Reading Culture In Malaysia English

Language Essay
Background of the problem
Reading plays an important role in our lives. Not only is it the fastest way to reach for new
information and new knowledge, but it is also useful in building maturity and widening awareness of
contemporary issues. Besides, reading gave human the ability to think deeply and seek for changes,
which is especially important for people in Malaysia which has the vision of becoming an advanced
country in 2020. However, despite being one of the countries in South-East Asia with the highest
literacy rate (93.2%), Malaysia is still far behind developed countries like Japan, United States and
Britain, which have a literacy rate of 99% (Utabera et al.).
Malaysia is suffering a poor reading culture among the citizens. It was found that Malaysians are
only keen on reading books that are related to their work field or of light genre ("Malaysians
Reading"). They opined that reading things that are not to their interest is a waste of time and will not
contribute to self-development, in which such mindset had prevented them from reading to expand
knowledge. Also, most Malaysians were not inculcated to read since they were young, and they are
less willing to spend money to buy quality books ("Malaysians Reading").
On the other hand, it is possible that the advancement of digital media, especially the internet had
caused Malaysians to shift away from books. Today, watching television, surfing the internet and
playing video games are among Malaysians favorite activities, but reading did not make it into the list
(Musa).
Furthermore, electronic media had now grown as a more important source of information, which
changed people’s perception on reading. Studies showed that internet had become the most used
media among Malaysians, where they spend nearly 20 hours per week on the internet. Among these
users, 66% had reported that their reason to go online is "learning" ("Malaysia Netizens").
Problem
The poor reading habits among Malaysians were reflected through the handling of 1Malaysian book
vouchers (BB1M) by the university students. In both year 2012 and 2013, Malaysia government had
distributed the vouchers at the value of RM200 in 2012 and RM250 in 2013 to all Malaysian students
who are registered in tertiary level education. The main purpose of government in giving out these
BB1M was to ease the students’ burden in buying books, so that everyone can enjoy a better
education and a knowledgeable society could be developed. However, most of the students did not
appreciate the help given from the government. It was reported that some students were trying to
sell of their book vouchers, either through internet or word-by-mouth, in order to earn quick buck
("Students’ names"). Also, there were students who exchanged their book vouchers with book stores
for academic-unrelated things, such as cigarettes and hand phone top-ups. Malaysia government
had tried to come up with methods to deal with this situation, but the attitudes of students towards
the book voucher signaled that the reading culture among the Malaysian youths is at an alarming
stage.
Objectives of the study
The aim of this research paper is to investigate the reading habits among the university students of
Malaysia, since they are the ones who are responsible towards the nation’s future. This study is also
aimed to identify the impact of internet towards the students’ reading habit. Through this study,
reasons that affect the students’ reading habit could be identified, and it will be useful for the
governmental agencies to figure out strategies to raise the students’ awareness in reading. Also,
book stores can use this study to establish suitable marketing strategies to attract students to buy
more books to read.
Research questions
The following are the research questions of this study:
What are the reading habits among university students of Malaysia?
Do university students read online more often than offline?
Limitation of the study
There are some limitations to be highlighted in this present study to prevent overgeneralization of the
results. Due to the time constraint and limited resources, the sample obtained is relatively small,
which is only 40 students for American Degree Program in Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus.
Since it focused on only students in one program, there are possibilities that students from other
programs will perceive reading differently. Also, this study is carried out in an urban college; it is
possible that students from rural college read differently. Therefore, this study is not suitable for
generalization among all university students in Malaysia.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Definition of main issue
2.1.1 Reading
Reading is not an easy process in which a reader simply decodes terms in a text and automatically
understands the meaning of the word; it is more than that. It involves problem solving skills in which
the reader tries to understand text not just from the words and sentences on the page but also the
ideas, memories and knowledge evoked by them (Schoenbach et al.). It is an active process,
occupied by opinions and voices of the author and the reader and the background information of the
reader. As concluded by Shafi and Loan in their study, "it is a cognitive process of understanding a
written linguistic meaning and to examine and grasp the meaning of written or printed characters,
words or sentences" (93).
2.1.2 Reading Habit
According to the definition of EdTech, reading habit is "the creation of a strong desire to read that
continues throughout the student’s life". For the purpose of this study, it will be defined as what,
when why, how often and how much do the students read.
2.2 Main Issue
2.2.1 Reading culture in Malaysia
Reading problem among citizens had affected Malaysia for years. The National Literacy Survey
done by National Library in 1982 revealed that Malaysians only read an average of one to two pages
per year (Utabera at al.). Although some degree of improvement was seen in 2005, in which the
same agency reported that Malaysians read on average 2 books per year, our nation is still far
behind other developed countries like America and Canada, whom people read on average 10
books per year. Besides, Malaysians mostly prefer light reading materials like magazine and
newspaper. As shown by the literacy statistics, out of 85% Malaysians who read regularly, 77%
prefer newspaper, while only 3% read books and 1.6% read comic (Utabera et al.). Compared to
Americans, in which 53% read fiction and 46% read non-fiction, Malaysians are at a slower pace of
gaining improvement, as people cannot depend solely on light materials for knowledge.
Furthermore, due to the examination-oriented education system in this country, people have low
awareness in reading; they do not appreciate reading and see it as a burden. According to the study
by Pandian and Ibrahim among the matriculation students in Malaysia, 79% of them spent less than
an hour a week to read for pleasure, while 70% of them were reluctant readers in English. These
findings had proved that Malaysian students often associate reading with academic tasks but not
pleasure, which implies that they did not utilize their ability to read for self or social development
(Pandian and Ibrahim).
2.2.2 Impact of technology
In this 21st century, where digital media had become closely connected to our everyday life, it is not
unusual to see internet gradually replacing books as the source of information. Though some people
insisted that the technology revolution is not likely to significantly affect reading habits, many
researchers chose to believe that computer and Internet is affecting the way people read, since "the
Internet becomes an important part of college students’ lives, not only for their studies and daily
routines, but as a tool for getting to know other people and the rest of the world" (qtd. Shen).
Research done by Liu in the U.S had revealed that more people are now engaged on screen-based
reading, such as scanning and browsing, non-linear reading or keyword spotting, and less time on
in-depth and concentrated reading. He also claimed that young people are more tolerable with
screen-based reading (Liu). This corresponds with the study done by Pew Research Centre, which
reported that college-aged adults exhibits a higher interest in e-book compared to other age groups
(Zickuhr et al.).
2.3 Parallel Study
One similar study has been done in Malaysia by Abdul Karim and Hasan to investigate the
matriculation students’ reading habits and attitudes. A total of 127 students studying in Bachelor of
IT and Bachelor of Arts in the International Islamic University Malaysia were involved in this study.
This is a quantitative research, in which survey method is used in data collection and both
descriptive and relational statistics were used in data analysis. The result showed that these
students spent more time reading in comparison to what was found in past studies. Websites also
seemed to be an increasingly important source of reading materials.

Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This study was conducted to determine the reading habits among Malaysia university students as
well as the impact of technology on their reading habits. To achieve this objective, the researcher
employed quantitative measure to collect and analyze data. Quantitative method is used since it is a
systematic approach that allows a greater objectivity and accuracy of results. Personal bias can also
be avoided by researchers by keeping a "distance" from participating subjects and employing
subjects unknown to them. Besides, it allows the researcher to summarize all information and
compare it with similar studies ("Analyse This"). This section below consists of details of participants,
research tools and the procedures of data collection and analysis.
3.2 Respondents
The population of this study is the students who are enrolled in the American Degree Program (ADP)
at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus. Due to the limitation of resource and time, convenience
sampling was used to select a representative sample of the subjects for this study. A convenience
sample is simply one which the researcher uses any subjects that are available to participate in the
research study. This sample will not be representative of the whole population and thus the findings
should not be generalized to all university students (Crossman). The questionnaires were distributed
to 40 ADP students face-to-face.
3.3 Research Tools
The research tool used in this research paper is questionnaire. This questionnaire was divided into 3
sections: Section A, B and C. Section A consists of 4 questions to collect participants’ demographic
information. In Section B and C, questions were asked to determine the students’ reading habits.
Section B was comprised of single choice questions, while Section C contains a few Likert scale
questions. The questions in this section were adapted from a study which examines the reading
habits among college students in Kashmir Valley (Shafi & Loan 96-100). While in Section D, the
students were asked about online reading, which includes how much and what do they read online.
3 single choice questions and one multiple choice questions were prepared to find out the students’
online reading behavior. This section was modified for another research which also investigates the
impact of technology on reading habits of college students in Taiwan (Shen 569-571). All
questionnaires adapted were edited to suit the use of this research paper.
3.4 Data Collection Procedure
In April 2013, the researcher started to distribute the questionnaire to the students in Taylor’s
University Lakeside Campus. The samples were told about the objective and importance of the
study before the questionnaires were distributed. The researcher also asked them to be honest to
the response filled, and promised to keep the information confidential. The questionnaires were
given out after briefing. The respondents were allowed to ask for clarification if they are unclear of
anything and to check for incompleteness before returning the questionnaire to the researcher.
3.5 Data Analysis Procedure
The data collected through the survey was tabulated using Microsoft Excel. The percentages were
calculated from all the sections to obtain results for the two research questions. Descriptive data was
used to present the findings.
3.6 Ethical Issues
Before distributing the questionnaires, the researcher had first sought the respondents’ permission to
help in the data collection process. The respondents were also assured that their personal
information and answers will be kept anonymous confidential. The data collected will be used strictly
for education purpose.

Chapter 4 Findings
4.1 Introduction
This chapter is divided into two main sub-sections: the university students’ reading habits and their
online reading behavior. In presenting the results in each subsection, data collected from the
questionnaire will be used.
4.2 University students’ reading habits
This subsection presents the findings from questionnaire regarding the students’ reading habits.
4.2.1 Time spent on reading per day (excluding online reading)
Figure 1: Result of respondents’ time spent on reading per day
In Figure 1, out of the 40 respondents, 37% of them read less than an hour, while 43% of them spent
1-2 hours reading per day. None of the respondents spent more than 4 hours to read offline per day.
4.2.2 Reading delight
Figure 2: Results of the reading delight of the respondents
Figure 2 showed how much the respondents enjoy reading. 16 of the respondents claimed that they
enjoy reading "a bit", while 13 of them have "not much" interest in reading. Only 9 respondents enjoy
reading "a lot", while 2 respondents do not enjoy "at all".
4.2.3 Reading habit Inculcation
Figure 3: Results of the inculcation of reading habit among the respondents
As shown in Figure 3, more than half (63%) of the respondents develop reading habit through their
own effort, while 34% of them were influenced by a third party to read. Only one respondent claimed
that nobody had influenced him to read because he does not read.
4.2.4 Preferred Reading Time
Figure 4: Results of the preferred reading time of the respondents
Figure 4 showed that most of the respondents (60%) do not prefer reading at a specific time; they
like to read whenever they are free. On the other hand, 15% of them prefer to read at night and 12%
read in the evening. One respondent had claimed that he does not read, therefore no preferred time
of reading.
4.2.5 Favorite Reading Spot
When the respondents were asked to choose their favorite reading spot, 27 of them chose home as
their preference. 6 of them like to read in coffee shops, followed by 4 whom like to read in the library.
One of the respondents likes to read "everywhere", while one respondent has no favorite reading
spot.

Figure 5: Results of the respondents’ favorite reading spot

4.2.6 Purpose of Reading
Figure 6: Results of the importance of each purpose of reading for the respondents
Figure 6 shows that all of the respondents see academic/education as a "very important" (60%) or
"important" (40%) purpose of reading. As for reading for information, 45% opined it as a "very
important" purpose to read. On the other hand, 32.5% of the respondents think reading for pleasure
is "not very important", while 5% thinks that it is "not important at all".
4.2.7 Types of Reading Materials
Types of
Reading Materials
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Newspaper
9
22.5%
17
42.5%
12
30%
2
5%
Magazine
6
15%
16
40%
15
37.5%
5
12.5%
Journal article
2
5%
11
27.5%
21
52.5%
6
15%
Fiction
9
22.5%
14
35%
13
32.5%
4
10%
Non-fiction
4
10%
20
50%
13
32.5%
3
7.5%
Textbook/Academic books
13
32.5%
20
50%
7
17.5
0
0%
Literature
4
10%
6
15%
21
52.5%
9
22.5%
Others
3
7.5%
6
15%
14
35%
17
42.5%
Table 1: Results on the frequency of reading each type of reading materials by the respondents
As we can see from Table 1, textbooks/academic books showed the highest number of respondents
(32.5%) who chose this choice as the reading material that they read "often". Newspaper and fiction
are the second most popular reading materials, with 22.5% of respondents selecting each of these
choices as reading materials that they read "often". On the other hand, 22.5% of respondents stated
that they "never" read literature, followed by magazine (12.5%).
4.2.8 Preferred Source of Reading Materials
Source of Reading Materials
A lot
A bit
Not really
Not at all
Library
10
25%
19
47.5%
9
22.5%
2
5%
Book Stores
17
42.5%
16
40%
4
10%
3
7.5%
Family
4
10%
17
42.5%
15
37.5%
4
10%
Friends
5
12.5%
20
50%
11
27.5%
4
10%
Internet
20
50%
14
35%
4
10%
2
5%
Others
1
2.5%
3
7.5%
13
32.5%
23
57.5%
Table 2: Results on the preference level of each source of reading materials
Table 2 showed that the Internet is the most preferred source of reading materials by the
respondents, in which half of them selected internet as a source that they prefer "a lot". It was
followed by book stores, in which 42.5% selected it as an important source of reading materials. The
third preferred source is library (25%), while not many respondents see family (10%) and friends
(12.5%) as an important source of reading materials.
4.3 Online reading behavior
This subsection reports the result on the online reading behavior of the 40 respondents.
4.3.1 Time spent on the Internet per day
Figure 7 shows the distribution of time spent by the 40 respondents on the Internet per day. It was
found that 30% of them spent 2-3 hours on Internet per day, while 25% spent 3-4 hours per day. 6 of
the respondents (15%) spent more than 5 hours on Internet every day, while none of them spent
less than 1 hour on the Internet.
Figure 7: Results on students’ time spent on the Internet per day
4.3.2 Time spent on Internet to read
Figure 8: Results of time spent by the students to read while they are on the Internet
From the figure above, nearly half of the respondents (45%) spent 30-40% of their time on the
internet, while 27% of them spent 50-60% of their time on the internet to read. Only one respondent
spent almost all her time on the internet reading.
4.3.3 Reading Online
Figure 9: Results of students’ opinion on their own online reading behavior
As shown in Figure 9, majority of the respondents (72%) think they read online more often than
offline, while only 28% thinks otherwise.
4.3.4 Online reading materials
What do you read on the Internet?
Number of respondents
Percentage
Online News
31
77.5%
Online magazine
7
17.5%
E-book
9
22.5%
Journal article
17
42.5%
Blogs
17
42.5%
Email
21
52.5%
Others
3
7.5%
Table 3: Results on the students’ online reading materials
The most popular online reading material among the respondents is online news (77.5%), followed
by email (52.5%). Journal articles and blogs were tied at the third place, in which each has 42.5% of
the respondents selecting it as one of their reading materials on the Internet.

Chapter 5 Data Analysis

5.1 Introduction
This chapter includes a discussion of the research findings. For ease of reference, the findings are
discussed with regard to 1) the university students’ reading habits and 2) the effect of Internet on the
students’ reading behavior.
5.2 University students’ reading habits
This study aimed to determine the students’ reading behavior in terms of how often, who influence,
when, where, why and what do they read. The result showed that most students do not possess a
high interest in reading, since the findings show that only 9 people indicated that they like to read "a
lot", while most of them only like reading "a bit" or "not much". Besides, most students only spent
less than 2 hours to read, while only 2 respondents read more than 3 hours per day. This result
corresponds to another study done among Malaysian Chinese university students, in which 75% of
them spent less than 2 hours to read (Zainol Abidin 7). The result reflects that the Malaysian
students do not see reading as an important activity since they spend less amount of time on this
activity.
When being questioned "who" influenced them to read the most, majority of the students claimed
that nobody had influence them and they read because of their own effort/interest. Only 14% of them
were influenced by parents and 3% was influenced by teachers. This contradicts with the study done
by Clark and Rumbold which presented that guidance from mother, followed by teacher and father,
is important in development of reading habits among students (24). One possible justification for this
situation is that parents today are not enthusiastic in planting reading habits in their children, which
in turn led to the self-learning to read among the students in order to handle their academic tasks. As
quoted by a teacher during a survey by Oxford University Press, "We have created a generation who
are failing to give their children the phonological start they need to become a capable reader." (qtd.
Williams).
For the question "when" do they prefer to read, majority of the students replied that they like to read
"whenever they are free". This depicts that our students do not have the habit to read regularly or at
a fixed timing; they simply start reading when they feel like reading. On the other hand, 6 of them
preferred to read at night and 5 in the evening, while only 2 claimed that they like to read in the
morning. This situation is supported by Abdul Karim and Hasan who claimed in her study that the
reading time might be influenced by the classes students need to attend in the day time, which
caused them to prefer reading at night (292). Besides, in responding to the question "where" do they
prefer reading, majority of the students selected home as their choice, while only 10% selected
library as their favorite reading spot. This result was parallel to another study done in Singapore,
where 64% preferred doing reading at home and only 4% chose to read in the library (Majid and Tan
193). From this outcome, inference that could be drawn is that home environment did play an
important role in promoting students to read, since they are feeling more relaxed and comfortable in
their own territory. Also, it is possible that the environment of local public libraries are not satisfying,
which turned them away from staying there to read.
For their purpose of reading, all students selected academic/education as an important/very
important reason, followed by information. On the other side, reading for pleasure is seen to be less
important by most of the respondents. This result proved that Malaysian students today
perceive reading as a tool to pass examination instead of a hobby or leisure activity, which is
supported by Zainol Abidin in his paper which concluded that 40% of the students study
because they "need to pass the exam". As for "what" do they prefer as reading material, not
surprisingly textbook/academic books topped all other choices, with 32.5% of the respondents
selected it as the reading material they read "often". This further strengthen the claim that students
emphasize on reading to succeed academically more important than any other reasons. Other
reading materials that the students read often are newspaper and fiction, while the least popular
reading materials among the students are literature and magazine. It was quite unexpected to see
that magazine is the least preferable reading material, since it was considered the most popular
reading material along with newspaper and fiction in another study done in Malaysia (Abdul Karim
and Hasan). Apart from that, when being asked their most preferred source of reading material,
Internet emerged to be the most important source, followed by book stores and library.

This essay is an example

To conclude this subsection, we can see that Malaysian students have low reading habits in general.
They spent little time reading and do not read regularly. In addition, their biggest reason of reading is
to pass examination and they prefer reading academic books the most. Besides, Internet is found to
be the main source of their reading materials, which will then lead to the analysis of the next
subsection.
5.3 University students’ online reading behavior
This subsection was designed to examine the influence of the Internet on the students’ reading
habit. Through the responds of the students, it was found that most students spend 2 to 4 hours on
the Internet per day, which doubled their time spent on books. Similar result was shown in the study
by Akabuike and Asika where the respondents spent only 0-2 hours for course text and light
materials like newspaper or novels, but 3-5 hours on the Internet (256). Out of their time spent on
the internet, most students declared that they spent 30-40% of their time reading, while 27% spent
50-60% of their time to read. When they were asked whether they spent more time to read online
compared to offline, nearly three quarter of the respondents opined that they read online more often.
The results from these 3 questions showed that Internet had not only become part of the students’
life, it had also shifted the students from traditional reading to digital reading. One possible
explanation to this situation could be the fact that students nowadays rely mostly on the Internet to
seek information and complete assignments. This reason was supported by Caverly and Peterson,
who pointed out that e-learning has become an important part in today’s higher level education,
where "homework is delivered and graded on the World Wide Web (WWW); and assignments are
designed to be completed collaboratively through electronic mail" (qtd. Shen). The students were
also asked to select the common things that they read while they are reading online. Online news
appears to be the most popular material read, followed by email, journal articles and blogs. Another
study done in India had shown a reverse trend in the result, in which e-book and online magazine
emerged as the most read material (98% and 81% respectively), while online news was one of the
least popular reading material (19%) (Chauhan and Lal).
In sum, internet is not only being proved to be important for the students since they spent a lot of
time on it, it is also an important source of reading material for the student, in which they spent
nearly half of their time on the Internet to read. Majority of them also think that they read more on the
Internet than reading paper-based materials.

Chapter 6 Conclusion
6.1 Overview of the study
This research gives an account on the general reading habits among the Malaysian university
students. Survey was conducted among 40 university students to collect quantitative data. As stated
earlier in the introduction, this paper aims to explore the reading behaviors among the Malaysian
students in the tertiary level education as well as the influence of technology advance, especially the
Internet, in the students’ reading behavior.
6.2 Review of Findings
A few conclusions could be drawn from the results. It is found that university students in general do
not have high interest in reading, and most of them spent less than 2 hours to read per day. Most of
them see education as the most important reason for them to read, and textbooks/ academic books
are reading materials that they read a lot. Also, nearly half of the respondents see Internet as a very
important source of reading materials. As for the second research question, it was concluded that
most students spent nearly half of their time on the internet to read, and they think they read more
online compared to offline.
6.3 Recommendation
Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, there are several recommendation to be
considered. Since most students still do not consider library as an important source of reading
materials, government should provide funds to upgrade the libraries in the country to attract students
to visit libraries more often. Also, having seen that book store is now facing the challenge from
Internet as the source of reading materials from the students, the management of the book stores
could come out with different marketing strategies to draw students to buy more books. Besides,
since most student are shifting from offline reading to online reading, instead of giving out book
vouchers, government could consider to provide more access to online reading materials, or include
online reading service in places like public libraries or schools, to ease the students who prefer to
read on the Internet.
6.4 Future research
Since this study only focused on American Degree Program students, it is recommended that future
research could be done among students of other tertiary level education programs such as A-Level,
Form 6 or undergraduate students to identify any similarities in the findings. Besides, future studies
could focus on studying the reading habits among different genders or age groups to recognize the
possible differences among each group. Future researcher could also focus on other factors that
affect the students’ reading behaviors which are not covered in this paper. Furthermore, researchers
may seek to find out students’ attitude towards reading in order to spread the awareness of reading
among the students.

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