2004
Volume 30, Issue 2-3
  • ISSN: 1384-5829
  • E-ISSN: 2352-118X

Abstract

Abstract

The PISA and PIRLS rankings of the Netherlands show a steady decline for reading, a trend attributed by many to the dominant use of non-fiction texts in instruction and testing. This bias has drawn all attention to text organization and its linguistic marking, features that many students find boring and demotivating. A more frequent use of literary texts may regain their interest. Findings from two psycholinguistic experiments are presented to show how reading performance can be assessed with literary text. A passage from a contemporary novel was presented to adolescent students, most between 16 and 17 years of age, from two different educational programs: 828 preparatory vocational and 813 pre-university. Performance was assessed for affective response and comprehension (factual reproduction, conceptual understanding). All scores were analyzed in relation to three personal characteristics (school type, gender, immigrant background) and two task variables (lexical and contextual facilitation). Pupils with an immigrant background scored slightly lower while those with pre-university education scored significantly higher. The other factors had little influence. Test scores covered the entire range of the conventional ten points grading system. Just like expository and argumentative texts, literary texts can be used as adequate and unbiased tests of reading performance.

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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Facilitation; Gender; Literary Reading; Migration background; Text understanding
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