Aandacht voor het leesproces: Onderzoek naar een leesprogramma voor poëzie en proza, gebaseerd op eye movement modeling examples van peers, voor leerlingen in de havo- en vwo-bovenbouw

Abstract

Strengthening reading skills is a priority for the Dutch government, as good text comprehension is essential for learning and for functioning in society. Research indicates that Dutch youngsters are reading less proficiently and less willingly, necessitating effective reading lessons. In reading and literature lessons in Dutch (and modern foreign language classes), the focus is often on answering questions about texts, with little attention to reading and understanding literary texts such as poetry. This is a missed opportunity, as reading such texts can enhance reading skills and understanding of language and culture. This study is the first to investigate how higher general and pre-university students read and understand poetry compared to prose (short stories and expository texts), using text-with-questions and eye movement technology. A first finding is that reading performance for poetry is consistently lower than for prose at all grade levels. Additionally, students’ poetry comprehension does not improve between grades, while prose comprehension does. Notably, the eyetracking data shows that students read both poetry and prose quickly and linearly (superficially) for the first time, but read poetry texts longer after reading a question. Subsequently, a reading program for poetry and prose was developed and tested. The program is based on observational learning from videos of students' eye movements. Students who participated in the program read and understood poetry, short stories, and expository texts significantly better, also compared to students who followed regular reading lessons. Therefore, it is recommended to focus on students’ reading processes, especially poetry, in Dutch and other classes.