In an increasingly information-rich world, the ability to read critically from multiple texts is crucial for both academic purposes and social engagement. However, students, especially in higher education, experience certain difficulties in reading multiple texts, including making inferences or using source information to resolve discrepancies between texts. Simply increasing reading volume might not be sufficient to improve reading comprehension. Attention also needs to be given to reading strategies which could facilitate a coherent understanding, foster motivation, and ultimately enhance reading comprehension achievement. This qualitative research, therefore, aims to provide insights into how reading strategies are perceived and employed among Vietnamese undergraduate students in the context of a strategic reading intervention. Informed by the Documents Model (Perfetti et al., 1999; Rouet & Britt, 2011), which accounts for mental representations and processes underlying multiple-text comprehension, together with the Comprehensive Strategy Framework (CSF) (List, 2020) which identifies and classifies core reading strategies in multiple-text use, this research developed the strategic reading intervention to scaffold students in comprehending multiple documents. The intervention targeted key cognitive strategies including skimming, scanning, inferencing, sourcing, corroboration and synthesising. In pursuit of an in-depth exploration of individuals’ perceptions and experiences, this phenomenological study was conducted online with ten research participants from diverse majors and backgrounds at universities in Vietnam. This study began by investigating the research participants’ conceptions of multiple text reading and reading strategies through semi-structured interviews. Subsequently, think-aloud protocols, individual interviews and learning journals were employed to explore changes in the participants’ strategy use and their perceptions of reading comprehension after the intervention. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse, interpret, and present the data collected within the study.The pre-intervention findings revealed the unfamiliarity of the students with the concept of multiple-text reading, which largely shaped by their previous reading experiences. The students associated multiple-text reading with consuming numerous texts on various topics or utilizing multiple sources for information gathering. This reflects their limited understanding of the concept and an early stage of their application of reading strategies. Following the intervention, significant improvements in skimming, scanning, and sourcing were observed among the students. While some students demonstrated their enhanced use of higher-order thinking strategies like inferencing authors’ intent or reasoning conflicting viewpoints, these skills remained challenging for the participants. Furthermore, most students reported that the intervention was helpful and contributed to their improved multiple-text reading comprehension. Notably, despite the intervention not targeting metacognition, the research showed an increased metacognitive awareness of strategy use among the students. Finally, the think-aloud protocol emerged as a valuable reading strategy for maintaining focus and enhancing memory for the students. Overall, this study contributes to the field of multiple text reading by identifying the limited perceptions and use of reading strategies among students. Also, this study underscores the critical need for explicit strategic interventions at an early stage to equip students with the necessary reading strategies to navigate the complexities of multiple-text reading in higher education.