Reading and the Unisa student : is academic performance related to reading ability?

Abstract

This article reports on research that examined the relationship between reading ability and academic performance amongst undergraduate students at Unisa. The findings form part of a larger study involving doctoral research into the inferencing abilities of students during the reading of expository texts. Inferential processing is central to reading comprehension because it involves the ability to perceive connections or relationships between entities in a text. The results indicate that undergraduate students at Unisa generally have distressingly low reading levels and slow reading speeds, and that inferencing ability during reading is strongly related to academic performance: the better students are at making inferences while they read, the better they perform academically. These results strongly suggest that urgent attention needs to be given to improving the reading ability of students at tertiary level, for reading constitutes the very process whereby learning occurs.

In hierdie artikel word verslag gedoen oor navorsing wat die verband tussen leesvermoë en akademiese prestasie van voorgraadse studente by Unisa uitlig. Die bevindinge vorm deel van doktorale navorsing oor studente se vermoë om afleidings te maak by die lees van verklarende tekste. Die vermoë om afleidings te maak staan sentraal tot leesbegrip, omdat dit die vermoë om verbande of verwantskappe tussen entiteite raak te sien, behels. Die resultate dui daarop dat voorgraadse studente by Unisa oor onrusbarend lae leesvlakke en stadige leesspoed beskik, en dat die vermoë om afleidings te maak by lees 'n sterk verwantskap toon met akademiese prestasie: hoe meer studente in staat is om afleidings te maak terwyl hulle lees, hoe beter is hulle akademiese prestasie. Die resultate toon dat dringende aandag onverwyld gegee moet word aan die leesvermoë van studente op tersiêre vlak, omdat leer juis tydens die leesproses plaasvind.