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Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka

Received: 4 February 2023     Accepted: 23 February 2023     Published: 31 July 2023
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Abstract

Reading is considered as an important learning tool which comprised of multiple skills. Efficient reading by university students plays a vital role in shaping our society's future. Reading habits of University students is determined by several factors including age, gender, field of study and life style. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the effect of gender differences in reading habits of university undergraduates in Sri Lanka by obtaining data using questionnaires from 192 male and 474 female students of six universities. The results revealed that enjoying reading, reading preferences, how often they are reading and reading frequency significantly varied between the two genders (p<0.05). Females enjoyed reading and spent more time than their male counterparts. Most female students preferred novels (28.5%), while male respondents (7.5%) selected books to read. The majority of the female students responded that preparation for exams (39.6%) was the main barrier against reading, while male students selected social networks (16.5%). In terms of frequency, the majority of the girls (19.5%) read once a week, while 9.3% of boys read less frequently, whereas 0.9% of them never read. Based on this study, female are better in reading and showed positive attitude towards it than male students in Sri Lankan universities. Thereby, it is recommended to the universities in Sri Lanka to provide necessary guidance and motivation in developing reading skills, especially among male students.

Published in American Journal of Education and Information Technology (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13
Page(s) 71-78
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Gender Differences, Reading Habits, Reading Preferences, Personal Satisfaction

References
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  • APA Style

    Mohamed Nazeer Fathima Nashath, Ahamed Thaha Ahamed Akram. (2023). Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka. American Journal of Education and Information Technology, 7(2), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13

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    Mohamed Nazeer Fathima Nashath; Ahamed Thaha Ahamed Akram. Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka. Am. J. Educ. Inf. Technol. 2023, 7(2), 71-78. doi: 10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13

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    AMA Style

    Mohamed Nazeer Fathima Nashath, Ahamed Thaha Ahamed Akram. Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka. Am J Educ Inf Technol. 2023;7(2):71-78. doi: 10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13,
      author = {Mohamed Nazeer Fathima Nashath and Ahamed Thaha Ahamed Akram},
      title = {Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka},
      journal = {American Journal of Education and Information Technology},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {71-78},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajeit.20230702.13},
      abstract = {Reading is considered as an important learning tool which comprised of multiple skills. Efficient reading by university students plays a vital role in shaping our society's future. Reading habits of University students is determined by several factors including age, gender, field of study and life style. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the effect of gender differences in reading habits of university undergraduates in Sri Lanka by obtaining data using questionnaires from 192 male and 474 female students of six universities. The results revealed that enjoying reading, reading preferences, how often they are reading and reading frequency significantly varied between the two genders (p<0.05). Females enjoyed reading and spent more time than their male counterparts. Most female students preferred novels (28.5%), while male respondents (7.5%) selected books to read. The majority of the female students responded that preparation for exams (39.6%) was the main barrier against reading, while male students selected social networks (16.5%). In terms of frequency, the majority of the girls (19.5%) read once a week, while 9.3% of boys read less frequently, whereas 0.9% of them never read. Based on this study, female are better in reading and showed positive attitude towards it than male students in Sri Lankan universities. Thereby, it is recommended to the universities in Sri Lanka to provide necessary guidance and motivation in developing reading skills, especially among male students.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of Gender Differences in Reading Habits of University Students in Sri Lanka
    AU  - Mohamed Nazeer Fathima Nashath
    AU  - Ahamed Thaha Ahamed Akram
    Y1  - 2023/07/31
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13
    T2  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
    JF  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
    JO  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
    SP  - 71
    EP  - 78
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2994-712X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20230702.13
    AB  - Reading is considered as an important learning tool which comprised of multiple skills. Efficient reading by university students plays a vital role in shaping our society's future. Reading habits of University students is determined by several factors including age, gender, field of study and life style. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the effect of gender differences in reading habits of university undergraduates in Sri Lanka by obtaining data using questionnaires from 192 male and 474 female students of six universities. The results revealed that enjoying reading, reading preferences, how often they are reading and reading frequency significantly varied between the two genders (p<0.05). Females enjoyed reading and spent more time than their male counterparts. Most female students preferred novels (28.5%), while male respondents (7.5%) selected books to read. The majority of the female students responded that preparation for exams (39.6%) was the main barrier against reading, while male students selected social networks (16.5%). In terms of frequency, the majority of the girls (19.5%) read once a week, while 9.3% of boys read less frequently, whereas 0.9% of them never read. Based on this study, female are better in reading and showed positive attitude towards it than male students in Sri Lankan universities. Thereby, it is recommended to the universities in Sri Lanka to provide necessary guidance and motivation in developing reading skills, especially among male students.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Oluvil, Sri Lanka

  • Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Oluvil, Sri Lanka

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