Reading Habits among UiTM Students:
A case study in Shah Alam campus
Reading is one aspect that has received increasing attention in research studies in recent years. Generally, the reading habit is very encouraging and a wide variety of materials was read, ranging from local newspapers, magazines, journals and books to foreign publications. “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” (W. Somerset Maugham)
One of the earliest comprehensive studies on the reading habit was the one done by Jenkinson (1940). This classic survey noted that there was a difference in reading interests and tastes between the genders. Other studies carried out on gender preferences were by Fendrick (1941), Wall (1948), Pafford (1959) and Yarlott and Harpin (1971).
It is greatly hoped that there will be a greater awareness among students as regards the importance of reading in knowledge acquisition and knowledge management.
Reading is an aspect associated with literacy. However, the reading process is not simple in its nature. It does not merely involve recognizing a single character and pronouncing it correctly or to recognize and pronounce a few characters that are arranged in a particular manner, but more importantly it is the ability to understand the meaning of these arrangements. According to Bullock (1975), reading is more than a reconstruction of the authors' meanings; it is the perception of those meanings within the total context of the relevant experiences of the reader that is a much more active and demanding process.
The civilization of mankind today demands that one should not only know how to read and be literate but also be functionally literate. Functional literacy is acquired as Gray (1956:p.24) puts it when a person has acquired the knowledge and skills...
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