I Hate Reading” Revealing Academic Reading Difficulties of Indonesian Learners of English

Abstract

Academic reading can be defined as reading for academic or educational purpose which differs from non-academic reading since it is more complex and multi-level (Sengupta, 2002). Dealing with academic reading force the learners to have good skills in reading since academic reading is not easy to do, especially for L2 learners who need to read using their second language such as English. Academic reading tends to use specific rules such as complicated structures and even the use of specific words or terms. This is the reason why many learners, especially L2 learners, often face several difficulties during reading academic texts. This research investigates the academic reading difficulties faced by Indonesian learners of English, especially senior students of English Departement academic year 2015/2016. It employed mixed method strategy as the strategy of this research by combining quantitave and qualitative methods. In addition, this study used several previous research findings (Elwer, 2014; Sultana, 2016; Al Seyabi and Tuzlukova, 2015; Alghail and Mahfoodh, 2016; Shen, 2013; Wutthisingchai, 2011; Medjahdi, 2015; Abdelaal & Sase, 2014; Ullah & Fatemah 2013; Savic, 2016; Birhan, 2017) that were collected and classified to disclose the academic reading difficulties faced by the senior college readers of English. The results showed that the participants faced several difficulties during reading academic texts. Those difficulties are one of the aspects that has the highest score at each four-points asked in the questionnaire. Those difficulties are having poor vocabulary of specific terms, comprehension difficulties which focus on the reading repetition, difficulties related to concept and topic that focus on the use of title, and having lack of teachers’ motivation. From those findings, the results showed that unlike the previous researches that point out vocabulary as the most difficult aspect, this research reveal that in term of academic reading, the students find comprehension is the most difficult aspect. The results also showed that having academic reading difficulties affected the participants having comprehension difficulties considering that the academic reading difficulties they faced lead them having poor comprehension. For the worse impact, having academic reading difficulties does not only affect the participants’ understanding, but also can affect the reading interest of the participants.