Determining the Reading Comprehension Levels of Students Who are Braille-Readers on Informative Texts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the reading comprehension levels of middle school students who are braille readers in informational texts and to examine whether they differ in terms of certain variables. 23 of the participants were male and 16 were female; 11 of them were attending 6th grade, 18 were attending 7th grade, 10 were attending 8th grade. The data of the study were collected through the 'Reading Comprehension Achievement Test', which was prepared by the researchers and included 24 open-ended questions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics analysis and one-way analysis of variance test. The significance level of p<0.05 was taken into consideration in the interpretation of the results obtained from the statistical tests conducted in the study. As a result of the study, middle school students who are braille readers needed to improve their reading comprehension performance in informative texts. The study also found that using braille abbreviations had a great effect on reading comprehension. Findings showed that the reading comprehension levels of male and female students who read braille were similar to each other and the reading comprehension levels of students who read braille were similar to each other regardless of their grade level.