Factors Influencing Good English Reading Habit (An Investigation of EFL Students’ Perception)

This research was conducted based on the fact that many students do not engage reading as a habit. As a department of English language students, reading habit should become a necessity since the students pretty much engage with English text. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate what are factors and challenges that 8th-semester students Department of English Language Education Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Ar-Raniry State Islamic University faced in establishing good English reading habit. The data of this qualitative research was collected by using in-depth interview to seven 8th semester students Department of English Language Education students, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Ar-Raniry State Islamic University. The research participants were chosen by using purposive sampling with eight adapted criteria. The result of the study showed that the factors influencing good English reading habit of the students were internal factors such as curiosity and having goals; and the external factor such as home environment, academic environment, first language reading habit influence, internet, and social media influence. Moreover, the students faced some challenges in establishing good English reading habit such as lack of vocabulary mastery, information overload, social media distraction, mood swings, financial problem, and book unavailability.