Pushing the reading comprehension: a whole-classroom-based study on High school students in Sweden
(2025) KOGM21 20251Cognitive Science
- Abstract
- Several studies have reported a declining reading rate in school-aged children. Thus, this thesis therefore aimed to evaluate how students in their last semester of high school (gymnasiet) would have their attentive behaviour affected when reading challenging texts, and with the allowance or the prohibition of the use of electronic devices in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to foster a beneficial environment with distraction-free reading sessions for potential deep reading. Three naturalistic groups were studied, all from the same school and studying the same subject. A quasi-experimental method was used, with three conditions: a control group and two experimental groups with different conditions.
Systematic observations... (More) - Several studies have reported a declining reading rate in school-aged children. Thus, this thesis therefore aimed to evaluate how students in their last semester of high school (gymnasiet) would have their attentive behaviour affected when reading challenging texts, and with the allowance or the prohibition of the use of electronic devices in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to foster a beneficial environment with distraction-free reading sessions for potential deep reading. Three naturalistic groups were studied, all from the same school and studying the same subject. A quasi-experimental method was used, with three conditions: a control group and two experimental groups with different conditions.
Systematic observations across 18 lessons were conducted, coding inattentive behaviour from four categories. Four different surveys complemented the observational data. A pre-study survey evaluated their phone and reading habits. Six reading sessions, each a new text about an ideology, and a reading comprehension test were administered to evaluate their knowledge post-reading, followed by a survey about their alertness, perceived understanding and difficulty of the text. A post-study survey was administered, evaluating prior knowledge and perceived observer effects.
The results showed that reading comprehension score decreases when perceived understanding decreases. The score also decreased the further the sessions progressed. No statistcially significant relationship was found between inattentive behaviour and reading comprehension test results. No statistically significant relationship could be found between the permission or prohibition of electronic devices and reading comprehension test results. No improvement could be seen in attentive behaviour over six sessions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9212010
- author
- Ciba Andersson, Nicole LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- KOGM21 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Reading comprehension, deep reading ability, high school students, electronic devices.
- language
- English
- id
- 9212010
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-16 11:07:42
- date last changed
- 2025-09-16 11:07:42
@misc{9212010,
abstract = {{Several studies have reported a declining reading rate in school-aged children. Thus, this thesis therefore aimed to evaluate how students in their last semester of high school (gymnasiet) would have their attentive behaviour affected when reading challenging texts, and with the allowance or the prohibition of the use of electronic devices in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to foster a beneficial environment with distraction-free reading sessions for potential deep reading. Three naturalistic groups were studied, all from the same school and studying the same subject. A quasi-experimental method was used, with three conditions: a control group and two experimental groups with different conditions.
Systematic observations across 18 lessons were conducted, coding inattentive behaviour from four categories. Four different surveys complemented the observational data. A pre-study survey evaluated their phone and reading habits. Six reading sessions, each a new text about an ideology, and a reading comprehension test were administered to evaluate their knowledge post-reading, followed by a survey about their alertness, perceived understanding and difficulty of the text. A post-study survey was administered, evaluating prior knowledge and perceived observer effects.
The results showed that reading comprehension score decreases when perceived understanding decreases. The score also decreased the further the sessions progressed. No statistcially significant relationship was found between inattentive behaviour and reading comprehension test results. No statistically significant relationship could be found between the permission or prohibition of electronic devices and reading comprehension test results. No improvement could be seen in attentive behaviour over six sessions.}},
author = {{Ciba Andersson, Nicole}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Pushing the reading comprehension: a whole-classroom-based study on High school students in Sweden}},
year = {{2025}},
}