| Abstract [eng] |
This thesis analyses reading skills in the native Lithuanian language of eleventh-grade students. The objective of the thesis: to find out how Lithuanian eleventh-grade students have developed their abilities of comprehension of the text they read in the native language, and, in addition, to find out whether the specific abilities are equally well developed; the thesis also sought to find out whether different abilities manifest equally irrespective of the type of the text; the thesis also seeks an answer to the question of whether the groups of the respondents from Vilnius and small Lithuanian cities differ judging from the perspective of the approach analysed, and, if so, how they differ. In addition, the goal has also been set to provide insights as to which sociolinguistic factors have a significant impact on the reading skills of the students. Research material for this thesis consists of answers of 120 final grade students to the sociolinguistic questionnaire and performance results of the reading skills test (1,800 answers to questions), which have been analysed using the methods of descriptive statistics and conclusion statistics. Furthermore, the Poisson regression analysis has been carried out to verify which sociolinguistic factors have a significant impact on the reading skills of the students. The results of both groups have been compared by means of the Student's t-test. The research data has been processed using a statistical analysis program RStudio. Analysis of the results revealed that the students have best developed their ability to understand important details and find arguments, and most of all they lack ability to properly interpret the thoughts of the text and draw conclusions. It has been found out that partial answers are related to inability of the students to formulate answers clearly and precisely, to disregard for what is being asked, and answering question without taking account of the text. It has been found out that, in terms of all abilities, a descriptive text was the easiest for the students, a narrative text was seen by the students as a more complex one, while a reasoning text was seen by as the most complex. Analysis of the data also showed that the results of the students from small towns did not differ statistically significantly from the results of Vilnius students (p = 0,247). The overall reading test results of the male students are statistically significantly lower than those of the female students (p < 0,01). Reading fiction books for pleasure sometimes (p < 0,01), often and always (p < 0,01) has a statistically significant effect in general on the reading skills of the students. The limitation of this research lies in the fact that a convenient rather than a representative sample of the respondents has been analysed. Therefore, no conclusions can be drawn about all eleventh-grade students based on the results of such a research. In addition, although the performance of the reading skills test has been evaluated not only by the author of this thesis but also by the supervisor, due to the specificity of the construct, that was analysed, it was impossible to completely avoid subjectivity in the evaluation of answers. However, this thesis is of relevance for researchers who analyse reading and reading skills, Lithuanian language teachers and developers of Lithuanian language curricula. |
