Measuring the Subject-Dependent Reading Comprehension of Secondary School Students in the Light of the Final Exam

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate 12th grade students reading comprehension level based on History subject. Furthermore, it attempted to analyze how the obtained results are related to the general text comprehension and historical knowledge. In order to do this, the experimental subjects’ Hungarian Grammar and Literature and History final exams’ results were compared against a self-developed measuring assessment. The results suggest that the type of text can influence the effectiveness of text comprehension. In case of the History related table, the tested students scored better than the source and the graph. On the one hand, it was also found out that there is a medium level correlation between the historical reading comprehension test and the Hungarian language and literature examination, while on the other hand the historical reading comprehension test score correlates more strongly with the average score of the History examination than with the average score of the Hungarian language and literature examination. It can be assumed that the level of reading comprehension related to the History subject and texts to be processed has a significant influence on the success of compliting the History task.