Findings – The findings indicated that students read more when they were on vacation compared to
their readings while classes are in session. The students’ average time spent on reading when classes
are in session and during vacation is 2.15 hours and 2.82 hours per week, respectively. Slightly more
than half (57 percent) the students always read emails/chat rooms/Facebook, which are their most
preferred type of recreational reading. Non-fiction books were the least favourite among students with
47 percent of students indicating that they never or rarely read this type of genre. Among all the
reading interests, only novels had a significant correlation with the students’ CGPA. The findings
showed that the respondents with higher levels of fathers’ education were significantly reading more.
Originality/value – The reading habits of EFL students have received little attention and there is
limited research that surveyed Arab EFL students’ recreational reading habits at the tertiary level.
The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature and set out to be a point of reference
and comparison for future investigations about English recreational reading habits of Arab EFL
tertiary students.