Understanding the Reading Process of First-Year Students Through Reading Activities

Abstract

More emphasis in Higher Education has been on developing first-year literacy skills, especially reading and writing.  Reading is a process of recognition of letters on printed material and development of meaning and has also been described as a thinking and communication process. The study was conducted at University of Technology and aimed at understanding the reading process of first-year students when developing their reading ability.  In order to fulfil the aim of the study, the researcher used a mixed methods design to understand the reading process of first-year students in improving their reading ability and skills.   A group of first-year students was given a questionnaire and at a later stage focus group interviews were conducted.  The study provides understanding that first-year students should be made aware of the knowledge and theory about the reading process and reading models in reading activities or lessons to improve students’ reading ability. A significant positive difference was found in the mean of the report on how students felt about the reading process and models from pre-test to post-test which they viewed as effective in improving the reading ability and influences reading fluency and comprehension. The article concludes with suggested ways to apply reading process to enhance students’ reading ability.