Reconceptualizing reading practices among pre-service teachers: a structural model of organisation, motivation, and reading intensity

Background Sustained reading is central to academic learning and professional growth in teacher education, yet studies increasingly describe university students’ reading as digitally oriented, fragmented, and requirement-driven. Most research examines behavioural, motivational, or organisational aspects of reading in isolation. Purpose This study examined how organised reading practices and motivational orientations relate to reading intensity among pre-service teachers, drawing on self-regulated learning theory and habit theory. Materials and methods A researcher-developed questionnaire was completed online by 1,594 pre-service teachers in ten teacher education programmes in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The sample was randomly split: exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation and parallel analysis was conducted on one half, and confirmatory factor analysis and latent structural equation modelling with a robust estimator for ordinal data on the other. The indirect association was tested with bootstrap confidence intervals. Results Participants relied mainly on online and audiovisual sources, although 66.1% preferred printed to electronic books, and most read one or two books a month. Four dimensions were supported: organised reading and resource management, autonomous motivation, requirement-driven reading, and reading intensity (CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.956, SRMR = 0.049, RMSEA = 0.091). Autonomous and requirement-driven reasons for reading were unrelated and could not be combined into one factor. Organisation was associated with reading intensity directly (beta = 0.13) and indirectly through autonomous motivation (beta = 0.14, 95% bootstrap CI excluding zero), whereas requirement-driven reading was associated with lower reading intensity (beta = −0.16). Requirement-driven reading increased with year of study; other demographic differences were negligible. Conclusion Self-reported reading practices among pre-service teachers form an interrelated system in which organisation and autonomous motivation are associated with reading more, while reading only for assessment is associated with reading less. Because the design is cross-sectional and habit strength was not measured, habit formation is offered as a theoretical interpretation for longitudinal testing. The findings support autonomy-supportive reading cultures and assessment reform in Indonesian teacher education.