Issues in Applied Linguistics

Competence in academic reading is a key component in obtaining higher degreesfor foreign language learners in English medium universities. This paper summarizes research findings on academic reading obtainedfrom a questionnaire, two sets of reading tests and a textbook analysis. Results revealed that the essential reading skills required offoreign language learners and the skills they have most problems with in their academic studies are J) skimming; 2) reading a text or parts ofa text more slowly and carefully to extract all the relevant information for a written assignment such as an essay, dissertation or examination; and 3) understanding unknown words. The correlations between reading tests which tested global skills and discrete skills were strong. The results indicated that if these learners did well on global skills, they also tended to do well on discrete skills and vice versa. Learners seemed to use their skills eclectically and holistically. The results suggest that too much emphasis in EAP reading has been given to reading for the main idea, at the cost of faster reading skills (skimming) and area-specific skills (understanding unknown words ) which are required of learners and which they find most difficult.