A Profile of Novice English Teachers’ Reading Habits
Riski Aginia Hafizha, Fiftinova, Hariswan Putra Jaya
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, English Education Department, Sriwijaya University,
Keywords: Reading habit, novice teachers, factors influencing reading habit
Abstract: A new challenge on growing reading habit to the students has been suggested to the teachers vigorously.
Reading habits of students will be reflected from the teachers themselves as they are the front liners in
education who encourage and promote reading habits. This study was aimed to find out the reading habit of
English novice teachers and to find out the factors influencing their reading habits. The participants of this
study was 12 selected novice teachers who graduated from English education study program, Faculty of
Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University. They teach in formal and informal schools in
Palembang and were selected after they fulfilled the preliminary survey before the study conducted. The
results of the questionnaire and interview given to the respondents revealed that the reading habit of novice
teachers graduated from English Education Study Program of FKIP Sriwijaya University was still considered
as ‘lukewarm’. Lastly, the factors influencing the reading habits of the novice teachers were goals, beliefs,
interests, and motivation.
1 INTRODUCTION
In a literate society, reading is one of the skills
needed. Reading comes along with the four other
skills of language comes as the necessity for living as
it is still and remains stated as one of the most crucial
basic skills for life. OECD (Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development) (2003)
defines reading as the capacity to identify and
understand the role that reading plays in the world, to
make well-founded judgments and to use and engage
with reading in ways that meet the needs of that
individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and
reflective citizen.
In educational sectors, reading is a gate to look up
new information. Chettri (2013)
stated that the
treasures of knowledge could be accessed by reading.
The support of learning languages came from
reading, especially English reading skill. Therefore,
reading skill can build other language skills. Dealing
with learner’s reading, teachers as well, as the parts
of educational sector members, have the same needs
as the students since reading has its own function for
every individual. In accordance to the study, at
school, the textbook is not written in English except
for the English textbook itself that might be problem
for the students to master the reading (Wulandari,
Vianty, & Fiftinova, 2018). According to the act of
teachers and lecturers’ number 14-year 2005, a
professional teacher must have a professional
competence and it is presented by improving the
quality of the teacher individually which relates to the
ability of mastering the knowledge: a)
comprehending the lesson, b) comprehending the
content of the lesson c) comprehending the concept,
d) comprehending the concept to the implementation
in daily life (Slamet, 2006). Due to the fact of this,
teachers need to drown themselves in reading to
improve this quality. By being an avid reader, it is
expected that although the teacher has less experience
in teaching, he/she could have similar professional
competence, especially for mastering knowledge that
he/she could get from being an avid reader.
In fact, a study by Hassen (2016)
in Addis Ababa
and Dessie revealed that the teacher’s reading habit
was poor. The total of 54 respondents contributed in
the research conducted with fifty four questionnaires
were administered. The result of the study was there
was only one teacher who really ‘read’ with the
number book given in a month was one. In line with
this, the results of the evaluation of reading ability of
students in grade IV by the Progress International
Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that
Indonesia ranked at the 45
th
position out of 48 country
participating with a score of 428. Other surveys
evaluated 15 year-old-student in Reading,
Aginia Hafizha, R., Fiftinova, . and Putra Jaya, H.
A Profile of Novice English Teachers’ Reading Habits.
DOI: 10.5220/0009993800002499
In Proceedings of the 3rd Sriwijaya University International Conference on Learning and Education (SULE-IC 2018), pages 19-24
ISBN: 978-989-758-575-3
Copyright
c
 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
19

Mathematics, and Science by Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) stated that
Indonesia ranked at the 57
th
with a score of 396 in
2009 and ranked at the 64
th
with a score of 396 in
2019. These results were highlighted by the findings
of UNESCO which concerned that the reading habits
of the people of Indonesia was poor, there is only one
person out of 1.000 who reads for pleasure.
Therefore, this paper is intended to describe the
reading habit of English novice teachers in graduated
from English Education Study Program of FKIP
Sriwijaya University and to describe the factors that
influence the reading habit of English novice teachers
graduated from English Education Study Program of
FKIP Sriwijaya University.
2 RESEARCH METHOD
Survey research design was chosen in order to get the
description of the reading habit of English novice
teachers. The data were collected by having two
techniques – survey and interview. The survey was
conducted by giving questionnaire which was
delivered before the interview section in a form of
likert scale with the total number of statements were
30 items. The questionnaire was adapted by selecting
relevant items from five ready-made questionnaires.
This questionnaire has been checked by 5 experts in
the area of English language teaching. Then, in-depth
interview with 12 open-ended questions was
conducted to get more information about students’
reading habits.
2.1 Participants
The participants of the study were several English
novice teachers graduated from English Education
Study Program of Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education (FKIP), Sriwijaya University who have
only two years experiences in teaching or less (Jensen
et al., 2012). To select the participants of this study, a
preliminary online survey was distributed to the
former students of English Education Study Program
who graduated in 2015, 2016 and 2017. There were
47 respondents who sent their answer and there were
22 who suited the characteristics of the novice
teachers as the samples of the study. Then, the 22
respondents were selected again by using the
technique of convenience sampling (Haphazard
Sampling) to these numbers of respondents. After
being contacted, there were only 12 respondents who
agreed to be the participants of the study.
2.2 Analysis
The data from questionnaire were analysed by having
descriptive statistics. It means that, the mean/average
score for every item of the questionnaire was
calculated. Data from interview were transcribed, and
then marked up and coded based on the themes
appeared. Lastly, member-checking was done with
the intention to confirm the preliminary research
results to the respondents.
3 FINDING
3.1 Findings from the Questionnaire
There were 3 categories provided on the
questionnaire given to the respondents. 13 statements
were provided for category 1, ‘Goals expected from
reading’. It is showed that in average, the participants
agreed that they expect to reach some goals through
reading such as, developing new discipline habits and
refreshing. The respondents tend to choose agree to
strongly agree with the statements. 10 out of 15
statements were chosen as ‘agree’ statements with the
percentage 41.7% – 75%. The respondents agreed
that reading is one of important parts of their life since
it is indispensable. 50 to 58.3% of respondents agreed
with the statements, “Reading is an important of my
life. I think reading is an indispensable part in my
life.” The respondents agreed that reading makes
them gaining the habit of fast reasoning, gaining real
world knowledge, developing multiple reasoning,
and affecting the success during the exams times. The
total of 33.3 – 58.3% of the respondents agreed on
these. There was the tendency of 16.6 – 75%
respondents chose ‘agree’ and ‘strongly agree’ on the
statements ‘Reading enables me to express my
feelings’, ‘Reading enhances our mental capacity’,
‘Reading develops our imaginary world’, and
‘Reading opens the door of the unknown world’. The
respondents agreed on reading used as the goal of
refreshing.
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Table 1: Goals Expected from Reading (13 items)
These statements are to see the goals expected from
reading.
No Statements
Strongly
Agree Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
1.
(
A
)
16.7 50 25 8.3
2. (B) 58.3 25 16.7
3. (C) 33.3 41.7 16.7 8.3
4. (D) 58.3 41.7
5.
(
E
)
50 50
6.
(
F
)
16.6 41.7 41.7
7.
(
G
)
16.7 58.3 16.7 8.3
8. (H) 16.7 75 8.3
9. (I) 58.3 41.7
10.
(
J
)
75 25
11.
(
K
)
16.7 50 33.3
12.
(
L
)
16.7 75 8.3
13. (M) 41.7 58.3
(A) Readin
g
is an important part of m
y
life.
(B) I think reading is an indispensable part of
life.
(C) Reading makes us gain the habit of fast
reasonin
g
.
(D) Reading is a channel for gaining real world
knowled
g
e.
(E) I think ‘reading’ positively affects my
success durin
g
the exams times.
(F) Readin
g
enables me to express m
y
feelin
g
s.
(G) Readin
g
develops multiple reasonin
g
.
(H) Readin
g
enhances our mental capacit
y
.
(I) Readin
g
develops our ima
g
inar
y
world.
(J) Reading opens the door of the unknown
world.
(K) I usuall
y
learn difficult thin
g
s b
y
readin
g
.
(L) It is ver
y
important to me to be a
g
ood reader.
(M) I read to learn new information about topics
that interes
t
me.
Furthermore, there were 11 statements contributed
for category 2, 'Reading Habit and Preferences’. It is
showed that the participants agreed to have various
preferences in their reading, and things influenced
their reading habit affected the preferences to read.
Generally, 41.6% to 66.7% respondents chose ‘agree’
and ‘strongly agree’ for 7 out of 10 statements. 66.7%
of the respondents admitted that they like the reading
literary works of foreign authors, 66.7% like reading
academic/scientific books, 66.7% like reading
newspapers, 75% like reading books in foreign
language, 75% read academic articles to get more
knowledge on the new studies of their field.
Table 2: Reading habit and preferences (11 items)
These statements are to see the reading habit and
preferences.
No Statements
Strongly
Agree Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
14.
(
N
)
16.7 33.3 41.7 8.3
15. (O) 16.7 50 16.7 16.6
16. (P) 16.7 50 25 8.3
17. (Q) 16.7 50 16.7 16.6
18.
(
R
)
25 50 25
19.
(
S
)
25 50 25
20.
(
T
)
16.7 16.7 50 16.6
21. (U) 41.7 16.7 50 16.6
22. (V) 33.3 41.7 16.7 8.3
23. (W) 25 41.7 25 8.3
24.
(
X
)
50 41.7 8.3
(N) I like reading literary works of Indonesian
authors.
(O) I like reading literary works of foreign
authors.
(P) I like readin
g
academic/scientific books.
(Q) I like readin
g
newspapers.
(R) I like readin
g
books in forei
g
n lan
g
ua
g
e.
(S) I read academic articles because I learn about
new studies in m
y
field.
(T) I follow at least one monthly/weekly culture,
art and/or literature ma
g
azine.
(U) I prefer watching a movie of a literary book
rather than readin
g
it.
(V) My favourite literary text is novel or short
stor
y
.
(W) If a book is interesting I don’t care how hard
it is to read.
(X) Formal features of a book (thickness, font
size, illustrations, etc.) affect my preference
for readin
g
it or not.
Lastly, there were 6 statements contributed for
category 3, Motivation in Reading’ in Table 3. The
respondents tended to choose ‘agree’ and ‘disagree’
from 4 out of 6 statements with the percentage 41.7%
– 58.4%. 33.3% and 58.4% of the respondents
claimed that reading is important to shape them as a
good reader comparing other activities they did.
Almost 85% of the respondents agreed on helping
their students with the schoolwork in reading. 58.4%
of the respondents were motivated to work hard to
read better than their friends. Besides, almost 50%
respondents always tried to finish their reading on
time.
A Profile of Novice English Teachers’ Reading Habits
21

Table 3: Motivation in reading (6 items)
These statements are to see the motivation in reading.
No
State-
ments
Strongly
Agree Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
25
(
Y
)
75 25
26 (Z) 33.3 58.4 33.3
27 (AA) 41.7 25 16.7 16.6
28 (AB) 41.7 41.7 8.3 8.3
29
(
AC
)
25 33.4 25 8.3 8.3
30
(
AD
)
8.3 41.7 16.7 33.3
(Y) I make pictures in m
y
mind when I read.
(Z) I enjoy reading books about people in
different countries.
(AA)In comparison to other activities I do, it is
ver
y
important to me to
b
e a
g
ood
r
eader.
(AB) I like to help my students with their
schoolwork in readin
g
.
(AC) I am willing to work hard to read better than
m
y
friends.
(AD) I alwa
y
s tr
y
to finish m
y
readin
g
on time.
3.2 Findings from the Interview
In the interview session, the respondents explained
their reading motivation when they were still students
and when they became alumni. The respondents
agreed that their motivation to read when they were
students was their education, and their motivation
now is to deliver the information/knowledge to the
students, as the source of material for teaching, and to
help the students to be better. Some of the
respondents also read to get the information they need
about certain topics and to explore interesting things.
Most of the respondents agreed that reading
would guide people to be a professional in their jobs
generally and guide them as well to be a professional
teacher. They believed in the jobs professionalism
since reading could help people get a lot of
knowledge that will influence and improve their skill,
especially improve the teaching skill for teachers.
I : Okay, do you think that reading will guide
people to be a professional in their jobs
generally, and guide you as a professional
teacher specifically?
B : I think so. Because when we teach, it will help
us to get more resource about what our job is.
I : So, do you think that the professionalism of the
teacher will be increased if they read a lot?
B : Yes, I think so. Because, you know, when we do
it, when we do something, we do job
professionally, it means that we must jump into
it professionally too. It means, you must know
what your job is by reading, first.
Di : Okay, so, if… I think reading is the main
sentence or main ways to achieve
professionalism in the job because in
reading you can absorb as many information
as you want without many outside
interference especially in teaching English,
because English is a language. So, when we
want to teach language, we should be
mastering all aspects of that language in all
aspects of life. So, if I am mastering English,
I should be able to master scientific English,
the technical English, and General English.
That kind of things.
On the other hand, one respondent disagreed since
she believed that reading is not the way for people to
be a professional.
I : Okay, do you think that reading will guide
people to be a professional in their jobs
generally, and guide you as a professional
teacher specifically?
F : I don’t think so. Because people have
different interest. Some of them love to read
and some other do not. So, that is not the way
for people to be the professional one.
When asked about motivating students, the
respondents said that as the teacher, motivating the
students is a need and a must. All of the respondents
said that they motivated their students by doing some
ways, such as informing what the students need to
read regarding the following material to discuss,
instructing the students to read some
books/paragraphs/comics/story books/certain topics,
giving them some fun activities regarding reading,
giving some books with pictures to get their interest,
summarizing one topic/one page of a book or even
motivating them to read so they could also produce
output from it.
I : Okay. What motivates you to read when you
were at the university compare to now?
W : The motivation when I am reading since I
was in college until now, it is the same because
I want to discover new things. So, my purpose
in reading a book is still the same because I
want to discover the new things that really
interests me and also I want to gain many
knowledge especially in language because I
am in the major of English language.
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Lastly, some respondents mention that reading
books opens the real world and help them to
memorize and remember things better. However, 10
out of 12 respondents still found out some reasons of
not reading books.
Figure 1: Kinds of books read by the respondents
Talking about kinds of books they love to read,
the respondents admitted that they enjoy fiction, non-
fiction and both of fiction and non-fiction books. In
average, 3 people read both fiction and non-fiction
books, 4 people read non-fiction books, such as
teaching resources, inspirational books, motivational
books, educational/academic books, scientific
topics/articles, online articles, encyclopaedia, history
books, and magazines 5 people read fiction books
such as novels, horror-fiction book, short story,
comics, fairy tales and science-fiction book.
Dealing with the total amount of books being
read, in a typical year, the students informed that they
read mostly totally 2 – 20 books. Regarding this, there
is a tendency that the respondents rarely read since
there were only at most 5 books read in a year.
Based on the findings from the questionnaire and
the result of the interview above, the interpretations
of this study were made. The novice teachers
graduated from English education study program of
FKIP Sriwijaya University often read in a total of 2 –
20 books. The respondents rarely read since there
were only at most 5 books read in a year and only a
book in a month so, they were considered as
lukewarm and it was in line with Applegate and
Applegate (2004) who categorized readers as
enthusiastic, unenthusiastic and lukewarm readers
based on their enjoyment in reading. Based on their
explanation of kinds of book they enjoy in a month,
the teachers claimed that they read only few books in
a month – even only a book. They enjoyed kinds of
books to explore however they did not provide special
time to read and they did not target the books they
need to read. Consequently, the novice teachers
graduated from English education study program of
FKIP Sriwijaya University could still be categorized
as ‘lukewarm’ reader.
The respondents were motivated to read since
they read for their students. The novice teachers
motivated their students to read for gaining more
materials for their subject. They also loved to engage
some fun activities in reading lesson that could
increase the students’ willingness in reading. This
finding was in accordance to Morrison, Jacobs and
Swinyard (2010)
who wrote that teacher who has an
enamored reading habit would conduct more
activities and discussion which promote the reading.
It showed that the teachers were motivated to read so
they had the need to motivate the students (Applegate
and Applegate, 2004; O’Flahavan et al., 1992;
Gambrell, 1996)
since teachers will help students
grow their motivation in reading.
Furthermore, based on the theory, there were some
other factors influencing reading habit such as,
interest (Brantmeier, 2006). According to the table
above, the preferences on reading could bring
positive effect on reading habit as the preferences on
reading could relate more on their prior knowledge
with the books they are going to read (Brantmeier,
2006). The respondents have various preferences and
some of them agreed on the preferences which picture
what they admired most. Brantmeier (2006) stated
that the readers’ preferences were entangled by
individual or personal interest for certain topics or
subjects. Lastly, the respondents declared that they
read for several goals such as, gaining habit of fast
reasoning, gaining world knowledge, expressing
feelings, developing imaginary world and as a
training to be good readers. Generally, the reasons
chosen by the respondents are also in accordance to
the respondents beliefs’, that by reading, the
professionalism of teachers could be increased since
teacher gained much knowledge for themselves and
for their students by reading. As it is stated in
Indonesian Rules and Regulation number 14 Year
2005 that mastering knowledge broadly and deeply is
one of teacher’s competencies and reading is one of
the ways of mastering both the knowledge the teacher
will teach and the competencies they have in teaching
and the methodology used in teaching. It could be
seen from the answers of the respondents above that
reading could derive the professionalism as a teacher
generally.
4 CONCLUSION
Based on the findings and interpretation, it can be
summarized that the reading habit of novice teachers
42%
33%
25%
KINDSOFBOOKS
FictionBooks Non‐fictionBooks Both
A Profile of Novice English Teachers’ Reading Habits
23

graduated from English Education Study Program of
FKIP Sriwijaya University was still considered as
‘lukewarm’ since the novice teachers had only 5
books read in a year in average. Lastly, the factors
influenced the reading habit of novice teachers
graduated from English Education Study Program of
FKIP Sriwijaya University were goals, beliefs,
interests, and motivation. Lastly, the teachers –
especially in English, are suggested to increase their
willingness in reading and cultivate reading as their
habit. The reading habit should be kept maintaining
since it is very crucial and needed in teaching and
learning process as well as to increase the teacher’s
professionalism.
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