Abstract:

Both the reading literature and international measurements (PISA, PIRLS) regularly point to differences in reading comprehension performance between girls and boys. The largest minority in Slovakia is the Hungarian minority, which has an extensive network of schools with Hungarian being the language of instruction from kindergarten to university. The aim of our study is to investigate the differences between the reading habits and reading comprehension performance of girls and boys in the fourth and seventh grades in primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction in Slovakia.

The research was conducted on a nationally representative sample with a total of 668 informants attending primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction in Slovakia. The respondents were lower grades (fourth grade) and upper grades (seventh grade) of the respective primary schools. Self-administered sociological questionnaires and reading comprehension tests designed for the respective age groups, which consisted of three types of texts, served as the research method. The research data were analyzed using statistical methods.

The obtained results do not confirm the results of the international measurements, based on our data no significant difference can be found between the performance of girls and boys in the fourth or seventh grade or any of the text types. Further analysis of the data provides a more detailed picture of this statement. If we examine the reading frequency, we see that in the fourth grade there is no gender difference in reading frequency, while in the seventh-grade girls already read significantly more than boys. However, even in the fourth grade, there is some gender difference in reading books to the end. This difference between girls and boys becomes significant by the seventh grade.

The results obtained indicate that although the difference in reading behavior is negligible in the fourth grade, these differences become significant after a few years. Although no significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between girls and boys was found in either age group, the effect of reading behavior in the studied age group of PISA could influence the gender difference in reading comprehension achievement. The findings call for further research to investigate the differences in reading comprehension between girls and boys in a complex manner.

Keywords:

Reading comprehension, gender, reading habits, Hungarian in Slovakia, primary school.