A Study on the Challenges Faced by Indonesian University Students in Understanding English Reading Texts

Abstract

English is widely acknowledged as one of the most essential languages in the world today. The global spread and importance of English have made it a crucial tool for accessing knowledge, engaging in academic discourse, and participating in cross-cultural communication. As a result, proficiency in English—particularly in reading comprehension—has become a key objective in educational settings, especially at the tertiary level. Therefore, it is taught in formal school. In Indonesia, English language is a mandatory course for college students. The skill of English learning in academic field is often in the form of text. It means the reading ability is necessary to be able to comprehend the text. This research focuses on investigating the difficulties of reading comprehension for college students. The aims of this study is to assess the reading comprehension proficiency of students from two universities in Bandung in understanding English texts. The factors contributing to students' difficulties in comprehending English texts across the selected universities are also analyzed in this research. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach in order to examine and present an in-depth analysis of the collected data. The findings of the study indicate that at Campus A, the majority of participants were categorized under the “STRONG” level of difficulty, suggesting that students experienced significant challenges in English reading comprehension. In contrast, most students at Campus B fell into the “WEAK” category, implying that their difficulties were relatively minimal. Further analysis identified four primary factors contributing to students’ struggles in understanding English texts: limited language proficiency, insufficient background knowledge, low motivation, and inadequate reading strategies. Among these, limited language knowledge emerged as the most prominent factor hindering students’ reading comprehension abilities.