Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension among Malaysian ESL Elementary Learners
Stephanie Kiew, Parilah M. Shah
Abstract
This study explored Level 2 primary school English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ reading comprehension skill of a sub-urban school in Mukah, Sarawak. The objectives of this study were to identify the factors that contri- buted to learners’ comprehension skill, and to compare these factors in term of gender. The respondents comprised of 50 males and 50 females aged be- tween 10 to 12 years old from major ethnics in Mukah namely, Melanau, Iban, Malay and Chinese. A set of questionnaire that consisted of 16 questions were administered via Google Form. The findings suggested that motivation and interest, prior knowledge and vocabulary knowledge influenced learners’ reading comprehension skill. In addition, there was no significant relationship between genders and these factors. The findings from this research were important to determine reading strategies based on the factors listed to help the poor readers.