Pupils’ and Parents’ Perspectives Towards Using Smartphone Strategies to Improve Reading Skills

Abstract

In this 21st century, reading skill is one of the most essential skills to achieve language literacy. On this basis, an early introduction to proper reading strategies shall develop good attitudes towards reading. Based on a study conducted by the Malaysia National Library in 2015, the rate of reading is lower among Malaysians, with only 15 to 20 books on average per year. Due to this, the researchers conducted a reading workshop, “Using Smartphone to Improve English Skills” in three districts in three different states. This qualitative study was embarked to explore the perception of workshop participants (pupils and parents) towards the reading workshop. Despite the pupils’ and parents’ perceptions towards the workshop which generally are positive, however, some suggestions are given to further improve the reading workshop. The participants in this study consisted of 79 people of different ages, races and socioeconomic statuses. The pupils are from primary schools with the ages of 10 to 12 years old (Year 4 to Year 6) and the parents are from the ages of 25 to 50 years old. They are residents of the Southern region of Malaysia which are Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. The research instruments employed were field notes, open-ended interview responses from Google Form and semi-structured interview responses. The findings suggested that the majority of the students and parents agreed that the various reading strategies introduced using smartphones are both interesting and exciting and may serve as the focus of future studies. The study implies that the smartphone reading strategy workshops should be carried out at different locations to enhance the pupils’ reading skills in reading English materials. Both parents and their children should participate in this workshop to ensure the strategies could be practiced effectively at home.