked her to share her learning artifacts from the reading courses. Findings The thematic analysis revealed two major findings. First, her reading engagement is driven by both personal and academic motivation. Furthermore, her involvement in collaborative reading tasks fosters a deeper comprehension of texts and enhances creativity. Research limitations/implications The study has two major limitations. First, it interviewed only one student and was conducted over a relatively short period. Second, it examined the participant’s experience across three different reading courses, which potentially lacks deeper insights into how each course uniquely contributes to learning engagement. Originality/value The study concludes that promoting personalized and collaborative reading tasks enables undergraduate students to develop their identity as engaged readers. Despite focusing on a single participant, this study offers a unique perspective on how the participant’s voice can potentially impact teachers’ pedagogical design in reading classrooms.