Habits and attitute in English reading of SMK Raja Muda Musa students

Abstract

This research sought to identify the current reading habit and attitude among secondary school students of SMK Raja Muda Musa. Students’ reading habit were determined based on their preferences of reading materials and time spent on reading activity with additional focus on whether students divert their attention towards the Internet in searching for softcopy materials. A total of 220 students were selected among form one to form five students of SMK Raja Muda Musa. Using the adopted questionnaire of Adult Survey of Reading (ASRA) by Smith (1991) the response were then analysed to seek students’ reading habit and attitude in reading in English as a whole. From this study, it is found that in regards to reading materials be it hardcopy or softcopy students were prone to entertaining materials as comics were found to be the highest preferable materials among the school students and the time spent for reading was much lower compared to the time spent surfing the Internet. In term of reading attitude, students showed neutral response towards reading involvement but were not able to enjoy themselves when it comes to reading enjoyment despite of disagreeing that they possess difficulty or anxiety in reading process. From these findings, it can be suggested that the school and teachers should take actions and organized more reading initiatives to promote reading activity that suits today’s generation.