Critical Responses To Texts: Reading Attitudes Of University Students In Indonesian Learning Context
Abstract
This study discusses university students’ reading attitudes and perspectives on reading texts. Reading attitude was measured through students’ critical responses in comprehending and evaluating the content of the texts. This descriptive-quantitative study employed a survey. It was conducted in Indonesian Language Teaching Study Program in State University of Makassar, Indonesia. The data were collected through a questionnaire and interviews. The results of this study indicated that the students’ critical responses to texts were categorized as low. In general, the students obtained only the stated information found in texts, and they made very little attempt to seek for implied meanings. They rarely tried to connect one text to another and to social as well as cultural contexts of the texts. These poor critical responses of the students have resulted from the process of learning to read which has been more text-oriented in nature rather than ideology-concerns of the texts.
Keywords: learning to read, critical responses, reading attitude
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