English Students’ Perceptions on Small Group Discussion to Enhance Their Reading Comprehension

Applying small group discussion can be beneficial for the students since they can have focused discussion. In addition, they can be more flexible in asking questions about things that they do not understand. This study aims to find out the benefits of Small Group Discussion on students’ reading comprehension and the challenges in implementing it. This research applies qualitative approach as the research design. The setting where this research was conducted is in English Language Department of a private university in Yogyakarta. There are three students who are in their fourth year as the participants of the research. The first finding consists of: having a deep understanding towards what they have read, enhancing critical thinking, receiving varied perspectives, filling the missing information, and enhancing the motivation to read. The second finding consist of coping with the proficiency gaps among the students, drawing conclusion from many perspectives, feeling anxious to express ideas verbally, and dealing with free riders. Below are the discussion of each finding.