Comparison of Reading Comprehension with respect to Text Type, Grade Level and Test Type

Abstract

Article History: Received 25.11.2013 Received in revised form 13.05.2014 Accepted 31.05.2014 Available online 10.08.2014 It was aimed in this study to compare students’ reading comprehension levels with respect to the variables of text type, grade level and test type. To this aim, the research was carried out in the scanning model. A total of 1028 4th and 5th grade students participated in the research. In assessing reading comprehension skills; open-ended, multiple choice and cloze tests, which were developed based on narrative and informative texts found in course books for students’ respective grade levels, were used. T-tests and variance analysis were employed in analyzing the data. It was observed at the end of the research that students’ reading comprehension skills did not statistically differ. On the other hand, reading comprehension skills did differ significantly with respect to text type in the favor of narrative texts. That is, students are more successful in comprehending narrative texts compared to informative ones. Another finding is that students’ reading comprehension skills significantly differed with respect to test type in the favor of multiple-choice tests. That is, students scored higher in multiple-choice tests than in open-ended and cloze tests. The research findings were discussed in relation to the relevant literature. © 2014 IOJES. All rights reserved