EXAMINING PREDICTABILITY OF GENDER AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION OF THAI EFL UNDERGRADUATES
Keywords:
Reading Comprehension, Thai Reading Comprehension Evaluation and Decoding System (Thai-READS), Gender, Socioeconomic status (SES)Abstract
Reading comprehension is considered as an indispensable skill that has been instrumental in language learning, especially in the EFL context. As claimed in a pool of SLA and FLA research, affective domain is one of construct affecting language acquisition and development. Gender and socioeconomic status (SES) are two variables of which have been widely studied in different learning contexts. It is worth pointing that there is no direct literature addressing an effect of these two variables on English reading comprehension among students at Thai tertiary education. Therefore, this study aims to determine predictive abilities of the two variables on English reading comprehension of the Thai EFL undergraduates. Using convenience sampling, a total of 2,072 freshmen in Science and Technology stream at one Thailand public university took an online Thai-READS. A multiple regression with an application of dummy variable in the SPSS program was used to analyse the data. The results reported that gender and SES showed statistically significant power in predicting the participants’ abilities in English reading comprehension. It is found that males performed significantly greater than females, and the participants in high SES group showed a significant greater mean score than those of the lower SES groups. However, it should be noted that gender and SES showed low percentage of variance in explaining the participants’ abilities in English reading comprehension. This study further points to a need of relooking at relevant factors integral to reading comprehension.
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Dronkers, J., & Kornder, N. (2014). Do migrant girls perform better than migrant boys? Deviant gender differences between the reading scores of 15-year-old children of migrants compared to native pupils. Educational Research and Evaluation, 20(1), 44-66. doi: 10.1080/13803611.2013.874298
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Hawke, J. L., Wadsworth, S. J., & DeFries, J. C. (2006). Genetic influences on reading difficulties in boys and girls: The Colorado twin study. Dyslexia, 12(1), 21-29. doi: 10.1002/dys.301
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Kiram, J. J., Sulaiman, J., Swanto, S., & Din, W. A. (2015). Modeling the language learning strategies and English language proficiency of pre-university students in UMS: A case study. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1682, 1-7. doi:10.1063/1.4932495
Lacour, M., & Tissington, L. D. (2011). The effects of poverty on academic achievement. Educational Research and Reviews, 6(7), 522-527.
Lee, M. L. (2012). A study of the selection of reading strategies among genders by EFL college students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 64, 310-319.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.037
Levine, A., Ferenz, O., & Reves, T. (2000). EFL academic reading and modern technology: How can we turn our students into independent critical readers. TESL-EJ, 4(4), 1-9.
Lim, C. K., Eng, L. S., & Mohamed, A. R. (2014). Benchmarking Year Five Students’ Reading Abilities. English Language Teaching, 7(5), 50-58.
Little, D. (2007). Language learner autonomy: Some fundamental considerations revisited. International Journal of Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 14-29.
Lörz, M., Netz, N., & Quast, H. (2016). Why do students from underprivileged families less often intend to study abroad?. Higher Education, 72(2), 153-174.
Mart, C. T. (2012). Developing speaking skills through reading. International Journal of English Linguistics, 2(6), 91.
Mok, K. H. (2000). Marketizing higher education in post-Mao China. International Journal of Educational Development, 20(2), 109-126.
Mohamed, A. R., Eng, L. S., & Ismail, S. A. M. M. (2010). Making Sense of Reading Scores with Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS). English Language Teaching, 3(3), 35-46.
OECD. (2018). Education at a Glance 2018: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2018-en.
Ogunshola, F., & Adewale, A. M. (2012). The effects of parental socio-economic status on academic performance of students in selected schools in Edu Lga of Kwara State Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(7), 230-239.
Phillips, J. K. (1984). Practical implications of recent research in reading. Foreign Language Annals, 17(4), 285-296.
Reese, L., Garnier, H., Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2000). Longitudinal analysis of the antecedents of emergent Spanish literacy and middle-school English reading achievement of Spanish-speaking students. American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 633-662.
Sanford, K. L. (2015). Factors that affect the reading comprehension of secondary students with disabilities (Unpublished doctoral of education thesis). The University of San Francisco, the USA.
Severiens, S. E., & Ten Dam, G. T. (1994). Gender differences in learning styles: A narrative review and quantitative meta-analysis. Higher education, 27(4), 487-501.
Shohamy, E. (1984). Does the testing method make a difference? The case of reading comprehension. Language Testing, 1(2), 147-170. doi:10.1177/026553228400100203
Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corp.
Sun, F., Li, L., Qiu, X., & Liu, Y. (2018). U-net: Machine reading comprehension with unanswerable questions. arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.06638.
Trakulphadetkrai, N. V. (2011). Thailand: Educational equality and quality. Education in South-East Asia, 197-219.
Wongsothorn, A., Hiranburana, K., & Chinnawongs, S. (2002). English language teaching in Thailand today. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 22(2), 107-116.
Zhang, L. (2017). Metacognitive and cognitive strategy use in reading comprehension: A structural equation modeling approach. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
Al Asmari, A., & Javid, C. Z. (2018). Role of content schema in reading comprehension among Saudi EFL students: EFL teachers’ perspective and use of appropriate classroom strategies. International Journal of English Linguistics, 8(4), 96.
Albeckay, E. M. (2014). Developing reading skills through critical reading programme amongst undergraduate EFL students in Libya. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 123, 175-181. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1412
Almutairi, N. R. (2018). Effective reading strategies for increasing the reading comprehension level of third-grade students with learning disabilities (Unpublished doctor of education thesis). The Western Michigan University, the USA.
Ansyari, M. F., & Rahmi, H. (2016). A Comparison between male and female students’ language learning strategies preference. Indonesian Journal of Integrated English Language Teaching, 2(1), 71-87.
Arechiga, D. (2013). Reaching English language learners in every classroom: Energizers for teaching and learning. NY: Routledge.
Asgarabadi, Y. H., Rouhi, A., & Jafarigohar, M. (2015). Learners’ gender, reading comprehension, and reading strategies in descriptive and narrative macro-genres. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(12), 2557-2564. doi: 10.17507/tpls.0512.17
Baker, L., & Wigfield, A. (1999). Dimensions of children’s motivation for reading and their relations to reading activity and reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 34(4), 452-477. doi:10.1598/RRQ.34.4.4
Chomchaiya, C., & Dunworth, K. (2008). Identification of learning barriers affecting English reading comprehension instruction, as perceived by ESL undergraduates in Thailand. Paper presented at the EDU-COM 2008 International Conference. Sustainability in Higher Education: Directions for Change, Edith Cowan University, Perth Western Australia.
Dronkers, J., & Kornder, N. (2014). Do migrant girls perform better than migrant boys? Deviant gender differences between the reading scores of 15-year-old children of migrants compared to native pupils. Educational Research and Evaluation, 20(1), 44-66. doi: 10.1080/13803611.2013.874298
Evans, S. (2010). Business as usual: The use of English in the professional world in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 29(3), 153-167. doi: 10.1016/j.esp.2009.11.005
Fauzan, J. (2016). Gender differences in reading comprehension achievement (A case study at Iain Syekh Nurjati Cirebon). ELT Echo: The Journal of English Language Teaching in Foreign Language Context, 1(1). 24-41. doi:10.24235/eltecho.vlil.953.g732
Gamboa-González, Á. M. (2017). Reading comprehension in an English as a foreign language setting: Teaching strategies for sixth graders based on the interactive model of reading. Folios, (45), 159-175.
Guthrie, J. T., & Klauda, S. L. (2014). Effects of classroom practices on reading comprehension, engagement, and motivations for adolescents. Reading Research Quarterly, 49(4), 387-416. doi:10.1002/rrq.81
Habók, A., Magyar, A., & Hui, S. K. F. (2019). The effects of EFL reading comprehension and certain learning-related factors on EFL learners’ reading strategy use. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1616522.
Hawke, J. L., Wadsworth, S. J., & DeFries, J. C. (2006). Genetic influences on reading difficulties in boys and girls: The Colorado twin study. Dyslexia, 12(1), 21-29. doi: 10.1002/dys.301
Hol, D., & Yavuz, A. (2017). The Role of socio-economic status on the EFL learners’ attributions on success and failure. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 5(9), 29-38.
Hui, K. S., Saeed, K. M., & Khemanuwong, T. (2020) Reading Comprehension Ability of Future Engineers in Thailand. MEXTESOL Journal, 44(4).
Ismail, S. A. M. M., Karim, A., & Mohamed, A. R. (2018). The role of gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity in predicting ESL learners’ reading comprehension. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 34(6), 457-484. doi:10.1080/10573569.2018.1462745
Khemanuwong, T., Mohamed, A. R., & Ismail, S. A. M. M. (2018).Developing a Thai READS encoder to gauge EFL reading proficiency of Thai undergraduate students. Teaching and Learning English in Multicultural Contexts (TLEMC), 2(1), 23-34.
Kiram, J. J., Sulaiman, J., Swanto, S., & Din, W. A. (2015). Modeling the language learning strategies and English language proficiency of pre-university students in UMS: A case study. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1682, 1-7. doi:10.1063/1.4932495
Lacour, M., & Tissington, L. D. (2011). The effects of poverty on academic achievement. Educational Research and Reviews, 6(7), 522-527.
Lee, M. L. (2012). A study of the selection of reading strategies among genders by EFL college students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 64, 310-319.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.037
Levine, A., Ferenz, O., & Reves, T. (2000). EFL academic reading and modern technology: How can we turn our students into independent critical readers. TESL-EJ, 4(4), 1-9.
Lim, C. K., Eng, L. S., & Mohamed, A. R. (2014). Benchmarking Year Five Students’ Reading Abilities. English Language Teaching, 7(5), 50-58.
Little, D. (2007). Language learner autonomy: Some fundamental considerations revisited. International Journal of Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 14-29.
Lörz, M., Netz, N., & Quast, H. (2016). Why do students from underprivileged families less often intend to study abroad?. Higher Education, 72(2), 153-174.
Mart, C. T. (2012). Developing speaking skills through reading. International Journal of English Linguistics, 2(6), 91.
Mok, K. H. (2000). Marketizing higher education in post-Mao China. International Journal of Educational Development, 20(2), 109-126.
Mohamed, A. R., Eng, L. S., & Ismail, S. A. M. M. (2010). Making Sense of Reading Scores with Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS). English Language Teaching, 3(3), 35-46.
OECD. (2018). Education at a Glance 2018: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2018-en.
Ogunshola, F., & Adewale, A. M. (2012). The effects of parental socio-economic status on academic performance of students in selected schools in Edu Lga of Kwara State Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(7), 230-239.
Phillips, J. K. (1984). Practical implications of recent research in reading. Foreign Language Annals, 17(4), 285-296.
Reese, L., Garnier, H., Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2000). Longitudinal analysis of the antecedents of emergent Spanish literacy and middle-school English reading achievement of Spanish-speaking students. American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 633-662.
Sanford, K. L. (2015). Factors that affect the reading comprehension of secondary students with disabilities (Unpublished doctoral of education thesis). The University of San Francisco, the USA.
Severiens, S. E., & Ten Dam, G. T. (1994). Gender differences in learning styles: A narrative review and quantitative meta-analysis. Higher education, 27(4), 487-501.
Shohamy, E. (1984). Does the testing method make a difference? The case of reading comprehension. Language Testing, 1(2), 147-170. doi:10.1177/026553228400100203
Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corp.
Sun, F., Li, L., Qiu, X., & Liu, Y. (2018). U-net: Machine reading comprehension with unanswerable questions. arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.06638.
Trakulphadetkrai, N. V. (2011). Thailand: Educational equality and quality. Education in South-East Asia, 197-219.
Wongsothorn, A., Hiranburana, K., & Chinnawongs, S. (2002). English language teaching in Thailand today. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 22(2), 107-116.
Zhang, L. (2017). Metacognitive and cognitive strategy use in reading comprehension: A structural equation modeling approach. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
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2022-07-04
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