The relationship between academic achievement and reading comprehension among seventh grade students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between reading comprehension and academic achievement of seventh graders in Büyükcekmece Lisesi, including 20 living in the Bliylikcekmece Orphanage. Two measures used in determining the relationship were grades and reading comprehension scores. Academic achievement as reflected in grades were obtained from the students' 1982- 83 academic year, and the first semester of 1983-84 general grade point average, and averages for Turkish and Mathematic courses. The reading comprehension scores were obtained from two Informal Reading Inventories, developed particularly for the purpose of this study. The lack of reading tests in Turkish necessitated the dev~lopment of these inventories. The major part of the study, thus, constituted the work on the inventories. Piloting for the validity of the texts chosen for reading, and the difficulty of comprehension questions was accomplished before finalizing the inventories for use in the evaluation of reading performance. The level of comprehension was the criterion in determining reading performance. There were three levels of reading comprehension. Ninety per cent comprehension of the material read corresponded to independent level, 51-89 per cent comprehension corresponded to instructional level, and 50 per cent and below corresponded to frustration level in reading. The procedure included the administration of the Informal Group Reading Inventory to all 248 seventh graders. Of this group, 20 students living in the Bliylik~ekmece Orphanage was also tested individually by use of the Informal Individual Reading Inventory. The aim here was to collect information on the details of the reading skills of a group of seventh graders. This particular orphanage group was taken because of convenience and the special interest of the investigator. This group was also expected to be relatively poor readers compared to students living with their parents. Deprived environments in which they have grown-up could have negative effect on their reading and achievement levels. The findings, in fact, supported this expectation. The achievement and the Leading comprehension levels of the orphanage students were inferior to those students living with their parents. To test the ma~n hypothesis of this study, the data obtained were analyzed by use of correlation, and chi-square techniques. The Pearson Product Moment Correlations obtained between grades and reading comprehension scores of 248 seventh graders were .48 (grade point average), .49 (Turkish) and .46 (Math). They were all significant at the .005 level. These correlations indicate that 21-24 per cent of vaLiation in academic achievement could be explained by reading comprehension scores. The chi-square analysis also confirmed the significant relationship between academic achievement and reading comprehension and supported the main hypothesis. The same hypothesis was also tested using the orphanage group, i.e., the small group of 20 students. They were administered both the group and the individual reading inventories. Significant relations were found between the grade point average, the Turkish grades and the reading comprehension scores obtained from the group inventory. These data also support the hypothesis. Correlations between the individual reading scores and the Math grades, as wellas the grade point average were not significant. This lack of significance can perhaps be explained by the homogeniety of the orphanage group, and therefore, small variance. The most overall significant finding in both groups was on the relationship between Turkish grades and reading comprehension scores. When the students were classified into independent, instructional and frustration level categories, on the basis of their reading scores, the majority fell in the category of instructional level readers. This suggests that special emphasis be given to reading programs in schools. With a remedial approach to reading, the comprehension level of students can be improved from instructional to independent level. The study failed to control 0) the selection of participants included in the pilot-study on the validity of the inventories, (2) the validity of the formula used in determining the readability of texts, (3) the number of participants in the Informal Individual Reading Inventory, and (4) the testing conditions. With these limitations in mind, the findings were interpreted to indicate that reading comprehension problems are relatively widespread among Turkish seventh graders and the majority are functioning at the instructional level. A significant relationship between academic achievement and reading comprehension encouraged the investigator to suggest the development of remedial reading programs in schools to help increase the level of reading comprehension of students from instructional to independent.