The effects of self-directed learning on the English reading comprehension ability of MBA students

Abstract

In this study, self-directed learning (SDL) refers to practices for English reading comprehension ability of individual students outside of a classroom for 7 consecutive weeks. The objectives were to investigate the effect of SDL on English reading comprehension ability and its effect size; and to explore how SDL improves English reading comprehension ability of the 33 MBA students of Dhurakij Pundit University in Bangkok, Thailand. This research project took the form of an embedded mixed methods design with a variant of the embedded experimental model. Quantitative data were collected by the reading part of TOEIC, and qualitative data by a Learning Summary and Evaluation Sheet, and by the teacher’s reflections. The dependent samples t-test reveals that, on average, the English reading comprehension ability of the subject students before the SDL (M = 12.30, SD = 2.76), and that after the SDL project (M = 13.33, SD = 3.30) is significantly different (p = 0.02). This means that, on average, the English reading comprehension ability of the students in the post-test significantly increases from the pre-test. The effect size is 0.34, which means that its magnitude is “small”. SDL improves reading ability in terms of “increasing awareness of reading strategy use” (51.52%), “developing learning responsibility and effort” (21.21%), “providing freedom to learn” (21.21%), and “building self-confidence to read” (6.06%). Implications and applications are discussed, and recommendations are provided.