Students’ Perspectives on Learning Narrative Reading Texts in an Indonesian EFL Context

Abstract

Reading comprehension, particularly in narrative texts, remains a significant challenge for EFL university students despite the widespread use of narrative materials in language classrooms. Previous studies have predominantly focused on students’ reading achievement, while limited attention has been given to students’ perspectives, motivation, and perceived difficulties in learning narrative texts. This study aimed to investigate students’ perspectives on learning to read narrative texts at Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang (UNIMUS). This study employed a quantitative survey design using a 10-item Likert-scale questionnaire to investigate students’ perspectives on learning to read narrative texts in an Indonesian EFL context. The questionnaire was distributed to 22 university students selected through purposive sampling. The instrument examined students’ reading motivation, perceived text difficulty, relevance, and enjoyment, as well as perceived efficacy in understanding narrative texts. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and percentage analysis. The findings revealed that students generally demonstrated positive attitudes toward narrative reading and considered narrative texts beneficial and enjoyable for language learning. However, the results also indicated low intrinsic motivation for reading outside of classroom activities and considerable difficulty with higher-order reading skills, particularly distinguishing facts from opinions. In addition, students showed confidence in identifying basic narrative elements such as plot, conflict, and characters. These findings suggest that current reading instruction successfully supports foundational comprehension skills but has not fully facilitated students’ critical reading development and autonomous reading habits. This study contributes to EFL reading pedagogy by providing student-centered empirical data that may assist educators in designing more engaging, critical, and responsive narrative reading instruction in higher education contexts.