Reading Comprehension Difficulties Faced by Sudanese School Learners: A Case Study

Abstract

The study intends to investigate the reading problems encountered by Sudanese EFL secondary school learners in reading texts and comprehension. The researchers prepared a questionnaire for EFL teachers and a test for EFL students as tools for data collection. The sample includes 20 teachers and 20 students randomly selected from El Hasahisa secondary schools in Gezira State, Sudan. The researchers used an analytical-descriptive method to collect data, which were further calculated and analyzed with SPSS Program. The findings indicate that Sudanese secondary school students face problems in reading and answering reading comprehension questions. Students’ lack of vocabulary, motivation, students’ inadequate understanding of the relationship and functions of words within sentences, idioms and figurative meanings, insufficient study material, lack of teacher’s training, traditional teaching methods contribute to the main barriers of reading and comprehending texts. The paper concludes with some concrete and constructive suggestions that would indubitably lessen these problems to get the desired performance.