International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

An Investigation on Reading Anxiety Across Gender

Open access

Shahira Adam, Noor Hanim Rahmat, Mok Soon Sim, Norhafizah Amir, Nurain Jantan Anua Jah, Hazrimah Ab. Rahim

Pages 530-541 Received: 05 Mar, 2022 Revised: 07 Apr, 2022 Published Online: 06 May, 2022

http://dx.doi.org/10.46886/IJARBSS/v12-i5/12988
Reading helps language users gain knowledge and empowers the users with the power of reasoning. The use of reading skills makes the language users depend on their communication skills. Reading comprehension is challenging as it requires the coordination of multiple linguistic and cognitive processes, word reading ability, working memory, inference generation, comprehension monitoring, vocabulary, and prior knowledge. Past studies revealed that there is gender difference in the use of language learning strategies. More studies were suggested to investigate gender differences when it comes to language learning difficulties; especially reading comprehension. This study explores the reading comprehension strategies among male and female language learners; specifically, the perception of top-down and bottom-up reading anxiety across gender as well as the perception of classroom reading comprehension across gender. This study uses quantitative design with a survey as the instrument. 30 respondents from social sciences faculty in a public university were randomly chosen for this study. For both top-down and bottom-up anxiety, this study has shown that generally, female respondents reported higher anxiety than male respondents. When it comes to classroom teaching, male respondents reported higher anxiety. Findings in this study has interesting pedagogical implications for the teaching and learning of reading comprehension.
Baha, O. A. (2017) Reading Models: A review of the current literature. International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science (IJELS), 2(3), 44-49. Retrieved from
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.3.6
Browne, A. (1998). A Practical Guide to Teaching Reading in the Early Years. London: Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd. 9
Elleman, A. M., & Oslund, E.L. (2019). Reading comprehension research: Implications for practice and policy. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 6(1), 3-11. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2372732218816339
Genç, G. (2016). Can ambiguity tolerance, success in reading, and gender predict the foreign language reading anxiety? Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 12(2), 135-151. Retrieved from https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/508/266
Ho, A. P., & Ng, L. (2016). Gender-based differences in language learning strategies among undergraduates in a Malaysian publica university. Issues in Language Studies, 5(2), 1-12. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.33736/ils.1631.2016
Katzir, T., Kim, Y. G., & Dotan, S. (2018). Reading self-concept and reading anxiety in second grade children: The Roles of Word Reading, Emergent Literacy Skill, Working Memory and Gender, 9 (1180), 1-13. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01180
Li, R. (2021). Foreign language reading anxiety and its correlates: A meta-analysis. Read Writ (2021). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10213-x
Rahmat, N. H., Rahman, S. A. S. A., Yunos, D. R. M., Rahman, S. S. S. A., & Rahman, A. H. A. (2022). Exploring the use of knowledge in language learning. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(2), 16–31. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i2/12268
Rahmat, N. H. (2021). An investigative study of cognitive and metacognitive paraphrasing strategies in ESL writing. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(3), 76-87. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i3/8919
Rahmat, N. H. (2020). Investigating the cycle of fear in foreign language learning. European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 5(1). Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org./10.46827/ejfl.v.5il.3245
Rahmat, N. H. (2019). Cycle of fear in learning: the case for three language skills. American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 49(1), 1515-1562. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.20448/801.41.151.162
Rahmat, N. H. (2018). Educational psychology: a tool for language research. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 655-668. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2018.42.655668
Stanovich, K. (1980). Towards an interactive compensatory model of individual reading differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16(1), 32-71. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/747348
Sumarni, S., & Rachmawaty, N. (2019). Gender differences in language learning strategies. Ethical Lingua: Journal of Language Teaching and Literature, 6(1), 13-22. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.30605/ethicallingua.v6i1.1169
Zhou, J. (2017). foreign language reading anxiety in a Chinese as a foreign language context. Reading in a Foreign Language, 29(1), 155-173. Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1137892.pdf
In-Text Citation: (Adam et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Adam, S., Rahmat, N. H., Sim, M. S., Amir, N., Jah, N. J. A., & Rahim, H. A. (2022). An Investigation on Reading Anxiety Across Gender. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(5), 530– 541.