Reading Comprehension Skills among Freshmen Criminology Students in University of Eastern Pangasinan

Abstract

Reading comprehension is the ability to process and understand written information. It is a complex cognitive skill that involves a number of different factors, including decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and motivation. Good reading comprehension skills are essential for success in school, work, and life.
The study conducted by Mousavian & Siahpoosh (2018) enlightened the efficacy of pre-teaching vocabulary pre-questioning strategy to enhance reading comprehension; and proved that effective reading strategies are an effective means to support students in their academic’s students provided with effective reading strategies outperformed the students who were not provided with any pre-reading strategy during comprehension activities.
The effectiveness of reading strategies is accepted widely, but the language instructors should also understand the significance of engagement in reading. Because engagement is not a mere consequence of reading strategies, as it is a combination of strategies that incorporate mental dispositions known as ‘Habits of Minds’ (HoM). The between students and reading material, due to which reading objectives in language courses are rejuvenated to develop HoM skills in reading practices. Furthermore, language instructors accentuate collaborative reading practices to provide the students with an effective means to engage in their social environment while developing their comprehension skills. The adequate social environment that can improve reading comprehension is comprised of literature circles, group discussions, reading apprenticeship, book clubs and author analyses. These activities result in stimulating an interpretive discussion among the students and utilize critical reflection while reading and engaging with texts (Abdelhalim, 2018).