What Saudi College Students Read in the Global Age.

The study aimed to investigate the reading interests of female college students in terms of the magazines they read and the topics they like to read and the topics senior and junior high school reading textbooks cover. Findings of a questionnaire and interviews with female college students at King Saud University indicated that 77% of the students read women’s magazines, 77% like to read about fashion and make-up, 66% read articles about movies and pop-stars, 24% read poetry magazines, between 1%-4% read religious, educational, literary, political, computer and internet, and historical articles. Analysis of the reading school books showed that 10% of the reading texts are devoted to Quranic verses and Prophet Mohammed’s traditions, 29% on Islamic history, 13% focus on general topics, and 11% deal with classical literature. It can be concluded that female college students like to read magazines and topics that prevail in satellite T.V. broadcasting. Both magazines and satellite T.V. shows serve to marginalize the culture of young people, and distract them of the vital social issues. There is a contrast between the types of topics the students read at school and those they read at home. The study recommends that reading texts be re-selected, re-constructed and re-designed. It also recommends extensive reading, electronic reading, speed reading, reading from multiple resources and introducing new books, magazines, e-books and other resources to students.

Prof. Reima Al-jarf
King Saud University
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf