INVESTIGATING THE MOST COMMON ENGLISH READING PROBLEMS OF ARAB LIBYAN POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS, A CASE OF STUDY AT DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate Libyan postgraduate students’ reading problems concerning sentence structure, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. A descriptive quantitative research instrument accomplished the objectives of the study. However, the participants in the study were composed of 70 students studying in different programs at Diponegoro University. Furthermore, the participants were asked to fill-in questionnaire that aimed to investigate the respondents' reading problems, to test their English reading ability. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: (a) sentence structure, (b) vocabulary, and (c) reading comprehension. It was found that the reading ability of the participants in the three areas of sentence structure, vocabulary, and reading comprehension was at a low level. Therefore, the results of the study revealed that they had problems in all three areas of the reading test: (a) sentence structure, (b) vocabulary, and (c) reading comprehension. Above that, in testing the differences in English reading problems among Libyan postgraduate students enrolled in different programs at Diponegoro University, Indonesia, the results showed that a large percentage of those students have the same reading problem. That is, most of them had problems in all three areas. The reading ability of the Libyan students was at a low level. It can be concluded that there were no differences in reading problems among Libyan postgraduate students.