DO GIRLS FORM READING COMPREHENSION DIFFERENTLY THAN BOYS?

Reading comprehension is an indicator of student's reading literacy and it is also significantly related to students' academic outcomes. It is therefore very important to investigate reading comprehension factors. We were interested in identifying which of the pupils' (meta) cognitive, motivational and emotional factors are the most important according to gender, based on the results of all reading literacy studies (PIRLS 2001, 2006; PISA, 2006) which show differences (in reading comprehension) between boys and girls. In the study sample there were 205 Grade 5 students (105 males and 100 females). The results showed that the female pupils' reading comprehension is better in comparison to the male group. Among factors of reading comprehension (meta) cognitive factors (i.e., reading speed, vocabulary and summarizing) were important predictors in both gender groups. Motivational-emotional factors were important predictors of reading comprehension only in the male group. Knowledge of those factors has important pedagogical implications because it shows the need for the teacher to differentiate the approach for male and for female pupils when studying new texts.