JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching https://e-journal.undikma.ac.id/index.php/jollt Email: jollt@ikipmataram.ac.id & jollt@undikma.ac.id DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v10i3.5460 July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 p-ISSN: 2338-0810 e-ISSN: 2621-1378 pp. 343-355 JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 343 THE CORRELATION BETWEEN UNDERGRADUATE-STUDENTS’ READING INTEREST AND THEIR READING COMPREHENSION 1*Dewi Fatima Nur Alfatihah, 1Peptia Asrining Tyas 1Faculty of Cultural Studies, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia *Corresponding Author Email: dewifatima@student.ub.ac.id Article Info Abstract Article History Received: June 2022 Revised: July 2022 Published: July 2022 Reading interest is one aspect of encouraging the reading comprehension process. However, the level of reading interest in Indonesia is still low. In this situation, as an academic component, undergraduate-students also have an obligation to read. This is driven by the academic life of lectures which require students to have reading comprehension skills. Because of these two circumstances, the reason for this study was to investigate the correlation of students' reading interest and reading comprehension in higher education levels. This study was conducted through a quantitative approach and correlation study as the method. The population of this research is about 140 students of EFL semester four who are active in the English language education study program of Universitas Brawijaya. By using a simple random sampling technique, there were 41 students from the 4th semester involved as participants in this research. This study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to students who were respondents and reading comprehension tests, after which they were input and analyzed through the SPSS program. The finding of this study showed that the significant value was .022 smaller than 0.05 (.022 < 0.05) which means that there was a correlation between interest and reading comprehension, with a Pearson product moment (r-value) of .356, which indicates a weak positive correlation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It means that there is a significant correlation between reading interest and reading comprehension. Keywords Reading skills; Reading interest; Reading comprehension; How to cite: Alfatihah, D.F.N., & Tyas, P.A. (2022). The correlation between undergraduate-students’ reading interest and their reading comprehension, JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 10(3), pp. 343- 355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v10i3.5460 INTRODUCTION In the education context, processes and ways of learning are closely related (Ama, 2021). One way of learning that is usually done by students is by reading. In learning English, reading is an activity to get information that has an important role as input for students. This idea is supported by Fitriana (2012) who states that one of the most important skills in language acquisition and learning because reading is a strategy to gain new knowledge and improve information that requires thinking processes. Through reading activities, readers gain new information, knowledge, and ideas by participating in these activities. Reading activities have become one of the literacies needed to face the challenges of the 21st century. This is not an exaggeration, considering that reading is the basic literacy needed to shape global competencies (Widodo, Indraswati, & Sobri, 2019). When compared to sight or hearing, reading is more challenging. Reading involves the capacity to comprehend a sequence of phrases and then interpret them without assistance from others, and not everyone has the patience to do so (Sudarsana, 2014). In addition, understanding reading comprehension is important since it helps students learn and develop new knowledge and information to attain academic achievement. https://e-journal.undikma.ac.id/index.php/jollt mailto:jollt@ikipmataram.ac.id http://issn.pdii.lipi.go.id/issn.cgi?daftar&1366476729&1&& http://issn.pdii.lipi.go.id/issn.cgi?daftar&1524725326&1&& JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 344 Psychological factors related to reading that are sometimes significant in the reading process (Maden, 2018), one of them is interest. In line with it, Fitria (2018) mentioned that there are five aspects that influence students' reading comprehension: motivation, linguistic competence, interest, text characteristics, and the influence of the environment. As a factor that influences reading comprehension, interest plays an important role in encouraging someone to do work without coercion. Interest motivates people to participate in activities and directs them to pay attention and give their time to do these activities. It is supported by Sutarto et al. (2020), with the interest of students, it will increase students' attention to learning, especially in reading. Further, Aprilia et al., (2020) argued that interest is a feeling of love and eagerness in a thing or activity without the force of anyone. Someone who has interest in reading will demonstrate this by his willingness to learn the points of reading material and then read it on his own motivation or with external encouragement. In line with it, reading interest is what drives a person's motivation for reading activities and is critical in text comprehension since it provides the foundation for students to progress toward their reading goals. (Wigfield et al., 2015; Kasper et al., 2018; Aprila et al., 2020). In fact, Indonesia is one of the countries with the lowest reading interest in the world. This condition can be seen in several survey results. One of them is a survey and assessment conducted in 2018 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2019). Based on the findings from the Program for International Students Assessment (PISA), it was found that Indonesian people's literacy rate and reading interest are quite low. The statistics of the 2019 Indonesian people's reading interest survey were ranked 72 out of 77 countries, or were in the bottom 6 countries. It may be a result of the impact of ever-faster technology advancements. In the era of technological development, people prefer things that are fast and instant. Siswati (2010) also explained in her research article that since reading requires a certain concentration that cannot be combined with other activities, various types of entertainment like the use of social media that do not use book media are becoming increasingly attractive to the public along with technological advances. It may be a problem where people's low reading interest can affect the quality of their reading comprehension. Discussing the problem of reading interest in Indonesia, undergraduate students are a part of the community whose interest in reading is supposed to increase. This is because every college student needs reading skills and comprehension to get the most out of reading resources like books, journals, and other sources that support lecture and academic material (Reflinda, 2017). Other than that, according to Wibawanto (2016), being a student means being ready to be involved in any changes in the environment. One of the change activities can be done by reading the phenomena that are around it and pouring it into written form. It means that being a student must be able to enrich knowledge not only for the purpose of academic activities, but also for the purpose of social change. Siregar stated in a scientific article published by Siswati (2010) that undergraduate students who are a part of the academic component have an obligation to read. It is undeniable that the situation and environmental conditions of the academic community, namely at the university level, require students to deepen their reading and expand their thinking. For students, reading interest not only affects academic success but also how students can channel critical thoughts and solutions that can help in social life in the future. According to Patiung in Lestari et al. (2021), reading has numerous advantages, such as stimulating the brain, reducing stress, increasing insight and knowledge, increasing vocabulary, improving memory quality, practicing thinking and analyzing skills, increasing focus and concentration, improving abilities, expanding one's mind, improving social relationships, and assisting in connecting with the outside world. In several studies, the relationship between reading interest and understanding is still an interesting topic to be studied, since those previous studies have different relationship results. Rumaniah (2018) in her study found that there is no relationship between students’ reading interest and reading comprehension. In her research, she argued that there were other factors that further JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 345 encouraged students' reading comprehension, such as motivation. In contrast to the research findings conducted by Fitria et.al (2019) which focuses on middle school students as research subjects. It was found that there was a significant relationship between students' reading interest and their reading comprehension. Fitria argued that reading interest is one of factors which affects reading comprehension. Students who have a deeper interest in reading have more information and are able to understand the text better. In line with the research conducted by Despita (2020), she found that there is a high correlation between students' reading interest and reading comprehension, which is necessary for second semester students of STIA SATYA NEGARA Palembang. She claimed that if students are interested in reading, their ability to comprehend the text will be great. Considering the differences in the findings of previous studies and the previous background, the researcher wanted to know the relationship between students' reading interest and reading comprehension. In short, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between students' reading interest and their reading comprehension. Therefore, when the results of this study are found, they can be used as a basis for future research. In addition, this research can also be used as a reference for educators in improving students' reading comprehension activities. RESEARCH METHOD The research method section, the researcher used a quantitative approach as the method of study. The researcher examines the relationship between reading interest (X) and reading comprehension (Y), where the relationship between the two variables in this study is more suitable using a quantitative approach which in its application is used to test the relationship between two or more variables. To analyze the correlation between reading interest and reading comprehension, the researcher does several tests to calculate if the data can be used for further research. The researcher also used two main instruments to collect the data; reading interest questionnaire and reading comprehension test. Research Design The researcher took a quantitative approach in this study. The quantitative method is used to collect numerical data using a variety of research instruments (Cresswell, 2012). The method of this research is the correlational method. It is a research method that examines and investigates the relationship between two variables or more (independent variable and dependent variable), without any activity affecting each variable. It is supported by the theory of Cresswell (2012), correlational research is a type of quantitative research in which researchers use the statistical process of correlational analysis to determine the relationship between two or more variables. Therefore, the main focus of current research is to explore the relationship between 2 variables; reading interest as independent variable and reading comprehension as dependent variable. Sampling & Participants The population of this study was 140 EFL of 4th-semester active students at the English Education study program, Universitas Brawijaya - Malang in the academic year 2021/2022. In this study, the researcher used a simple random sampling technique. A simple random sample is a sample selected from a population in such a way that every individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected (Fraenkel et. al, 2012; Ary et. al, 2010). The 4th-semester students or the students of English language education batch 2020 were selected as participants of this research because they meet the research criteria such as currently taking the Critical Reading course and having passed the Reading Comprehension course in the previous semester. Researchers determine students who take Critical Reading courses in this semester because Critical Reading courses are the highest and last level class of reading skills in the English Language Education Study Program. While conducting the research, the researcher was able to collect 41 responses from around 140 active students. The minimum valid sample size for the correlational research, JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 346 according to Fraenkel and Wallen (2012), is no less than 30. Therefore, because the 41 participants who had been involved were more than 30, the researcher used their responses for this research. Instruments The data were collected by the questionnaire items and reading tests which are distributed to students. The questionnaire is used to get the information about the students' reading interest. Other than that, a test is used to investigate the students' reading comprehension, the researcher distributes the reading test in order to get the students’ score. The reading interest questionnaires used in this study to get the information of students reading interest were adapted from research questionnaires by Noortyani (2015) and Putro & Lee (2017). Both questionnaires were chosen to be adapted because it has several indicators that are appropriate and in accordance with the background of the research being studied. The instrument that is used by the researcher is a questionnaire that consists of 28 items; each of the items used a Likert scale that has five choices. This questionnaire was scored using the Likert scale, which is one of the rating scale scaling techniques. The items from the reading interest questionnaire consist of several indicators, including students' personal interest, situation and students' reading activity, and the benefits from interest in reading. The researcher distributes the questionnaire to the sample in order to get the information about the students reading interest. The questionnaire was distributed through the google form. The process of filling questionnaires took 20 minutes. After the data was collected, the data were analyzed to obtain the result. Meanwhile, to get information about students' reading comprehension, the researcher used a reading comprehension test that was adapted by Longman’s TOEFL Preparation Test (2003) and Baron Practice Exercise for TOEFL (2007). The reading comprehension test is an objective test in the form of multiple-choice types. The test consists of 35 items with four alternative answers (a, b, c, dan d). The questions provided have several indicators, such as finding the main idea, the purpose of the text, understanding vocabulary, finding the conclusion of the text, and finding the detailed information of the text. The reading comprehension test was distributed through the google form. The test process takes about 55 minutes. The two instruments used were distributed asynchronously with the assistance of lecturers in charge of Critical Reading courses and several students from the class of 2020. Before the researcher analyzes the correlation test and several other tests, the researcher must test the validity and reliability of the items and questions that have been distributed to participants. To assess the validity of the reading interest questionnaire and reading comprehension test, the researchers distributed 28 items of reading interest questionnaire and 35 questions of reading comprehension test to all of the students in the research sample (N = 41), and then only the valid data was analyzed. To analyze the data, the researcher utilized the SPSS 25.0 program. The researchers compared the r- value to the r-table at a significant level of 5%, which is 0.308 (N=41). To get a valid item subject, the r value of each item must be higher than the table r. If the value of r is less than r table, then it is possible to conclude that these elements are not strongly related to the overall score and should be corrected or eliminated. Based on the results of the analysis, there are 26 valid reading interest questionnaire items and 2 invalid items from the 28 items tested. For invalid items are numbers 20 and 23. The item is declared invalid because the value is less than 0.308. In addition, for the reading comprehension test, of the 35 questions tested, there were 25 valid questions and 10 invalid questions. For invalid items are numbers 2, 8, 14, 16, 18, 23, 24, 27, 32, and 34. According to the results of the analysis, there are 26 valid items and 2 invalid items of the reading interest questionnaire. For invalid items are numbers 20 and 23. These items were ruled invalid because their scores were less than 0.308. Meanwhile, for the reading comprehension test of the 35 questions tested, the researcher got 26 valid questions and 9 invalid questions. Meanwhile, JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 347 for the reading comprehension test, of the 35 questions tested, there were 25 valid questions and 10 invalid questions. For invalid items are numbers 2, 8, 14, 16,18, 23, 24, 27, 32, and 34. Furthermore, regarding the reliability test of the reading interest questionnaire and reading comprehension test, the researcher also used the SPSS 25.0 program to find out whether the questionnaire and the test was reliable or not. Based on the result of Cronbach’s Alpha, the value of Cronbach alpha is .920 with 28 Number of items. It means that the reading interest questionnaire is very high reliable level. Meanwhile, the reliability of reading comprehension test is stated with a reliable test. It is proven by the result of Cronbach’s Aplha is .724 with 35 number of items. It can be concluded that the reading comprehension test is high reliable. Therefore, the two instruments are reliable. Data Analysis In this quantitative study, the researcher analyzed the data descriptively. It also used the SPSS 25.0 program version to calculate a series of tests performed. To calculate the relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension, the first step that must be done is collect the data needed for research from the results of the distribution of questionnaires and reading comprehension tests. After collecting the data, researchers tested the validity and reliability of the data that had been obtained through data collection. Furthermore, with the data that is considered valid and reliable, the examiner performs the next stage, namely the normality test. Normality and linearity tests are carried out to find out whether the data to be tested is normal and linear or not and can be used for the further steps of research. To test for normality, the researcher interprets by looking at the results table from the SPSS 25.0 program, with an indication that: If the significant value is more than 0.05 then the data is normally distributed, and If the significance value is less than 0.05, the data is not normally distributed. Likewise with the linearity test, in the linearity test, the researcher interprets by looking at the table of SPSS 25.0 calculations with two indications; (a) Compare the F value with F table and (b) compare the value of Deviation from Linearity sig. with 0.05. For the first indication, the interpretation can be seen as follows: If F value < F table, then there is a significant linear relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. If F value > F table, there is no significant linear relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. Meanwhile for the second indication, it can be seen as follows: If the value of Deviation from linearity sig. > 0.05, then there is a significant linear relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. If the value of Deviation from linearity sig. < 0.05, then there is a significant linear relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The next step is to analyze the correlation between students’ reading interest and reading comprehension using SPSS version 25. The researcher interpreting the result of the data analysis, the researchers used the standard of Pearson correlation category as in the table below by Sugiyono (2017): Table. 1 Pearson Correlation Category Product Moment (r) Interpretation 0,00 – 0,199 No correlation 0,20 – 0,399 Weak correlation 0,40 – 0,599 Medium correlation 0,60 – 0,799 Strong correlation 0,80 – 1,00 Perfect correlation In addition, apart from looking at the categories in the Pearson Product Moment in analyzing the correlation of two variables, the researcher also tested the hypothesis of the correlation between variables X (reading interest) and Y (reading comprehension). According to JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 348 Anshori and Iswati (2019:44), the hypothesis is formulated to describe the causal relationship between the two variables studied. There were two hypotheses in this study: Ho, there is no significant relationship between students’ reading interest and achievement on reading comprehension (r value < r table). H1, there is a significant relationship between the higher the students' reading interest and the higher reading comprehension (r value > r table). One standard level of significance for decision making in hypothesis testing is 5% or 0.05, then Ho is accepted or Ha is rejected, if the significance is > 0.05 and Ho is rejected or Ha is accepted if the significance is < 0.05. As seen in the table below: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Research Findings In the section, the researcher is divided into 2 sub-sections; results and discussion. In the result section, the data collected and analyzed by the researcher then summarized and explained through the relevant data. In this section, the findings regarding correlation analysis relate to the relationship between students’ interest and reading comprehension. Whereas, in the discussion section, the researcher will describe the findings obtained from the specific analysis. Students’ Reading Interest In this study, students’ reading interest in reading activity is as an independent variable (X). The following table describes the result of students’ reading interest in reading activity after accumulated. The total score of 41 students’ is 3736, that consists of reading interest minimum score was 65 and the maximum score was 120. Reading interest’s mean score was 91,12 and the standard deviation was 14,118. While the classes are divided into 5 criteria they are, very high, high, moderate, low, and very low in the class interval of Students’ Reading Interest. Figure 1 is the total score students’ reading interest as accumulation score from rate: Figure 1.Scores of Students’ Reading Interest These reading interests have three dimensions which are certain students’ personal interest, situation and students’ reading activity, and the benefits from interest in reading. Those dimensions were expanded into 26 items which were provided in the questionnaire. The responses varied in option ''Strongly agree”, ''Agree``,''Doubt about me”. “Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree”. The JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 349 figure above shows the rate percentage of the 4th semester students in the questionnaire from 41 students. From 41 students, there were 8 students (20%) who got the highest score and there were 9 students (22%) who got moderate scores as well. The average score that can be seen from the figure above is included in a fairly good and high category. Based on the table above, the students’ scores were highly classified, because most of them answered the questionnaire based on their experience for reading in a variety of reading materials. Students’ Reading Comprehension In this study, students’ reading comprehension is the dependent variable (Y). To know students' score, the researcher conducted a reading online test for the students. The total score of 41 students’ is 2840. The reading comprehension minimum score was 32 and the maximum score was 96. Reading comprehension’s mean score was 66,83 and the standard deviation was 17.156. While the classes of criteria are, very high, high, moderate, low, and very low in the class interval of Students’ Reading Interest. Here is the graphic score reading comprehension as accumulation score from rate. Figure. 2 The Distribution Frequency of Students’ Reading Comprehension It can be seen from figure 2 that 5% had an excellent reading comprehension, 10% had a very good reading comprehension, 34% had good reading comprehension, 12% had average reading comprehension, 17% had fair reading comprehension, 7% had poor reading comprehension, and 15% had very poor reading comprehension achievement. Based on the figure above, it can be seen that the majority of students have good reading comprehension, because most of them had taken reading comprehension courses in the previous semester and also took Critical Reading courses in the current semester. Therefore, the questions from the test that are distributed are adjusted to the learning outcomes of their courses. The Result of Normality Test and Linearity Test During normality testing and linearity testing of the two existing data variables, normal and linear results were obtained as follows. JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 350 Table. 2 The Result of Reading Interest Normality Test One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Students' Reading Interest N 41 Normal Parametersa,b Mean 91.1220 Std. Deviation 14.20950 Most Extreme Differences Absolute .081 Positive .081 Negative -.078 Test Statistic .081 Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .200c,d a. Test distribution is Normal. b. Calculated from data. c. Lilliefors Significance Correction. d. This is a lower bound of the true significance. Table. 3 The Result of Reading Comprehension Normality Test One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Students' Reading Comprehension N 41 Normal Parametersa,b Mean 69.2683 Std. Deviation 17.55993 Most Extreme Differences Absolute .137 Positive .082 Negative -.137 Test Statistic .137 Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .051c a. Test distribution is Normal. b. Calculated from data. c. Lilliefors Significance Correction. Based on the results of the normality test in Table 2 that has been carried out by researchers after the required data has been collected. It was found that the significance value of the students' reading interest data was 0.200 and the significance value of the students' reading comprehension data was .051. The two variable values indicated that the result was more than 0.05, which was the minimum number of data that can be called normal. Thus, with a significance value of .200 for students' reading interest (X) and .051 for residual reading comprehension (Y), the results showed a normal distribution. Therefore, the data were continued to further analysis. Table. 4 The Result of Linearity Test ANOVA Table Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Students' Reading Comprehension * Students' Reading Interest Between Groups (Combined) 9683.382 31 312.367 1.061 .497 Linearity 1567.152 1 1567.152 5.321 .046 Deviation from Linearity 8116.230 30 270.541 .919 .600 Within Groups 2650.667 9 294.519 Total 12334.049 40 JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 351 Table 7 presents the results of linearity calculation analysis in which the calculated F value is .919 < F table is 2.21, the result showed that there is a significant linear between two variables. In line with the second indication, if we view from the probability value, it is known that the probability in Deviation from Linearity is .600 > 0.05, then there is a significant linear relationship between the independent variable (X) and the dependent variable (Y). It can be seen that the results of the relationship between students' reading interest and reading comprehension have a linear relationship. Therefore, from the results of normality and linearity tests, these data can be tested for the next test, namely hypothesis correlation testing and Pearson Product Moment. The Correlation Between Students’ Reading Interest and Students’ Reading Comprehension In this study, both of students’ reading interest and reading comprehension are correlated by using SPSS. The following is the computation result of the two variables. Table. 2 Correlations Students' Reading Interest Students' Reading Comprehension Students' Reading Interest Pearson Correlation 1 .356* Sig. (2-tailed) .022 N 41 41 Students' Reading Comprehension Pearson Correlation .356* 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .022 N 41 41 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Based on the result, it is shown that the correlation coefficient is .022, meaning that there is a significant relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension. The r-value (.356) indicates that its relationship’s strength belongs to weak correlation according to the Sugiyono (2017). The r-value of the Pearson correlation is positive, it means that if the independent variable (X) increases, the dependent variable (Y) increases as well; the greater undergraduate students' reading interest in reading activities, the higher their reading comprehension score. The researcher had previously presented two hypotheses; null hypothesis (H0) and the alternative hypothesis (Ha). Whereas, null hypothesis (H0) stated that there is no correlation between undergraduate-students’ reading interest and their reading comprehension, while the alternative hypothesis (Ha) stated that there is a correlation between undergraduate students’ reading interest and their reading comprehension. From hypothesis testing of the research, it was found that undergraduate students’ reading interest has a significant correlation to students’ reading comprehension. The correlation coefficient between reading interest (x) and reading comprehension (y) is (r) = .356, r-value (.356) > r-table (.308) with a significance of .022 (p-value < 0.05). Based on those results of r-value and p-value, there was a positive although it has low or weak correlation between undergraduate students’ reading interest and reading comprehension. It shows that for students who want to be good in reading comprehension activities, reading interest plays an important role. Discussion The results of the current investigation reveal a similar perspective in previous studies regarding the relationship between students' reading interest and reading comprehension (Rumaniah, 2018; Despita, 2020; Fitria, 2019). Therefore, in this study the author only focuses on JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 352 elaborating the relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension for undergraduate students. After the researcher conducted an analysis using the SPSS 25.0 version program to calculate the correlation, it was found that there was a significant positive relationship between students' reading interest and reading comprehension. In addition, it was found in the results of Pearson Product Moment that the relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension was categorized in a weak relationship Considering the finding of the correlation analysis, the current study has the same significance as the results of research conducted by Fitria (2019) and Despita (2020). Their study mentioned that it has a significant correlation between students' reading interest and reading comprehension. However, despite having similar correlation results with previous studies, there is one difference between previous research and current research, namely the results of the Pearson Product Correlation. From the results of previous studies, it was found that the category of the Pearson correlation is a strong correlation. Meanwhile, in the current study, it was found that the correlation bonds tend to be weak. Even though the correlations are weak, the result indicates that students who had the least interest in reading also had the lowest reading comprehension (Kirby et.al, 2011). Other than that, the weak correlation between reading interest and reading comprehension can also be caused by the number of sample data results (N=41) obtained which are less than the actual sample size. Other than that, on the analysis of the results of the study, it showed that the reading interest of undergraduate students was in the medium to high level, with a total of 54% of students participating in this study being in the high category, according to the Ridhuwan (2011). The researcher found out that internal factors from the students themselves became one of the factors driving interest in reading, from the finding the average students answered that they liked reading because they were happy or their pleasure. It proves that students' interest in reading a text can be based on one aspect, namely personal pleasure. In addition, from the average results of the questionnaire, in addition to students reading for pleasure, a few students agreed to read because of their willingness. It also proves that personal interest is something that needs to be built as a basis for improving reading skill activity. Furthermore, regarding the results of the reading comprehension data analysis that has been obtained, the reading test results showed that more than half of the sample has a good to high enough test score. When viewed from the percentage score of the questionnaire and reading test results that have been obtained in the finding section, it can be seen that the majority of the scores of the two research variables are quite high. However, there were some participants who got reading test results that were not comparable to the results of their questionnaire answers. It can be evidence that, despite its weakness, there is still a positive correlation between reading interest and reading comprehension. The result of weak correlation could be due to the influence of the presence of technology and other activities that can distract more from reading books, such as watching entertainment programs from television, playing social media and others (Noortyani, 2018). As the researcher found through the questionnaire, on average most of the students chose to disagree on the statement items regarding choosing reading activities over other activities as entertainment. Based on data analysis, it is known that there is a substantial relationship between undergraduate students' reading interest and reading comprehension. The results of this study which found a positive relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension at the university level, and found several factors that could encourage reading interest and reading comprehension to improve reading comprehension, namely personal interest and environmental situation. This can be a reference for teachers or lecturers to first focus on increasing students' reading interest. According to the findings of research by Schraw, Flowerday, & Lehman (2001), in terms of situational interest, the teacher can do many things in the classroom to increase interest. The teacher can implement activities that promote reading interest in the classroom, such as JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol.10, No.3 | 353 assigning reading material or reading on topics that students are interested in. It is in line with the research conducted by Guthrie et al. (2006), the tasks that include reading activities given by the teacher to improve situational interest can increase long-term intrinsic motivation and reading comprehension. This activity can be included in learning activities, because with the classroom situation, environment, and activities that support students' reading interest, it can improve students' reading comprehension as well. CONCLUSION The researcher can conclude that in this research the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It means that there is the correlation between students’ reading interest and students' reading comprehension of the English Language Education study program, Universitas Brawijaya. Other than that, the result of the Pearson Product Correlation also shows that the correlation between students’ reading interest and students' reading comprehension of 4th semester students the English language education study program, Universitas Brawijaya is in the category of low or weak correlation. It can be implied that, although the two variables have a significant correlation, the nature of the relationship tends to be weak. Therefore, it can be possible that the correlation between students' reading interest and students' reading comprehension does not have a strong influence, because it is caused by other factors that occur in learning activities. In addition, the findings of this study can be used as input or references for teachers and students to improve students' reading comprehension levels through increasing reading interest in the university level. To sum up, the limitation of this study lies in the lack of data obtained from the research sample. Although the implementation is quite in accordance with the theory used, it can affect the results of the study. After conducting research on the correlation between reading interest and students' reading comprehension, the researcher suggests several points that can be made for future research, such as expanding the number of samples required in the study. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, we would like to thank God Almighty, Allah SWT who has given us the opportunity to complete this research. Then the researcher would like to thank all parties in the English Education Study Program, Universitas Brawijaya for their support. We also want to thank our families, those around us for their moral support and always cheering us on. We also would like to thank all those who have always shared knowledge to develop this research. In addition, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all parties who have helped in this research process, such as the lecturers of the Critical Reading course for their cooperation and also the class of 2020 friends who are willing to be participants in this research. Hopefully this article can be useful for enthusiastic readers and future researchers. Thank you again for everything. REFERENCES Ama, R. G. T. (2021). Minat Baca Siswa Ditinjau Dari Persepsi Keterlibatan Orangtua Dalam Pendidikan. Edunesia: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan, 2(1), 219-229. https://doi.org/10.51276/edu.v2i1.122 Aprilia, F., Lustyantie, N., & Rafli, Z. (2020). The effect of reading interest and achievement motivation on students’ discourse analysis competence. Journal of Education and E- Learning Research, 7(4), 368–372. https://doi.org/10.20448/journal.509.2020.74.368.372 Anshori, M., & Iswati, S. (2019). Metodologi penelitian kuantitatif: edisi 1. 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