ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
This paper is prepared to examine the leisure reading habits of university students in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we know, due to the pandemic, the Malaysian government has imposed a series of mandatory lockdown. In higher institutions, classes are carried out using online platforms instead of the traditional learning in the classroom since April 2020. Online courses have changed the learning pattern not only in Malaysia but around the world. University students are now required to adapt to the new normal of learning. This has affected how they spend time between following their online classes and doing their assignments in the confinement of their homes or university residences. According to Association of American Publishers, book sales are up again. Due to this new normal of limiting physical human interaction and spending their time at home or university residency, students turn to reading again to find comfort to handle the accumulated stress during this pandemic. The method of turning to books in times of burden and difficulty is called bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy is still not widely known in Malaysia. This paper explains how leisure reading habits can help students to calm down from the anxiety of limiting physical human connection and the stress of spending almost most of their time following the new normal of learning. The writing method for this paper is in the form of quantitative analysis based on the survey conducted on 100 university students throughout Malaysia. This paper highlights literature reviews relating to the reading habits, reading preferences amongst university students in Malaysia and how this is related to bibliotherapy. Therefore, this study concludes that most respondents spend time reading for leisure purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Malaysia and it has helped them cope with the pandemic.
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In-Text Citation: (Anuar & Wan, 2021)
To Cite this Article: Anuar, A. F. binti, & Wan, A. J. binti A. @ C. (2021). Finding Comfort: A Study of Reading Habits among Malaysian University Students During Covid-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(11), 894 – 909.
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