What do Thai primary-school English learners rate as most important for their reading comprehension?

Details

This study investigated internal and external factors influencing English reading comprehension among students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Grades 1–6 at a Thai government primary school. It used a descriptive questionnaire survey of 45 students enrolled during the 2024 academic year.

The instrument was a 15-item, five-point Likert scale questionnaire developed by Taladngoen et al. (2020) to assess factors related to reading comprehension ability. Its first section collected general demographic information, and its second addressed internal and external factors influencing reading comprehension. The questionnaire was distributed online via Google Forms. Data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics: percentages, means, and standard deviations.

Internal factors received slightly higher influence ratings (M=3.84, SD=0.97) than external factors (M=3.49, SD=0.95), although both were rated at a high level of influence. Among the variables, teachers’ teaching techniques had the highest reported rating and were the most influential external factor (M=4.67, SD=0.60). Students’ linguistic knowledge followed as the most significant internal factor (M=3.89, SD=0.79). These findings describe students’ questionnaire ratings of influence.

The findings offer practical implications for enhancing English reading comprehension by increasing students’ awareness of their individual learning challenges and informing teachers’ instructional practices. The study calls for future research on how internal and external factors contribute to other English language skills, including speaking, writing, and pronunciation, and on effective instructional methods for improving reading comprehension in various educational settings.