Exploring Students’ Perceptions of Intensive Reading Activities in an EFL Classroom: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Understanding students’ perceptions of intensive reading activities is important for improving reading instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. While previous studies have primarily focused on the effectiveness of intensive reading in improving reading outcomes, limited research has explored how students perceive and experience intensive reading activities in university-level EFL contexts. This study aimed to explore students’ perceptions of intensive reading activities in an EFL classroom. Employing a qualitative design, data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire administered via Google Forms to 43 undergraduate students enrolled in an Intensive Reading course at Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya. The responses were analyzed using thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s framework. The findings revealed three major themes: (1) intensive reading as a tool for comprehension and reading development, (2) vocabulary limitations and challenges in processing academic texts, and (3) self-regulated strategies for managing reading difficulties. Students generally perceived intensive reading positively because it helped them improve comprehension, develop reading strategies, and engage more actively with academic texts. However, they also reported challenges related to unfamiliar vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and lengthy texts. To address these difficulties, students employed various strategies, including rereading, contextual guessing, dictionary use, and skimming techniques. The study highlights the importance of instructional scaffolding, vocabulary support, and strategy instruction in helping students engage more effectively with intensive reading activities in EFL classrooms.