What is the Difference between Good and Poor Young Adult Readers?

Abstract

This study investigated demographic profiles, reading characteristics and processes of good and poor young adult readers. Data were collected from 149 undergraduate students studying at a state university in Türkiye through a questionnaire set and eye-tracking experiments. Groups of this study – good and poor readers – were defined according to their performance in a combination of three reading comprehension tests and an oral reading skills test. As a result, significant differences were found between good and poor young adult readers in terms of their ages, genders, the number of books they have in their libraries, and eye movements such as saccade and fixation counts, saccade length, dwell time, and regressions but no differences in their reading habits, strategies, and attitudes, parents’ educational and economic levels, educational backgrounds, and saccade and fixation duration. Concentrating on several components of reading, this study thus provides a comprehensive perspective on the differences between good and poor readers.