Exploring The Challenges Encountered by University Students in Employing Reading Strategies

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate different reading strategies applied by EFL University students. The study also aims to explore whether there is a significant difference in using reading strategies between students based on their gender and the year of study.  This study is quantitative in nature. A total of 155 University students participated in this study to answer the reading strategies (RS) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was employed to evaluate the students’ proficiency in using reading strategies, while Independent Sample T-test was also used to determine whether there is significant statistical difference in reading strategies according to the students’ gender. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate whether the year of study had any significant impact on their use of reading strategies. The results showed that students in this study used all the reading strategies. The most frequently used strategies were cognitive strategies, followed by metacognitive strategies, while the least used strategies by students were testing strategies followed by compensation strategies. The results of the Independent Sample T-test indicated that there is no significant statistical difference in reading strategies among University students according to gender. The results of the One-way ANOVA also showed that there is also no a significant statistical difference in reading strategies used among students based on the year of study. The recommendations of the study were also included.