The Effects Of Sex And Language Material Styles On Reading Strategies Of Senior High School Students In Taiwan

• Main Authors: Hung Hui-chen, 洪惠真
• Other Authors: Ling-zu Yang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07377959456999165729

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 89 === The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency and types of reading strategies used by third-year male and female senior high school students in reading English narrative and expository materials. The subjects involved were 199 students in private Ching Cheng senior high school. Two instruments employed in the study were the strategy-use questionnaire (Taillefer & Pugh, 1998) and four reading texts (Pauk, 2000) followed by multiple-choice questions. The data were computed and analyzed and the findings of this comparative study are as follows: (1) In the domain of reading comprehension ability, there is a significant difference by sex. In addition, a significant difference is found between narrative and expository materials for all the students. Specifically, there is a significant difference only in the reading comprehension of expository materials between male and female students. (2) In terms of overall strategy use, there is no significant difference between male and female students. Besides, no significant difference is found between male and female students when they read narrative and expository materials separately. However, a significant difference is found between narrative and expository materials for all the students. (3) In the two types of language reading strategy use, no significant difference is found by sex. But, there is a significant difference between narrative and expository materials in general reading strategies for all students and for males and for females separately. A significant difference is also found in expository materials between male and female students in general reading strategies. In the strategy use of the five categories of general reading strategies, there is no significant difference between male and female students. Besides, no significant difference is found between male and female students when they read narrative and expository materials separately. However, significant differences are found in strategies of textual content and concrete techniques between narrative and expository materials for all the students. (4) Between students'' reading comprehension and their overall strategy use, the correlation reaches a significant level both in narrative and expository materials for females. But, no significant correlation is found for males either in narrative or expository materials. In terms of the correlation between reading comprehension and the types of strategy use, a significant correlation is found in general reading strategies in narrative materials for males and in narrative and expository materials for females. Finally, it is suggested that English teachers should put more emphasis on reading strategies and teach students to use them efficiently in their reading process.