PROBLEMS IN READING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH AMONG WEAK RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: A STUDY OF FOUR RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF SEGAMAT RAJENTHARAN SUBBIAH DEEPAK SINGH ABSTRACT
In Malaysians schools, English, as a second language is compulsory for all students of the primary and secondary schools. I
n order to improve Malaysian students’ skills in English,
the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English was introduced in 2003. This is a necessary step to enable students to perform better when pursuing higher studies, as they would find that most reference materials are in English. However, rural secondary school students in Malaysia continue to encounter great difficulties when reading in English even though they have successfully undergone the English Language programme beginning in the primary school. It is obvious that in the rural areas, English holds the status of a foreign language. This study therefore, examines the problems in Reading Comprehension in English among weak rural secondary school students with the hope of discovering whether these students used appropriate reading strategies. It is also hoped that with the teaching and learning of reading strategies, the weak rural secondary school students would improve their skills in reading and comprehension