A, The THE EFFECT OF GENDER DIFFERENCES AND READING STRATEGIES TOWARD STUDETS’ READING COMPREHENSION

Abstract

The purpose of this research were to find out whether there is any significant difference result of reading comprehension between gender (male and female), whether there is any significant difference result of reading comprehension in the use of reading strategies (cognitive-metacognitive), and whether there is a significant interaction of gender differences and the use of reading strategies towards students’ reading comprehension. A quantitative analysis that included descriptive statistics and inferential analysis (ANOVA) tests were conducted to answer the research questions of this study. The respondents of this study were the third semester students of the reading III program at English department of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University in Banten. Out of 94 students of the population, 50 (25 females and 25 males) were chosen as the samples. To collect data, the study used two kinds of instruments: a reading comprehension test, and questionnaires. The result of this study revealed that out of two independent variables, only the variables of gender affected students’ reading comprehension (p – value < 0.05). However, the different use of reading strategies did not give significant effect on students’ reading comprehension (p – value > 0.05). But the overall use of both reading strategies through different gender had not shown significant interaction on students’ reading comprehension (p – value > 0.05). Therefore, lecture should teach not only reading lesson, but also how to make the students be acquainted with strategies in reading.

Keywords: Gender differences, reading strategies, reading comprehension