Proceedings of the 35th International Academic Conference, Barcelona

FACTORS THAT AFFECT THAI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCE

CHOOSRI BANDITVILAI

Abstract:

This research study was conducted to survey factors that affect the reading competence of Thai university students. The participants were the second year undergraduate English major students who registered to study “English Reading” at Kasetsart University. The research tools used in this study were a survey questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The statistical method for data analyses were percentage, mean value (x) and standard deviation (SD). A summary was made of key points from the semi-structured interview. Based on both statistical data of the questionnaire and an interview, it was found that the major factors were firstly an inadequate knowledge of vocabulary and sentence structure, followed by a lack of background knowledge, an inability to grasp the main ideas and lastly the inability to understand the writer’s purpose and style.

Keywords: English reading, reading competence, reading strategies, English as a foreign language (EFL), second-language (L2)

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2018.935.006

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