An Investigation of Secondary School Students' Critical Visual Reading Skills Depending on Different Variables

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the critical visual reading skills of secondary school students (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade) in terms of different variables (gender and grade level). Study sample consisted of 400 students of 4 schools located in the city center of Mus. A screening model was used in the research. Data were collected using the 5-point Likert-type Critical Visual Reading Scale 34-item developed by Soylemez (2015). The reliability of the scale was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.814). Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows 22.0 at a significance level of 0.05. Number, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive statistics of variables. T-test was used for analysis of quantitative continuous data in two independent groups while one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for analysis of quantitative continuous data in more than two independent groups. A Scheffe's test was used to to make posthoc comparisons between the groups to determine significant differences. Results show that secondary school students’ critical visual reading skills differ significantly by grade level but do not differ by gender. Several suggestions were made based on the findings.