An Assessment of English Reading Skills of Preparatory Class Students

In this research it was aimed to reveal the development of reading comprehension skills at B2 (upper intermediate) level taking place in Common European Framework Criteria of the English Language and Doç. Dr., Fırat Ü. Eğitim Fak., Eğt. Bil. Bölümü, Elazığ. El-mek: nurigomleksiz@yahoo.com Öğrt. Gör., Cumhuriyet Ü., Yabancı Diller Yüksek Okulu, Sivas. El-mek: senelelaldi@yahoo.com 234 Mehmet Nuri GÖMLEKSİZ-Şenel ELALDI Turkish Studies International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 6/3 Summer 2011 Literature students attending the preparatory class of the School of Foreign Languages at Cumhuriyet University in Sivas in terms of gender and high school variable. The descriptive research method was used and data for the present study were collected with a five-point Likert-style scale. The study population consisted of ninetyseven students of English Language and Literature attending 2010 2011 academic year, spring term preparatory class 'Reading' course. The scale used in the study was developed by the researchers. The items were classified into four categories named „A1A2 (elementary) level reading skills‟, „B1 (intermediate) B2 (upper intermediate) level reading skills‟, „skills benefited from reading time‟ and „skills improved via reading‟. The scale was administered on totally 94 students. 26 of them were male, 68 were female. It was determined that reading comprehension skills were differed significantly in terms of gender variable and that female students‟ level was higher than that of males‟. Even though male students‟ levels were determined relatively lower, they were found to be better and more practical than female students in terms of using these skills actively and multi-dimensionally. While the level of reading comprehension skills was determined higher among the students who graduated from public high schools than the ones who graduated from schools admitting their students through entrance exams, the latter students were observed to be more skilled than the former ones in terms of using their reading skills.