Reading Comprehension Problems in English Among Malaysian Primary Year 4 ESL Pupils

Abstract

The preliminary study was motivated by concern over the problems that affect reading comprehension among Year 4 ESL pupils in a government Chinese vernacular primary school in Johor, Malaysia. It was aimed at identifying Malaysian primary Year 4 ESL pupils' reading comprehension problems in narrative text. Data were collected through the use of 15-item questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale which involved 80 pupils that were randomly selected as sample for the study. Percentages were used to analyze the data collected. The findings revealed that the problems studied affected pupils’ reading comprehension. The most significant problem in reading comprehension among Year 4 ESL pupils was the motivation. Pupils lack the desire in reading English texts and were uninterested in the topics. The second and third problems were perceived to be background knowledge and learners' background knowledge respectively. The respondents perceived the reading process as the least problematic. The implications of the study are teachers should be more aware of the reading problems faced by the pupils and use more interactive teaching strategies.