Reading Comprehension in English – as a Foreign Language – of Middle School Students: A Case Study

Abstract

In the last decade, the results of academic performance evaluations of students in the Public Education System of Honduras have indicated that most students have a poor reading comprehension level in their mother tongue. The teaching of the subject “Foreign Language” in the country is identified with the English language, however, its systematic and standardized evaluation remains a pending task. Hence, this study aimed to identify the level of reading comprehension in English as a foreign language and its correlation with sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, and school grade of students of the Centro de Educación Básica Pedro Nufio of La Esperanza, Intibucá. For this purpose, a quantitative research approach with a descriptive-correlational scope was used, and a reading comprehension test designed in strict adherence to curricular guidelines was applied. This study found that most of the students evaluated presented a poor reading comprehension level in English and only a small group of students reached an advanced level of reading comprehension. The areas that presented critical results were the extraction of information, inferences, and the identification of main and secondary ideas and details in the written text.