Identifying Learners’ Difficulties in ESL Reading Comprehension

摘要

R eading is one of the ?fundamental ?skills in language learning and? all English as Second Language (ESL) learners ?need to acquire it in order to master a language. However, statistics show that Malaysians are not reading enough? especially ?the ?school ? students who are labeled as reluctant readers. This is deeply reflected in their reading comprehension which is one of the tested components in the SPM examination. Therefore, this study ?aimed to? identify? the? learners’ difficulties in ESL reading comprehension . ? Thus, a survey? wa s conducted among? 80 upper secondary students in Johor. ?Questionnaires were? used in the survey and? given? out to the respondents involved . The data obtained? from the survey? w ere ?analysed using SPSS.? There were five categories of reading comprehension difficulties among the upper secondary school students.? Based on the analysis, it? was ?found that ?most of ?the? students have agreed that the main difficulty faced by them in ESL reading comprehension is related to the reading process .? Finally, the implications of these findings on ESL reading comprehension difficulties were discussed from the aspects of what the teachers could do in their teaching practices to address this issue and provide ways to solve them.