INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, when information technology is excessively developing, numerous Vietnamese

students are heavily influenced by social networking sites and entertainment on the internet.

Consequently, most of them forgot about reading habits and the practical benefits of reading. On

the other hand, this alarming reading situation also caused controversy around whether reading

books in the 4.0 era  is still necessary for young people.

Each year, there are many types of research related to reading habits. In particular, there

exists studies indicated that reading books has numerous positive effects on young people.

According to Oriogu and Subair (2017), “Effect of reading habits on the academic performance

of students”. This survey was conducted on the students of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti,

Nigeria. It is shown that the majority of the students who participated in the study, not only

spend their time to read, but they also intentionally read for examination, self-development and

for growth of speaking and writing English skills. In the survey, the findings also disclosed that

reading habits have an important effect on the academic performance of students. Moreover,

another report demonstrated that “The impact of pleasure reading on enhancing writing

achievement and reading comprehension” (Attiyat 2019). Accordingly, the results indicated

that most participants realized reading positively affects on enhancing achievement in writing

and reading for understanding. In addition, reading helps readers develop their writing

experience with inspiring ideas, expanding their vocabulary and advancing their grammatical

structures. Also, Merjen, el (2019), “Impact of reading on students’ writing ability” surveyed

reading habits have a profound impact on the academic writing skills of university students.
 Although the survey provided many important points of reading that influenced on student

achievements, more studies need to be shown conclusions about whether reading is really

necessary for young people.

Therefore, this research was administered to determine how reading books is requisite for

young people. The initial hypothesis was reading books is essential for the youth. 
 METHODOLOGY

The survey was performed on January 19th , 2020 at International School of Business (ISB).

The number of respondents to participate in a survey research were 98 people. The sample was

randomly choosen with both males (63,3%) and females (36,7%) at different ages. Most

participants were in age group 18-19 with 84,7%.

The tool of the survey was a questionnaire which was created by EAP5’s students. It made up

of 13 closed – ended questions which were about the necessity of reading books for young

people. The first two questions elicited information about the demography of the respondents.

The next three questions gathered information related to individual reading habits and the type of

books. Another three questions obtained information about the purpose and interest of reading

books. The effects of reading books was represented by two questions. The last two questions

are about the importance of reading books.

The questionnaires were answered on the internet by young people. First of all, the

respondents were asked if they wanted to participate in the survey. After that, if they agreed, they

would be received the questionnaire by messenger on facebook or email. The participants will be

assisted in solving difficulties and questions which they encountered via messenger on facebook

or email by administrators. Once the participants completed the survey online, administrators

gained results from G Suite. After that, the collected data will be converted into charts.
 RESULTS
Figure 1

60%
Time for reading books

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Every day A few times a week Hardly ever Never

The chart indicates the amount of time young people often spend reading books.

It can be seen that the percentage of participants who read several times per week, was highest

with 57,1%. Besides, the rate of individuals read books every day which only accounted for

more than one quarter of the highest, was about 13%. In the chart, approximately 31% of

participants hardly ever read books. In contrast, no one has never spent time reading.
Figure 2

Purpose of reading books

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
To relax To find To follow trend To improve Others
information comprehension

Overall, there were great deal of differences between the percentages of reading books

purposes in this chart.

It is noticeble that the number of participants read books in order to relax were highest, with a

figure of around 47%. In other respects, those whose purpose of reading was to find information

and improve comprehension, both accounted for 24,5%. On the other hand, the intetion of reading

to follow trend and others is respectively lowest at 3,1% and 1%.

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Not important Somewhat Important Very important
important

The graph indicates the importance of reading books for young people.

It can be seen that nearly 40% of respondents agreed that reading books is important to the

youth. Meanwhile, it also pointed out more than 30% of others thought reading is very

important. Additionally, less important reading rates were chosen by nearly 26% of the

participants. Otherwise, a few of respondents said that it was not important.

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Yes No Maybe

The survey data is designed to gather data on the proportion of samples who think more

positively after reading books.

It candidates that most respondents answered they thought more optimism after reading,

with the rate of 64% . In contrast, there was approximately 32% of the participants thought

their mindset did not change. Beside that, only 5 percent of the others were uncertain about the

change in their mind.

Motivational factors for reading books

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Books available for Make reading apart Consider your Get
reading of your daily hobbies and recommendations
schedule personal interests from friends

The chart shows respondents are surveyed about the factors can motivate young people to

read more books.

Overall, most samples regarded reading books as their hobbies and personal interests with a

figure of nearly 60%. On the other hand, a number of participants who made reading apart of

their daily plan are the same as those who responded having books available helps to keep

reading habits more frequent, with the rate of 43,9%. In addition, there is approximately 28%

of participants answered that they read books regularly because of receiving suggestions from

friends.
DISCUSSION
 ABSTRACT
Reading is vital in the life of every student. Imbibing reading habits will help them become
lifelong learners. The study investigated the effect of reading habit on Vietnamese students. 13
research questions guided the study. The study adopted survey research method. The research
instrument used was structured questionnaire. The findings show that majority of the
respondents who took part in the study are not used to their time for reading and they purposely
read for examination, self development and for developments of spoken and written English.
The study also revealed that reading habits has significance effect on their thinking. The major
factor motivate them to read more books is considering it in apart of schedule. Therefore, the
study recommends that students should be encouraged by their lectures to read different
information resources other than their notebooks and handouts, they should have a blueprint of
their time schedule for reading and also academic institutions should monitor use of social
media, so that students will meticulously use it for educational purposes.