Lower Secondary School Students' Attitude toward Reading in English

Abstract

Reading in English as a second language (ESL) is a vital skill that must be mastered by all adolescents. However, the reading process is neither easy nor straightforward in its nature. Despite the initiatives by the government and non-governmental agencies to inculcate reading habits, statistics has shown that students’ interest in reading has not improved much. This is worrying as prosperous nation requires well-read and educated youths. Given the importance of developing a positive attitude among adolescents, the current study aims to investigate the attitude among lower secondary school students towards reading in English and explore whether the variable of gender would affect the reading attitude. A quantitative approach was used whereby data collected using an instrument, the Adult Survey of Reading Attitude’ (ASRA). The questionnaires were administered to 300 lower secondary school students (Form1 & Form 2) at two different national schools in Puchong, Selangor. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. Descriptive analysis was carried out for RQ1 and Independent Sample T Test for RQ2. Findings of this study shows that despite an overall moderate attitude towards reading, these students lack in proper reading habit and practice both in and outside the classroom. In terms of gender difference, female students show significantly higher attitude compared to male students, while there were no significant differences among Form 1 and Form 2 students. The study provides several pedagogical implications for both ESL students and practitioners. Furthermore, to facilitate and further improve the EL reading skills among the students, an amalgamation of appropriate teaching approaches or methodologies can be adapted and practiced in the ESL reading classrooms creating a more conducive and stress-free environment to encourage students to build the reading attitude more confidently.