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STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD READING ONLINE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Sarjana Pendidikan
Febby Wiwiek Sihombing 112018043
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2022
ii
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD READING ONLINE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Sarjana Pendidikan
Febby Wiwiek Sihombing 112018043
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
SALATIGA
2022
iii
iv
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted to fulfill any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@2022. Febby Wiwiek Sihombing and Frances Sinanu, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.
Febby Wiwiek Sihombing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER ... i
INSIDE COVER ... ii
APPROVAL PAGE ... iii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ... iv
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION ... v
ABSTRACT ... vii
INTRODUCTION ... 1
LITERATURE REVIEW ... 3
Reading Online versus Reading Offline in General……….. 3
Reading Online in English Foreign Language (EFL)……… 4
Difficulties in Reading Online………... 5
The Covid-19 Pandemic Impacts on Students’ Mental Health Issues………... 7
Students' Perceptions Toward Reading……….. 7
THE STUDY ... 9
Context of the Study……….. 9
Participants of the Study……….. 9
Research Instrument………. 10
Data Collection Procedure………... 10
Data Analysis Procedure……….. 10
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... .11
Participants’ Perception of Reading Online………. 11
The Contributing Factors to Students’ Difficulties……….. 14
Coping Strategies in Reading Online………... 19
REFERENCES ...24
APPENDIX ...27
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...29
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ABSTRACT
This study explored students' perceptions of reading online during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in Indonesia. As the researcher experienced the challenges of an online class that affected by certain things and it makes the researcher was curious whether other students feel the same situation as the researcher. The data were collected through an online interview using the WhatsApp app to achieve the objectives. The interview was intended to collect qualitative data concerning the participants' perception of reading online, the contributing difficulties in reading online, and the strategies used to cope with the difficulties. The participants of this study were seven sophomore students in the English Education program who were experiencing reading online during the pandemic. The findings revealed that the participants perceived reading online positively regarding its benefits. The participants preferred reading online because it was easy to access, engaging, and suited their expectations way of reading. Even though the participants’
responses are positive, they still faced difficulties when reading online and had to have strategies to overcome those difficulties.
Keywords: reading online, students’ perception, difficulties, strategies
