The Problems Faced by Physiotherapy Students and Their Causes in Completing Reading Comprehension Section of ITP TOEFL

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v3i3.6764
Keywords: TOEFL, Non-English Students, Physiotherapy Students, Reading, Reading Comprehension Section, Types of Reading Questions, Problems in Reading

Abstract

TOEFL is an important English test that should be taken by all university students from all the study programs in Indonesia. Each student needs to know all English skills tested and master those skills as well. This study was conducted to investigate the difficulties faced by non-English students, namely students of physiotherapy study program with section three reading comprehension of International Testing Program (ITP) TOEFL as well as the causes of difficulties encountered. The type of this research was descriptive quantitative. Using total sampling technique, all of 36 physiotherapy students in the University of Fort De Kock Bukittinggi were chosen as the samples. The data were collected through a multiple-choice test consisting of 50 questions with four options and questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using Roger’s 2011 theory on the seven types of questions of reading tested in ITP TOEFL. The results showed that all of the students had problems with main idea (24.0%), factual question (26.1%), inference question (26.3%), vocabularies in-context (29.4%), and negative question (34.4%) (difficult questions, scanning (13.8%) and reference question (18.0%) (the most difficult questions. These problems are caused by a number of factors such as feeling panic to face long passages, limitation of vocabularies, lack of practice, and less motivation. Therefore, English teachers and trainers are strongly encouraged to pay more attention to the reading problems faced by the students in ITP TOEFL as well as the causes of the problems by facilitating and providing more study exercises and practice.

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Author Biographies

Meladina Meladina, Universitas Fort De Kock Bukittinggi, Bukittinggi, Indonesia

Meladina was born in Batusangkar in 1991. She likes to teach and learn a language. She completed her undergraduate study at Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP) in English Study Program in 2013. Then, she continued her education to Masters in English Education (S2), Universitas Negeri Padang and graduated in 2017. While continuing her study, she also taught in Junior High School. After completing it, she teaches in Universitas Fort De Kock Bukittingi for every study programs. Besides, she is very interesting in conducting some researches related to her field of study such as learning methods, teaching materials, assessments and strategies and ESP.

Dasril Dasril, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia

Dasril was born in Padang in 1986. He completed his bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Andalas University (Unand) in 2011. Then, he continued his education to master’s degree in English Education in Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP) and graduated in 2019. After completing his study, he works as an English instructor for lecturers in Socio Economic Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University. Furthermore, he is interested in conducting a number of researches related to his field of study such as Translation Studies, Writing for Academic Purposes, Public Speaking, English for Academic Purposes (ESP), cross-cultural understanding, and learning methods.     

Published
2021-08-11
How to Cite
Meladina, M., & Dasril, D. (2021). The Problems Faced by Physiotherapy Students and Their Causes in Completing Reading Comprehension Section of ITP TOEFL. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 3(3), 174-182. https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v3i3.6764
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 3 (2021): Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies
Section
Articles
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