Reading is the key component for academic success for ESL students because they are required to read various materials in English. However, reading difficulties may become an obstacle for them to gain knowledge from online sources especially for ESL readers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate reading difficulties of low proficiency ESL students in reading online academic texts and how they solve the problems as teachers should be aware of reading difficulties the students encounter during online reading so that they can address the problems accordingly. A quantitative research design is used to collect data from a group of 122 respondents from two public universities in Malaysia using 5 Likert-scale questionnaire consists of 16 items. The results showed that the students have difficulties with the sounds of the individual words (M=3.68), getting the overall meaning of the text (M=3.62) and recognizing the words (M=6.61). The students used several strategies to overcome reading difficulties when reading online academic texts, for example by using online dictionaries and re-reading the texts. Some recommendations towards minimizing reading difficulties among ESL students in reading online academic texts will also be presented.
Since critical reading has been assumed as critical, there are actually certain ideas and concepts that reflect how critical is this critical reading. Critical does not mean critical as in difficulty or failure in reading but more of looking into the skills, processes and the activities when reading. Group engagement has been said to improve team members’ critical thinking skills. This study is done to explore how group interactions facilitate critical reading activities. Specifically, this study explores how group work encourages critical reading through the processes of orientation, conflict, consensus, and closure. 72 participants responded to the instrument (a questionnaire). The questionnaire has 5 sections, demographic profile, orientation, conflict, consensus and also closure. Data is analyzed using SPSS version 26 to reveal percentage for the demographic profile and mean score for the variables. Findings indicate that group engagement facilitates critical reading in several ways. The study suggests that communication during group interaction improves learners’ critical reading.
In the midst of covid 19 endemic, educators all over the world realized that learning can be achieved everywhere via E-learning. In this study, the researchers investigated students' perceptions of E-learning and face-to-face learning by performing qualitative and quantitative studies that involved 311 students from public and private universities in Malaysia and State Islamic University Imam Bonjol of Padang, Indonesia. The objectives were to investigate and analyse students' perceptions of learner preferences, performance, study load, interactivity, and obstacles in E-learning and face-to-face learning. Findings disclosed that students demonstrated different perceptions and learning experiences. Most of the respondents indicated that they often experienced poor internet signal quality as the dominant factor especially those living in rural areas. In the interview, some students shared that they prefer a mix of face-to-face classes and a few online meetings. They also shared that their interest in online learning seemed to decrease and they appreciate face-to-face learning more. It was also disclosed that instructors are advised to be more creative and strengthen themselves with more advanced IT skills. As for the instructors, online instruction was a time-consuming resource and caused a work-life imbalance which not only impacts their families but also their social relations.
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