Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Text comprehension and academic achievement by psychology undergraduates

The aim was to study reading comprehension and its correlation with general and specific subjects in 18 women Psychology students from a private college. The conventional Cloze test (total possible score = 40) was applied at the beginning and the end of the academic course. Evaluations conducted for the Reading and Writing course and one diagnostic test were also taken into consideration. In the pre-test, comprehension varied between 13 and 23 correct responses, while in post-test the range was from 12 to 22. In Reading and Writing, the results ranged from 6 to 9.5. In the diagnostic evaluation, the scores went from 5.5 to 9. The correlation between pre- and post-tests in reading comprehension was significant (p=0.05 used in the whole study) (r o= 0.51), but not so between the two subjects (r= 0.32). Diagnostic evaluation vs. pre-test was 0.42 and vs. post-test 0.38. Overall, the T test was 58 (n=17) with Tc=35. The Ho was not rejected, as there was no difference between the two measurements. It is also possible to conclude that there was no improvement in reading and that the level of reading was not satisfactory.

Reading comprehension; Reading; Cloze testing


Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas Núcleo de Editoração SBI - Campus II, Av. John Boyd Dunlop, s/n. Prédio de Odontologia, 13060-900 Campinas - São Paulo Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 19 3343-7223 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: psychologicalstudies@puc-campinas.edu.br