Investigating Critical Reading Strategies and Challenges among Thai EFL University Students: A Mixed-Methods Study
Keywords:
critical reading strategies; EFL learners in Thailand; higher education; reading comprehension; mixed-methods researchAbstract
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education widely acknowledges the importance of critical reading strategies in fostering individual scholarship. The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy served as a framework for interpreting and exploring these issues. This study aims to identify and analyze critical reading strategies and their challenges among EFL students in Thailand. This research focuses on the critical reading strategies employed by 75 Thai third-year students majoring in English at a university in Songkhla Province, Thailand, as well as the challenges they faced when reading academic English texts. Using quantitative methods through questionnaires and statistical analysis, as well as qualitative methods through interviews and thematic analysis, the data was collected through surveys (n=75) and interviews (n=13). The results show the dominance of low-level strategies, and that the main difficulties are vocabulary and understanding complex texts. The students tended to rely on basic strategies, primarily those associated with lower-order thinking skills (e.g., highlighting key words and rereading for context comprehension), while neglecting higher-order strategies (e.g., evaluating credibility or synthesizing ideas). The exploratory factor analysis showed six components relating to higher-order thinking skills, especially “Analyzing” and “Evaluating,” based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. Limited vocabulary knowledge hindered the students’ critical reading abilities, as they reported struggling with complex texts or lengthy passages. This research contributes to extending the literature regarding the critical reading strategies utilized by Thai EFL students. Curriculum designers and educators in higher education should create supportive learning environments both inside and outside classes that enhance Thai students’ critical literacy.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.24.12.2
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