Bottom-Up or Top-Down Reading Strategies: Reading Strategies Used by EFL Students

Abstract

To strengthen the understanding of reading, a reader needs to apply a certain strategy. Although previous research on reading strategies has been carried out, little research has been devoted to investigating reading strategies involving EFL learners. The main objective of this study was to investigate the students' reading strategies of the English Language Education Study Program of FKIP ULM. It applied a descriptive quantitative approach involving 60 students. The data was collected by using a questionnaire and interview guidelines. The findings showed that students employed bottom-up and top-down strategies, such as reading the title to determine the text's main idea, reading the first paragraph, concentrating on the first and last sentences, reading the passage quickly, reading the difficult part aloud, focusing on the first sentence, guessing the meaning, and taking notes. These findings suggest that more exercises are needed to develop reading strategies to help students achieve the reading target more effectively.