IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING DIFFICULTIES AND READING STRATEGIES IN ONLINE READING?

Abstract

In this digital age, reading online materials is one of the challenges commonly faced by undergraduates, thus it is essential to understand how learners perceive their reading difficulties and the strategies they use to overcome them. This study aims to explore motivation factors for learning among undergraduates by determining their perception of online reading difficulties and reading strategies namely, global, problem-solving, and support strategies. It also investigates if there is a relationship between reading difficulties and all reading strategies for online reading. The instrument used was a 5- Likert-scale survey, divided into five sections: the demographic profile, reading difficulties, Global strategies, Problem-solving strategies, and Support strategies disseminated via Google Form. The questionnaire of 42 items is rooted in Abeeleh and Al-Sobh (2021) on reading comprehension problems and also Amer, AL Barwani, & Ibrahim (2010) on readers’ perceived use of online reading strategies.  This study employs a quantitative method involving a purposive sample of 160 Diploma and First Degree students majoring in English Language Studies. The findings suggested that concerning difficulties of reading online materials, their mean in emotional responses and self-perception was higher than specific comprehension tasks, indicating feelings of anxiety and lack of self-confidence when comparing themselves to their peers. Most respondents employed global strategies quite effectively but did not often apply critical reading skills. Learners also applied problem-solving strategies by adjusting their reading pace based on text difficulty, relying on contextual clues to understand difficult words, and re-reading when texts became challenging. Most ESL learners tended to use support strategies over other reading strategies but did not apply note-taking skills. Finally, there was no relationship between reading difficulties and global strategies, as well as problem-solving strategies. However, there was a weak significant relationship between reading difficulties and support strategies. Several implications are also addressed in this study.