The teaching-learning process of Reading comprehension strategies for university students in the first cycle

Abstract

The situation of reading comprehension among Peruvian students is alarming according to various national and international studies. The problem is worse if we think of future teachers who need to acquire the necessary tools to overcome their possible reading deficiencies. The main objective of this study was to describe the teaching-learning process of reading comprehension strategies in first cycle students of the Faculty of Education of three private universities in Lima. For this, it was considered appropriate to use a qualitative approach, as the perceptions of 210 students about their reading habits and reading skills were analyzed, for which a questionnaire was applied. Likewise, the methodologies applied by some teachers of general training courses of the first cycle to promote reading comprehension in students were investigated, based on the use of a semi-structured interview guide. Among the results, there is evidence of the difficulty that students have in understanding texts, especially certain types, such as argumentative and expository ones. Also, students often face lexical difficulties when they do not understand certain words used in the texts, which is limiting insofar as they do not usually use corrective strategies to overcome such difficulties. For their part, the teachers interviewed, although they expressed the need to give greater importance to developing reading skills in the students, argued that the lack of time makes it impossible for them to verify that their students really managed to understand the texts they read.