The Effects of Gender and Reading Mediums on Comprehension

• Main Author: Corrin Alicia, Nero
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2019
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27562/1/Corrin.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27562/4/Corrin%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27562/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

The present study examined the effects of gender and different types of reading mediums on comprehension among students. In the study, 40 undergraduate students that were grouped according to gender were asked to read four psychopathology texts, (two digital texts and two print texts) that were presented in counterbalanced order. To ensure that the experiment was equitable, pre-screening was done based on the participants' Malaysia University English Test (MUET) result as well as their knowledge in psychopathology. The results showed that there was no significant difference in terms of reading comprehension between gender. However, based on the mean scores, females scored slightly better in reading comprehension compared to males. The results also showed that there was no significant difference in reading comprehension between the two groups (print text vs. digital text), however, the mean scores in reading comprehension revealed that participants' performance in print reading was slightly higher than digital reading suggesting that participants may have benefitted from print reading a little bit more than digital reading. The present findings can elevate the understanding on the effects of digital and print reading as well as ensure that students are well aware of which reading mediums can promote better learning experience for them.