บทความทางวิชาการ
Reading Habits of English Major Students: Basis for Improving Teaching Strategies
Hope Cristina H. Deita
Reading influences the extent and accuracy of information as well as the attitudes, morals, beliefs, judgment and action of readers. This study was conducted to investigate the reading habits of English major students at Sripatum University - Chonburi Campus. The respondents for this study were 165 students enrolled in the English for Business Communication Program of Sripatum University-Chonburi Campus. Survey questionnaires were randomly distributed to participants from first year to fourth year. The results indicated that they read more than 20 Thai reading materials and less than 5 English reading materials a year spent an average of 2 hours every week preferably in the evening in their bedrooms and revealed poor reading habits in terms of frequency, strategy, goal and preferences both in Thai and in English. Furthermore, family, availability of reading materials and attitudes towards reading in English were factors to have affected their reading habits. Among the preferred reading materials were magazines, online fashion and entertainment articles, advertisements and story books. Interactive reading strategies, increased reading time, and a large exposure to reading materials may provide basis for improving reading habits. The data from this study could be used to aid in identifying teaching strategies that would help improve the students’ reading performance.
The paper was published in Sripatum Chonburi Journal in 2012.
