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Levels of Reading Comprehension in Higher Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Cristina de-la-Peña1, María Jesús Luque-Rojas2
1Departamento de Métodos de Investigación y Diagnóstico en Educación, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja, Logroño, Spain.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 23, 2021
Summary
Most university students struggle with advanced reading comprehension. A meta-analysis found only 56% achieved optimal literal comprehension, with lower rates for inferential, critical, and organizational levels, highlighting a need for improved academic literacy.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Academic Literacy
Background:
- Higher education requires students to critically analyze scientific texts, necessitating strong reading comprehension skills for knowledge construction.
- Developing deep mental representations of written information is crucial for academic success and critical thinking in university settings.
Approach:
- A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized empirical studies published between 2010 and March 2021.
- Data were extracted from Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, and PsycINFO, with random-effects modeling used to determine the proportion of optimal performance at different reading comprehension levels.
- Meta-regression analyzed moderating variables, and publication bias was assessed.
Key Points:
- Seven studies with 1,044 participants were analyzed.
- Optimal performance proportions were: literal level (56%), inferential level (33%), critical level (22%), and organizational level (22%).
- University students demonstrated significantly higher optimal performance at the literal comprehension level compared to other levels.
Conclusions:
- A substantial proportion of university students exhibit suboptimal reading comprehension across literal, inferential, critical, and organizational levels.
- Findings suggest a need to enhance academic literacy interventions and support systems within higher education.
- Further research is warranted to explore factors influencing these comprehension levels and to develop targeted pedagogical strategies.
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