A Comparative Study of Public and Private Universities Students Printed and Online Academic Texts Reading Strategies Uses The Case of ASTU and Saint Mary’s University

Abstract

Reading strategies are essential for readers to comprehend academic materials. Mature readers are distinguished from struggling readers by the types of reading strategies they apply while reading both printed and online materials. Besides, the application of online reading strategies requires additional skills and strategies from readers. Without appropriate training and experience, it is difficult for students to apply both the offline and online strategies effectively. However, there is no available research on the reading strategies uses of higher learning students in Ethiopia for both types of reading strategies. This study, therefore tried to inspect the level of reading strategies uses and the existence of differences or similarities of online and printed reading strategies uses of ASTU and Saint Mary‘s University students in both printed and online forms. It also tried to examine whether there was a difference in terms of gender and departments regarding online and printed reading strategies uses. Additionally, the study attempted to look into the existence of similarities or differences between the uses of online and printed reading strategies uses. To answer the above questions, 400 students were selected randomly from the two universities (200 from each university), applying simple random sampling. The study applied a quantitative method. It used closed ended questionnaires as data gathering tools. T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. And the study revealed that the level of the two universities students‘ online and printed reading strategies uses were medium, and the finding revealed that there was no statistically significant differences in the uses of online and printed reading strategies between the two universities students. Besides, the relationship of online and printed materials uses of the two university students was found to be significantly and positively correlated. There was statistically significant difference in the uses of printed reading strategy and online reading strategy uses as a result of department but not gender. Hence there is a need to raise the level of online and printed reading strategies uses from medium to high. There is also a need to narrow the gap regarding onlineand printed reading strategies uses observed among departments through training and reading strategies teaching. Key Words: Printed Reading Strategies; Online Reading Strategies, and Academic Texts