A Comparative Analysis of the Reading Comprehension Levels and Reading Attitude Skills of Gifted and Nongifted Fifth Grade Students

Abstract

Gifted children differ from their nongifted counterparts in that they show different ways of thinking, maintain higher levels of attention, manifest advanced cognitive skills, and enjoy researching and exploring (Clark, 2012). These differences are also reflected in their attitude to reading and reading comprehension skills. Regarding this, the current study aims to examine the reading attitudes and reading comprehension skills of a group of gifted and nongifted fifth grade students. The participants of the study comprise of 401 children (168 gifted, 223 nongifted). Data for the study were collected through the Personal Information Form designed by the researchers, the Reading Comprehension Test prepared based on the questions in the Free Boarding and Scholarship Examination for the Fifth Graders administered by the Ministry of Education, and the Reading Attitude Scale developed by Karahan (2018). Data were analyzed with SPSS 24.0 program (independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA], and pearson correlation analysis). The findings of the study indicate that gifted students’ reading comprehension skills differ significantly from those of the nongifted, which shows that gifted students have higher levels of reading comprehension than their nongifted peers. Considering the variables including gender, pre-school education, and time allocated for daily extracurricular reading, a significant difference was found among the gifted students who allocated two or more hours for daily extracurricular reading. That is, the students in this group showed higher reading comprehension skills than the others. However, no significant difference was found between reading attitude and time allocated to extracurricular reading for the gifted. Similarly, no significant difference was observed between extracurricular daily reading duration and reading comprehension skills for the nongifted participants. While a significant difference was observed between the pre-school education status of the nongifted female students and their reading comprehension skills and reading attitudes, no significant difference was found for the nongifted male students. No significant difference was observed between the reading attitudes of the gifted students and their reading comprehension skills. However, a significant difference was observed between the nongifted students’ reading attitudes and reading comprehension skills.