Academic Reading Difficulties in Higher Education

Indry Widyasti Anwar, Sartika Putri Sailuddin

Abstract


Academic reading is one of the challenges commonly faced by university students especially EFL learners. This study aims to identify academic reading difficulties in higher education focusing on Indonesian university students. It used mixed-method by collecting quantitative data from close-ended questionnaires and qualitative data from one open-ended question. In this study, 60 students were asked to rate the reading aspects listed in the questionnaires based on its level of difficulty and provide commentaries as well as possible additional aspect. The statistic results showed that overall students considered academic reading easy (M=2.445, SD=0.568). Reading carefully to understand the text was found as the aspect with the least difficulty (M=2.16, SD= 0.963) and working out the meaning of difficult words was identified as the most difficult one (M=2.75, SD=1.235). These statistics are supported by the qualitative finding whereas 43% students having problems translating and understanding difficult and formal words.


Keywords


academic reading; reading difficulties; reading comprehension

Full Text:

FULL PDF

References


Alghail, Ali & Mahfoodh, Omer. (2016). Academic reading difficulties encountered by international graduate students in a Malaysian university. Issues in Educational Research. 6. 369-386.

Berardo, S. A. (2006). The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. The reading Matrix, 6 (2), 60-69.

Brown, H. D. 2003. Language Assessment: Principle and Classroom. New Jersey:

Prentice Hall.

Cahyono, B. Y., & Widiati, U. (2006). The teaching of EFL reading in the Indonesian context: The state of the art. TEFLIN Journal, 17(1), 36-58.

Gilmore, A. (2007). Authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning. Language Teaching, 40, 97-118

Hirano, E. (2015). ‘I read, I don’t understand’: Refugees coping with academic reading. ELT Journal, 69(2), 178-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccu068

Hutabarat, B. J. (2012). The Effect of Applying Skimming Technique on Grade XI Students’ Reading Comprehension. Thesis, 15

Martinez, A.G. (2002). Authentic materials: An overview. Free resources for teachers and students of English, Karen's Linguistics Issues, 1-7.

Napitulu, M.H. Improving Materials on Reading Comprehension. Jurnal Mantik Pustaka, Vol.2 No.1 (June, 1st 2018)

Patton, M. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Phakiti, A., & Li, L. (2011). General Academic Difficulties and Reading and Writing Difficulties among Asian ESL Postgraduate Students in TESOL at an Australian University. RELC Journal, 42(3), 227–264. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688211421417

Satriani, E. (2018). Reading Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by English Students of Islamic University of Riau. J-SHMIC : Journal of English for Academic, 5(2), 15-26. https://doi.org/10.25299/jshmic.2018.vol5(2).1885

Sengupta, S. (2002), Developing academic reading at tertiary level: a longitudinal study tracing conceptual change. The Reading Matrix, vol. 2, no. 1, viewed 7 May 2020,

Shen, M. Y. (2013). Toward an Understanding of Technical University1 EFL Learners’ Academic Reading Difficulties, Strategies, and Needs. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching. 10, 70–79. http://eflt.nus.edu.sg/

Sohail, Samira. (2016). Academic Reading Strategies used by Leeds Metropolitan University Graduates: A Case Study. Journal of Education and Educational Development. 2. 115. 10.22555/joeed.v2i2.442.

Sultana, N. (2016). Assessing Reading Difficulties and Reading Strategies in the Context of Bangladesh: Tertiary Level. Unpublished master’s thesis. Department of English and Humanities: BRAC University

Sutarsyah, C. (2008). Vocabulary constraint on reading texts. TEFLIN Journal, 19(2), 127-140.

Westwood, P. (2008). What Teachers Need to Know About Reading and Writing Difficulties. Australia: Ligare

Zuhra, Z. (2015). Senior high school students’ difficulties in reading comprehension. English Education Journal, 6(3), 430-441.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v10i2.4849

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Indry Widyasti Anwar

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching (p-issn: 2338-0810 | e-issn: 2621-1378) has been Indexed/Listed by

 Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.