Reading comprehension perceptions in the General Philosophy and General Spanish subjects at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH)

Abstract

Reading comprehension is an essential communicative skill in the academic training; however, the students at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) frequently experience difficulties or resistance when performing activities related to it. For these reasons, and given the lack of studies on this issue within the country, this article focuses on describing the performance of reading comprehension in the subjects of General Spanish and General Philosophy during the third academic term of 2023 at UNAH from the perspective of students and teachers. This research follows a mixed-methods approach and a descriptive design. To gather students’ perceptions, a survey was conducted, with 288 out of 4,652 enrolled students in these courses, revealing that 18.8% consider themselves to have a high level of performance, 64.6% report a good level, and 16.7% a low level. To gather teachers' perceptions, focus groups were organized, in which it was found that professors tend to generalize the idea that their students lack reading comprehension. However, they acknowledge that assessing their performance is not always easy, as it depends on the learning modality, the nature of classroom activities, participation and interest, among other factors. The study highlights the contrast between the opinions of both groups, not only with respect to reading comprehension levels, but also with respect to attitude during class and cultural capital: The students’ perceptions are more positive than the educators’.