This research study examines the effects of varied text structures and response formats on Turkish university students&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. More precisely, it deals with investigating the effects of awareness of rhetorical organization on reading comprehension and on testing of comprehension through different procedures.
First, a short review of the relevant research on the text structure and response formats and their effects on reading comprehension is presented. Then, the results of a reading experiment are given. In this experiment, four groups of upper-intermediate level EFL students (100 students) read two English passages written in &ldquo / description&rdquo / and &ldquo / cause-effect&rdquo / rhetorical organization formats. Then, their comprehension of the texts was tested through a cloze procedure and a multiple choice test. The tests were carried out on first year university students from different departments at the English Language Department of BaSkent University during the 2006-2007 Academic Year Fall Semester.
After the research period finished, the data collected throughout the research period were transferred into MS Excel and SPSS spreadsheets and analyzed using the statistical procedure of the paired samples t-test. Relying on the analysis of the data, the hypotheses formulated for the study were weighed against the results in order to see if they were confirmed or rejected.
The study showed significant difference between the varied text structures and subjects&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. However, there was not any significant difference between the different response formats and the subjects&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. Finally, the thesis ends with an interpretation and discussion of the results of the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607950/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| Creators | Yilik, Mehmet Ali |
| Contributors | Daloglu, Aysegul |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.A. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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