This study conducted a comparative analysis of critical reading skills among engineering students at private universities in Malaysia and Vietnam, using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reading framework. Involving 182 undergraduates, the research included a quantitative critical reading test followed by statistical…

Nowadays, Malaysian ESL students struggle to read English texts, particularly narrative texts. Lacking in utilising and applying the suitable reading strategies are among factors that hinder reading comprehension. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy on ESL pupils' narrative reading and…

The democratisation and commodification of education has witnessed an increase in postgraduate education as it is one of the main sources contributing to the advancement of knowledge, technology, and innovation. However, despite the significant rise in numbers, the returns at both the global and national levels have been low due to high attrition…

With the advent of new research paradigms and the prevalence of diverse influential factors, the intriguing issue nowadays is to identify what actually determines English as a second language (ESL) learners' reading comprehension. This study examined gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity as predictors of ESL learners' reading age and…

The purpose of the study is to have a relook at the ESL reading comprehension assessment system for Malaysian Year Five students. Traditionally, the ESL teachers have been assessing and reporting on their primary year's students by merely giving a composite grade with some vague remarks. This process has been used and is still being employed in…

There are many factors that contribute to one's ability to read effectively. Vocabulary size is one important factor that enhances reading comprehension. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between students' reading comprehension skills and their vocabulary size. A total of 129 pre-university students undergoing an intensive…

This study investigates the relationship between prior knowledge and reading comprehension in second language among postgraduate students in UPM. Participants in the study were 20 students who have the same level in English as a second language from several faculties. On the basis of a prior-knowledge questionnaire and test, students were…

Many researches have shown that different approach needed in analysing linear and non-linear reading comprehension texts and different cognitive skills are required. This research attempts to discover the relationship between Science Stream students' reading competency on linear and non-linear texts in Malaysian University English Test (MUET) with…

This paper reports on a study that aimed to investigate the effects of textual glosses on the lexical development of EFL learners. Given the importance of the English language for tertiary level study, it is necessary for EFL learners to read independently and to acquire the vocabulary they need for disciplinary study. Many studies have reported…

The present study investigates the impact of training metacognitive strategies in reading comprehension and has been conducted among students from University Putra Malaysia. Forty eight subjects majoring in English including both males and females participated in the study. They have been chosen from first level of reading and divided into two…

A quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate the effectiveness of synthetic phonics in the development of early reading skills among struggling young English as a second language (ESL) readers in a rural school. The pretest and posttest, adapted from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) for Preschool Students and…

This survey aims at studying the relationship between English vocabulary threshold and word guessing strategy that is used in reading comprehension learning among 80 pre-university Chinese students in Malaysia. T-test is the main statistical test for this research, and the collected data is analysed using SPSS. From the standard deviation test…

This study investigated the effects of differing densities of glossing on the uptake of target words and the comprehension of idea units from a reading text. The focus was whether different densities of glossing would create trade-off effects. Thirty-three Malaysian ESL learners were assigned to three different conditions: high-density glossing,…

The research described in this article investigates test takers' cognitive processing while completing onscreen IELTS (International English Language Testing System) reading test items. The research aims, among other things, to contribute to our ability to evaluate the cognitive validity of reading test items (Glaser, 1991; Field, in press). The…

Reading comprehension is one of the four skills essential in learning English. In a reading class, students tend to read all the information provided in reading materials, but how much do they actually retain? This study explores whether learners use identification of the topic and main ideas as a reading strategy to assist in reading…