Leseleistung und Rezeptionsstrategien bei Mädchen und Jungen in der Sekundarstufe I

Abstract

Do girls read texts differently from boys? This contribution presents a study from empirical teaching research in secondary education ("Sekundarstufe 1") by Grütz/Belgrad/Pfaff (2005). 4500 pupils, male and female, from the 7th form of primary and secondary school were examined to determine which of the reading strategies usually adopted lead to a more successful text understanding with girls and which with boys. This study follows up a previous study done in 4th form primary school by Belgrad/Grütz/Pfaff (2003). The research design is based on the psychological cognition model of text understanding following van Dijk/Kintsch (1983), which sees the process of reading comprehension as interactional and constructive. Cognitive reading strategies were tested which are usually adopted during lessons. Major results of the study are that boys prefer similar reading strategies both in primary and secondary schools. Good results are achieved when a text is read quietly and discussed afterwards. The worst results are obtained by all boys when words have to be copied from the text. With girls a notable difference can be seen in the usage of reading strategies depending on the type of the school and the level of reading competence. Girls from primary schools achieve the best results when they can activate knowledge prior to confronting the text, girls from secondary schools achieve the best results when they quietly read through a text.