Generally, females are regarded as the group who has better verbal and reading abilities (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Denno, 1982), although there are still some disagreements on particular aspects or language systems (Hyde & Linn, 1988; Hetherington & Parke, 1986). We asked whether gender differences of reading ability exist in Chinese children and if so, how the difference may be demonstrated. In addition, we investigated whether the development of reading ability follows a hierarchical model (Gough &Hillinger, 1980; Ehri, 1980; Ehri & Wilce, 1985), according to which, the gender differences may vary with age and reading experience. We tested children’s character reading ability and phonological awareness in a Shandong primary school. Fifty-five second graders and forty-three fourth graders performed behavioral tasks containing a Chinese character reading test, a Chinese onset-rime oddity test and an English onset-rime oddity test. We found that Chinese children exhibited a significant gender difference in Chinese character reading ability. However, we have not found gender differences on onset-rime level phonological awareness. Thus, gender differences of reading ability exist in Chinese children, even if the differences only cover partial phonological or orthographic skills. The present data have also yielded the predicted result that the development of gender differences change with age and reading experience. Specifically, the gender difference on Chinese character reading ability emerged after Grade 2. In terms of the onset-rime oddity task, the performances of boys and girls showed no striking difference at any grades. These results reveal that gender differences of reading ability exist in Chinese children, especially in children in higher grades (Grade 4). Different types of verbal skills and learning attitude should be taken into account, and be examined in the future. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-111). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38825

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Alberta, 2010. / "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Elementary Education, University of Alberta." Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on May 13, 2010) Includes bibliographical references.

This quantitative study investigates the disparity that exists between girls and boys and how changes can be implemented to keep boys from disengaging from reading. It examines the reading materials that are available to increase boys' interest in reading and discusses ways in which teachers can develop programs and parents can take action to change boys reading habits. The study employed teacher surveys and student surveys from sixth grade boys in three San Bernardino middle schools.