Investigating the challenges faced by Iraqi secondary school students in developing english reading comprehension skills

This study investigates the challenges Iraqi secondary school students face when learning English reading comprehension environment. Despite the increasing importance of English in academia and communication globally, most Iraqi students continue to struggle with understanding English-written texts, which affects their language learning and academic performance. The main objective of this study was to identify and understand the significant barriers that impact reading comprehension among Iraqi secondary school learners. A quantitative descriptive design was used, with a 26-item structured questionnaire distributed across five dimensions: linguistic difficulties, affective dimensions, strategic reading behaviours, cognitive difficulties, and motivation. The instrument was piloted on a sample of 60 Grade 11 public school students in South Babylon, Iraq. The findings showed students having enormous challenges in sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary. In addition, they had little use of reading strategies, less confidence, and low motivation towards reading English. All these problems are interconnected and present disadvantages in the classroom, additionally, aspects of design exacerbate these issues. The study recommends integrating clear teaching of reading strategies, adjusting curriculum content for student needs, and enhancing motivation through interesting and age-relevant reading materials. The outcome deepens the understanding of reading comprehension's intricate nature in the context of EFL and provides pragmatic implications for ELT/EL instructional designers and policymakers in Iraq and similar contexts.