BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES WHILE DOING THE READING LOG AS PERCEIVED BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AND THEIR TEACHERS: A STUDY IN THE FAST TRACK DIVISION, FELTE, ULIS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Extensive reading has been an issue of great concern among researchers, educators and reading specialists for decades as it proposes a novel approach to teaching the reading skill. In this study, the researcheraimed at (1) investigating the students and teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of doing an extensive reading assignment namely Reading log, and (2) identifying the difficulties that the students encountered when doing the assignment. The researchemployed mixed methods of both quantitative and qualitative examination, using twoinstruments, namely semi-structured interview and questionnaire tocollect data from a representative sample of first-year students and their teachers of English course 1A* in the Fast-track Division,FELTE, ULIS. The results indicated that vocabulary range, background knowledge and soft skills were the three most acknowledged benefits among the students and teachers. In addition,students and teachers agreed that most of the students had difficulty understanding, analyzing and responding to the texts, which suggests that further assistance and guidance of teachers should be provided in time to help their students accomplish the pre-determined learning goals of the assignment.