WHEN STUDENTS CAN READ BUT CANNOT UNDERSTAND: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF DECODING–COMPREHENSION DISSOCIATION IN EFL LEARNERS

Abstrak

This study investigates the phenomenon of decoding–comprehension dissociation among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, where students are able to read English texts aloud fluently but fail to understand the overall meaning of the text. Grounded in psycholinguistic theories of reading, this research employed a qualitative descriptive design involving ten second-semester students of the English Education Study Program at Universitas Nias. Data were collected through classroom observation of oral reading activities and follow-up interviews focusing on students’ comprehension and reading awareness. The findings reveal that although students demonstrated adequate decoding skills and reading fluency, their comprehension remained fragmented and limited to surface-level information. Students struggled to integrate ideas across sentences and paragraphs and relied heavily on bottom-up processing. The study concludes that reading fluency does not guarantee comprehension and highlights the need for EFL reading instruction that emphasizes meaning construction, strategic reading, and cognitive engagement. These findings contribute to both theoretical understanding and pedagogical practices in EFL reading instruction.