Reading comprehension of first year university students

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to collect data about reading comprehension and reading habits of students who begin their university studies. The empirical study was descriptive and exploratory and used a qualitative and quantitative design. A semi-structured questionnaire was presented to students from three universities in Asunción, with the aim of investigating the difficulties that characterize the students' reading comprehension level. For this, reading comprehension was evaluated based on two types of texts. Furthermore, information about the reading habits of the participating students was collected. The results have shown that only a minority of students who start their university studies achieved a level of excellence in the comprehension of texts, revealing major difficulties in comprehending scientific texts. The study has shown results that indicate that students who have had richer reading experiences in childhood and adolescence and had reading models in the family, tended to achieve a better reading comprehension. Keywords: