Comprehension competence: personal attitudes’ effect on the intentions to read critically in a foreign language

This study explores the relationship between personal attitudes and the intention to engage in critical reading among students learning a foreign language. Grounded in theories of motivation, cognition, and critical pedagogy, the research aims to determine whether favorable attitudes influence students’ willingness to read critically. A quantitative approach was employed, using a structured questionnaire administered to a purposive sample of 200 undergraduate students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Tirana. The instrument measured two key constructs: personal attitudes and intentions to read critically, through Likert-scale items. Reliability and validity were confirmed via Cronbach’s alpha (.855 and .920) and factor analysis (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO)=.885). Data were analyzed using SPSS, including descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. Results revealed a statistically significant and moderately strong positive correlation between personal attitudes and critical reading intentions (r=.645, p