Exploration of Digital Literary Reading Comprehension among Secondary School Students: A Gender-Based Comparative Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i2.11574Keywords:
digital literary reading, gender comparison, junior high school, reading comprehension, social mediaAbstract
This study explores gender-based differences in junior high school students' comprehension of digital literary texts. It responds to the growth of screen-based reading and the need to understand how students interpret literary meaning when texts are accessed through online media. A quantitative comparative design was employed. Data were collected through Microsoft Forms and a digital literary reading comprehension test administered to 75 junior high school students who were active social media users, consisting of 41 female and 34 male students. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Levene's test, Welch's independent samples t-test, and effect size estimation. The findings showed that female students achieved a higher mean score (M = 6.66, SD = 0.48) than male students (M = 4.26, SD = 1.21). Because the assumption of equal variances was not met, the Welch test was interpreted, indicating a significant difference, t(41.541) = 10.819, p < .001. The effect size was very large (Cohen's d = 2.689), indicating a substantial gender-related difference. The study recommends differentiated digital literature instruction and inquiry into students' reading processes, motivation, and online attention patterns.
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