IDENTIFYING THE STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN COMPREHENDING TOEFL READING TEST - Dahlan

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper

The study aimed to identify the difficulties experienced by fourth-semester students in comprehending TOEFL reading tests. Findings describe five difficulty areas: determining the main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary, reference, and inference. Results from a questionnaire support the same conclusion, indicating that these five aspects require focused resolution. The research draws data from student responses in the 2016/2017 academic year at IAIN Palopo.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Design

Population and Sample

Instrument the Research

Procedure of Collecation Data

IDENTIFYING THE STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN COMPREHENDING TOEFL READING TEST Dahlan State Islamic University (UIN Alauddin Makassar), Indonesia [dahlanrida7279@gmail.com](dahlanrida7279@gmail.com) ABSTRACT The study aimed to find out the Students’ difficulties in comprehending TOEFL reading Test. The description of the data through the question as explained in the previous section showed that the students have some problems or difficulties in TOEFL. There are five items of the difficulties faced by students of fourth-semester students of IAIN Palopo in the Academic year 2016/2017 about determining the main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary, reference and inference. Those facts are also backed up by the result of the questionnaire which show that those items must be considered to be resolved. Key Words: Reading Comprehension, Students’ Difficulties, TOEFL Test INTRODUCTION English is an international language which is learned all over the word. In education English has been chosen as one of the subject that should be mastered by the student; in junior high school, senior high school, and university level. In Indonesia teaching English focuses on four basic skills, namely; listening, reading, speaking and writing, one of the fair raise skill which is very important in learning English reading. Kinds of reading which have been recognized comprehensively is become one of basic skill but it regarded as difficult one by the student. They think that reading is required a lot of vocabulary to understand the given passegges.In reading there are a few things to note, for example, punctuation in reading the text, how to capture the intent of the text, and the difficulty in understanding a passage, so that the reader can get clear information from a text that was written by an author. Moreover, a reader should pay attention word for word from the text so that use pronoun can get the meaning and purpose in reading the text. One of them most complaints is difficulties in doing the TOEFL test that is a test of English language proficiency and become a global standard for viewing one’s ability in the English language as a whole therefore, it becomes very important the understanding because TOEFL is a test used to determine ability to master English especially related to the academic purposes. TOEFL test is designed to measure the English language proficiency for those whose everyday language is not English. TOEFL is a common requirement when we want to apply for scholarship abroad or work requirement in many companies. To be able to do the TOEFL test well and get a high sore, in accordance with the allocation of time, it takes the right technique. One alternative that can be applied is difficulties in comprehending Reading TOEFL. When looking for details, we expect students to concentrate on the minutes of what they are reading. By using technique the participant can cover the whole problem on the items on the TOEFL test is very varied and has a difficulty level is quite high. The writer chooses this technique because it is considered to help to plan, communicate, become more creative, save time, solve problems, focus, organize and clarify thoughts, recall them better, learn faster and efficient, and see the whole picture. Achieving a high TOEFL scores particularly in reading comprehension is often a problem for most people, especially those who are required to take the test because many students who cannot read fast and understand quickly because lack of rich vocabulary of well-established. So wealth richer vocabulary possessed the more easily achieve fast read and understand quickly. The lack of ability in comprehend the reading text, be, such as; inability in scanning, skimming, guessing meaning from the context, etc. The students unable in getting the message from the text and they will be failure in answering the question related to the text. METHODS The method that applied in this research was quantitative descri

FAQs

What difficulties do students face when comprehending the TOEFL reading test?

Students face difficulties in determining the main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary, reference, and inference.

How was the research conducted to identify these difficulties?

The study used a quantitative descriptive method with a questionnaire distributed to fourth-semester students.

What was the format and number of items used for the TOEFL reading test and questionnaire?

The TOEFL reading test used multiple-choice questions totaling 50 items, and the questionnaire consisted of eight questions with three response options.

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper