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The Effects of Gender and Genre on Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability

Received: 12 August 2014    Accepted: 21 August 2014    Published: 30 August 2014
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Abstract

Reading is one of the most important skills that foreign language learners should know, and is affected by various non linguistic factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and genre on text comprehension. To this end, three texts from different genres were selected and administered to thirty male and female EFL learners who were at intermediate level. The selected genres were labels and signs, informal letter and newspaper. After administering the reading tests, the participants’ mean scores were computed and the results showed that altogether females were better text comprehenders than males. To see the effect of gender on text comprehension a one way ANOVA was run and it was found that both male and female participants performed differently on various genres. Moreover, to investigate the effect of both gender and genre on participants’ text comprehension a two-way ANOVA was employed and the result showed they did not have any significant effect on text comprehension. The participants performed better on familiar genres regardless of their gender. These results have some implications for teachers. First, they should not rely on just text difficulty for choosing texts for reading courses. Next, they should provide male students with more practice in reading comprehension.

DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12
Published in Education Journal (Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014)
Page(s) 266-271
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Reading Comprehension, Gender, Genre, Test Performance

References
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[2] Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering. London: Cambridge University Press. Bernhardt, E. B. (1984). Toward an information processing perspective in foreign language reading. Modern Language Journal, 68, 322-331.
[3] Brantmeier, C. (2003). Beyond linguistics knowledge: Individual differences in second language reading. Foreign Language Annals, 36(1), 33-43.
[4] Brantmeier C. (2003). Does gender make a difference? Passage Content and Comprehension in Second Language Reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 15(1), 1-23.
[5] Carrell, P. L. (1991). Second language reading: Reading ability or language proficiency? Applied Linguistics, 12(2), 159-179.
[6] Droop, M., & Verhoeven, L. (1998). Background knowledge, linguistics complexity, and second language reading comprehension. Journal of Literacy Research, 30(2), 253-271.
[7] Hammadou, J. (1991). Interrelationships among prior knowledge, inference, and language proficiency in foreign language reading. Modern Language Journal, 75(1), 27-38.
[8] Hudson, T. (1988). The effects of induced schemata on the "short circuit" in L2 reading: Non decoding factors in L2 reading performance. In P. L. Carrell, J. Devine & D. E. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading. (pp. 183-205). New York: Cambridge University Press.
[9] Johnson, P. (1981). Effects on reading comprehension of language complexity and cultural background of a text. TESOL Quarterly, 15(2), 169-181.
[10] Johnston, P. H. (1984). Prior knowledge and reading comprehension test bias. Reading. Research Quarterly, 19 (3), 219-239.
[11] Keshavarz, M., & Ashtarian, S. (2008). The relationship between Iranian EFL learn Gender ‘and reading comprehension of three different types of text. IJAL, 11(1), 97-113.
[12] Kim, J. Y., & Anderson, T. (2011). Reading across the curriculum: a framework for improving the reading abilities and habits of college students. Journal of College Literacy & Learning, 37, 29-40.
[13] Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[14] Landry, K. (2002). Schemata in second language reading. The Reading Matrix, Vol.2,No.3. Retrieved July 2012 from:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/article/thoeries-reading
[15] Levin, M. G., & Haus, G. J. (1985). The effect of background knowledge on the reading comprehension of second language learners. Foreign Language Annals, 18(5), 391-397.
[16] Li C.H. (2012). The Functions Of Cultural Schemata In The Chinese Reading Comprehension and Reading Time of College Students in Taiwan. Journal of International Education Research, 8(2).
[17] Lin, B. (2006). Genre-based teaching and Vygotskian principles in EFL: The case of a University writing course. Asian EFL Journal, 8 (3), 267-280.
[18] Malik, A. A. (1990). A psycholinguistics analysis of the reading behavior of EFL proficient readers using culturally familiar and culturally no familiar expository texts. American Educational Research Journal, 27, 205-223.
[19] Peretz, A. S., & Shoham, M. (1990). Testing reading comprehension in LSP: Does topic familiarity affect assessed difficulty and actual performance? Reading in a Foreign Language, 7(3), 447-445.
[20] Psybox Ltd (2002). Schema [Electronic version] Retrieved 13 November, 2009, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/theories-reading
[21] Recht, D. R., & Leslie, L. (1988). Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers' memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 16-20.
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[23] Schlesinger, I. M. (1968). Sentence structure and the reading process. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
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    Mohammad Salehi, Zahra Lari, Atefeh Rezanejad. (2014). The Effects of Gender and Genre on Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability. Education Journal, 3(5), 266-271. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12

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    Mohammad Salehi; Zahra Lari; Atefeh Rezanejad. The Effects of Gender and Genre on Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability. Educ. J. 2014, 3(5), 266-271. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12

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    AMA Style

    Mohammad Salehi, Zahra Lari, Atefeh Rezanejad. The Effects of Gender and Genre on Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability. Educ J. 2014;3(5):266-271. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12,
      author = {Mohammad Salehi and Zahra Lari and Atefeh Rezanejad},
      title = {The Effects of Gender and Genre on Language Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {266-271},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20140305.12},
      abstract = {Reading is one of the most important skills that foreign language learners should know, and is affected by various non linguistic factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and genre on text comprehension. To this end, three texts from different genres were selected and administered to thirty male and female EFL learners who were at intermediate level. The selected genres were labels and signs, informal letter and newspaper. After administering the reading tests, the participants’ mean scores were computed and the results showed that altogether females were better text comprehenders than males. To see the effect of gender on text comprehension a one way ANOVA was run and it was found that both male and female participants performed differently on various genres. Moreover, to investigate the effect of both gender and genre on participants’ text comprehension a two-way ANOVA was employed and the result showed they did not have any significant effect on text comprehension. The participants performed better on familiar genres regardless of their gender. These results have some implications for teachers. First, they should not rely on just text difficulty for choosing texts for reading courses. Next, they should provide male students with more practice in reading comprehension.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AU  - Mohammad Salehi
    AU  - Zahra Lari
    AU  - Atefeh Rezanejad
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12
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    T2  - Education Journal
    JF  - Education Journal
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    EP  - 271
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20140305.12
    AB  - Reading is one of the most important skills that foreign language learners should know, and is affected by various non linguistic factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and genre on text comprehension. To this end, three texts from different genres were selected and administered to thirty male and female EFL learners who were at intermediate level. The selected genres were labels and signs, informal letter and newspaper. After administering the reading tests, the participants’ mean scores were computed and the results showed that altogether females were better text comprehenders than males. To see the effect of gender on text comprehension a one way ANOVA was run and it was found that both male and female participants performed differently on various genres. Moreover, to investigate the effect of both gender and genre on participants’ text comprehension a two-way ANOVA was employed and the result showed they did not have any significant effect on text comprehension. The participants performed better on familiar genres regardless of their gender. These results have some implications for teachers. First, they should not rely on just text difficulty for choosing texts for reading courses. Next, they should provide male students with more practice in reading comprehension.
    VL  - 3
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Author Information
  • Languages and Linguistics Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

  • Languages and Linguistics Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

  • Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

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