The usage of reading strategies between male and female Malaysia undergraduate students: a preliminary study
List of Authors
  • Chelster Sherralyn Jeoffrey Pudin , Eugenia Ida Edward

Keyword
  • ESL, gender, reading strategies, language learning

Abstract
  • The purpose of this study is to determine the practical use of reading strategies among Malaysia English as Second Language (ESL) learners between male and female students. Simultaneously, it also attempts to find out the most effective reading strategies used by both genders. There are one hundred and twenty students with different proficiency levels who participated in this study and they are ESL learners from public university in Malaysia. The data was collected by using a reading questionnaire to get the required data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data to figure out the most effective strategies used by both genders. In order to determine how the use of reading strategies varied according to gender, Independent T-test was also employed to get the significant differences between both genders. According to the findings, Malaysia ESL learners both, male and female students, are high strategy users (M=3.8182). From this study, it has been revealed that there are significant differences between male (M=3.9206) and female (M=3.7586) Malaysia ESL learners in the use of reading strategies. This research hopes to provide students with the best practice in utilizing these strategies by enlightening ESL instructors on the strategies employed by ESL learners in Malaysia.

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