Perspectives of EFL Students about Reading: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

The present descriptive study aimed to determine if EFL learners in a technological institute in Quevedo city, Los Rios province apply reading strategies in class. The study obtained the data collected through a specific instrument. The participants were 60 students with different English proficiency levels whose ages ranged from 19 to 54 years. The instrument applied was a survey, divided into two parts. The first is to get demographic information, and the second part is to collect and analyze data about difficulties in the EFL context using reading strategies. Results showed that 60% of participants read. Additionally, most students understand a long text by rereading it, with a mean of 2.30. It means learners comprehend texts by reading more than once. Participants use their prior knowledge with a mean of 2.53. If their knowledge was not enough, they translated all the words with a mean of 2.63. This means that students apply different strategies to understand the activities. Teachers and researchers can consider this study to guide and support learners during their learning process before using it in an actual implementation.