Chinese Undergraduates’ Performance in HOTS and LOTS EFL Reading Comprehension for Different Reading Materials According to Gender

Li Lingfeng,Subadrah Madhawa Nair

doi:10.33094/26410230.2021.32.31.40

Abstract

Many studies indicate that Chinese undergraduates face problems in their HOTS comprehension. The objective of this study is to investigate Chinese EFL undergraduates’ HOST and LOTS reading comprehension according to gender. A descriptive research design was employed in this quantitative study. The researchers used an English reading comprehension test involving 5 different materials (education, economy, entertainment, technology and natural disaster) as the research instrument. Each material consists of 3 LOTS questions and 2 HOTS questions. All the comprehension questions were multiple choice in nature. The sample of the study consists of 411 second year undergraduate students (261 females and 150 males) from a university in Hunan Province, China. SPSS Program for Windows version 25 was used to analyze the data (Independent samples t-test). The findings of this current study indicated that the female students performed significantly better than their male counterparts for both LOTS and HOTS comprehension questions. The female students also outperformed their male students in their overall score for comprehension. As such, these results clearly revealed that female undergraduates performed significantly better than the males in their EFL reading comprehension skills. However, this research only involves participants from one university; as a result, future research should include a larger sample from different provinces in China to get a better insight of students’ performance in EFL comprehension.

Highlights

In China, English as a foreign language has gradually become more and more important in China today (Hu, 2009)
Results of the independent samples t- test clearly show that the female undergraduates performed significantly better compared with the males in Lower Order Thinking skills (LOTS) EFL reading comprehension (t=-6.27; df=409; Mean difference=-11.73; p=.000)
The results of the independent sample t- test showed that the female undergraduates performed significantly better compared with their male counterparts in answering higher order thinking skills (HOTS) EFL reading comprehension questions (t=-4.69; df=409; Mean difference=-10.20; p=.000)

Summary

Introduction

In China, English as a foreign language has gradually become more and more important in China today (Hu, 2009). As an article from 2010 China Daily reported, one third population in China are learning English today. In public schools the Chinese English teachers give great importance to students’ EFL reading comprehension. The reading comprehension skill is so important that “all the English classes are about reading comprehension.” (Lin, 2019). The EFL reading comprehension occupies an essential status in all the key English examinations of the whole Chinese educational system such as the Senior High School Entrance Examination, the National College Entrance Exams, the Senior High School Entrance Examination, the National College Entrance Exams, the College English Test-Brand Four (CET 4) and the College English Test-Brand six (CET 6)

Objectives

Methods

Results