Speed Reading: University Efl Students� Strategies and Perceptions

Abstract

EFL reading classes are often teacher-centered and only focus on direct knowledge transmission, the emphasis is often put on the production of comprehension rather than the processing skills. This research attempts to maximize the students participation in evaluating the process of reading by using speed reading program, to find out the strategies they use in the reading process, and to know the students perceptions on speed reading in order to enhance their reading comprehension skill in English. The participants of the study are twenty one students of English Education Study Program of Faculty of Teachers Training and Educational Sciences, in the fifth semester of 2017/2018 academic year. The data were collected from the students reading graphs, reflection journals, and interview. The major findings of this research are: (1) the average of students reading rate is below the ideal speed 300 wpm, but the average result of comprehension score is excellent. Both reading rate and reading comprehension show a progress. (2) Most of the students had used cognitive strategies and unconsciously used metacognitive strategies also. (3) Most of the students showed positive perceptions toward the speed reading program, they were also motivated and able to evaluate themselves to develop their reading skill. It can be concluded that at this level, they have acquired some reading skills and strategies, and by evaluating and recognizing their own weaknesses, they have tried to improve themselves to get better.Keywords: EFL, Case Study, Speed Reading, Strategy, Perception

Investigating kurdish efl students’ speed reading and reading comprehension levels at the university of duhok

“…Nevertheless, the result of this study is consistent with the result of other researchers, particularly in this field (Arab, 2009;Armagan & Genc, 2017;Chang, 2010;Chung & Nation, 2006;Hidayati, 2019;Yunus, 2016;Rasinski & Young, 2015;Ur, 2012). In almost a similar trace, Armagan and Genc (2017) 's study found that Turkish EFL students in the experimental group improved their reading rate from an average of 136.38 wpm in the pretest to 196.73 wpm in the posttest.…”

“…The participants scored an average of 57.6% on the first test but changed to a better result on the posttest, 72.4%. This improvement is in line with Hidayati's (2019) study, in which participants scored 58.33% in speed reading test in the first and 84.52% in the last. Hidayati (2019) stated that this improvement made 21 participants more motivated and they could evaluate their own weak points in reading.…”

“…Therefore, these five texts that were taken from the book Read Well 3 were helpful for determining speed reading level. The result of the current study is in line with Hidayati (2019) who assessed his participants in five sessions of a speed reading program. In the last test, composed of 996 words, a maximum of 174.04 wpm was scored.…”

“…The length of each text is longer than the previous one (1st test 537, 2nd test 553, 3rd test 560, 4th test 573 and 5th test 581). The reason behind this is to reveal the reader's improvement in the speed reading test gradually, and to get more efficient and effective result of speed reading and reading strategies as suggested by Hidayati (2019) who increased the length of word number in five texts starting from 500 words to 996 words.…”

Speed-Reading Technique to Boost English as Foreign Language Learners’ Text Comprehension

“…EFL learners' ability to read and comprehend materials written in English is very important. It is one of the requirements to succeed in academic life and their profession after completing their study (Hidayati, 2019). She went on to say that speed reading should become a significant concern in the development of English teaching in Indonesia to prepare graduates to be efficient readers.…”