Reading intensively: What do the students really need?

Abstract

Intensive reading plays a great role in enhancing students� reading comprehension. Effective teaching materials are the best assistance for students. Often, in intensive reading class, lecturers neglected the students� needs and preferences regarding the reading texts and topics being discussed. The materials only come from the lecturers� perspectives. This study explores the students' needs and lecturers' perceptions toward the effective teaching materials of intensive reading. A questionnaire, delivered to 71 English Department students who have completed the Reading 1 course, is used for analysing the students' needs and preferences on intensive reading materials. Moreover, two English lecturers who experienced in teaching intensive reading for five years were interviewed to get detailed information about the students' needs and effective materials on intensive reading. The data were then analysed using a quantitative and descriptive qualitative approach. The result showed that the reading materials which offer various genres and topics, lists of new vocabularies, clear explanations about reading and vocabulary skills, as well as complete exercises to test the reading comprehension were viewed proper for both teachers and students. This research finding gives important information to develop effective reading materials for both sides.

Examining Strategy-based Instruction's Impact on Students Reading Comprehension: An Experimental Study

“…Furthermore, the researchers allowed the students to choose the text they wanted to read for extensive reading, which can make the students more interested in reading the text. A similar result was also seen in [15]; they said that increasing the pupils' enthusiasm for reading can contribute to the development of a positive environment in the reading classroom. Regarding the impact of strategy-based instruction on students' reading comprehension, data obtained from the pretest and posttest showed that the average student score was 73, while the posttest score was 81.…”

Using Four Reading Methods (FRM) in Teaching Intensive Reading Class (IRC) to Enhance Students’ Reading Skill

“…The study of Andres (2020), to illustrate, has aimed at improving students' reading comprehension through intensive reading activities. Similar study has been also conducted by Ni'mah and Sholihah (2022) but by considering the needs of students. Another study has been carried out by Moon and Kwan (2022) but by positioning students' intensive reading skill as the target rather as the method.…”

“…Andres (2020) reveals that the purpose of intensive reading is not only to obtain the information but also the grammatical features. According to Ni'mah and Sholihah (2022), the activities of intensive reading are divided into pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. They further elaborate that in intensive reading students are directed to various genres of texts.…”