科學多重文本閱讀理解能力之評量發展暨性別差異研究—以核四廠續建與停建爭議題本為例

A Study on the Development of Assessment Tool and Gender Differences in 5th -9th Graders’ Scientific Multi-Text Reading Comprehension: A Case Study on the Issue of Whether to Continue the Construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant

本研究主要目的，在發展「科學多重文本閱讀理解評量」，並探討男女學生在科學多重文本閱讀理解能力的表現是否存在性別差異，共計有1535 位5 -9 年級學生參與本研究。首先發展評量之科學題本為「核四廠續建與停建爭議」，包含「提取訊息」、「概化訊息」、「解釋訊息」以及「整合訊息」四個分評量，共計11 題選擇題及8 題建構題。其次探究5 -9 年級學生其科學多重文本閱讀理解能力是否存在性別差異。分析結果顯示，評分者內之Cronbach’s α 值均大於.80 ，表示評分者內一致性尚稱良好。評分者間之Kendall ω 和諧係數值大於.79，p 值小於.001，達顯著相關，顯示評分者間有相同相對等級的評分趨勢。其次，題本之內部一致性，除「解釋訊息」外，其餘亦均大於.70，全評量α 則在.85 以上，顯示SMTRCA 之Cronbach’s α 尚在可接受範圍內。再者，驗證性因素分析也支持「科學多重文本閱讀理解評量」四因素之假設模式，兩者適配尚稱符合。本研究初步發現「科學多重文本閱讀理解評量」可分為「提取訊息」、「概化訊息」、「解釋訊息」以及「整合訊息」四個分評量，而該四個分評量分數所表徵之一階潛在因素，可被「科學多重文本閱讀理解評量」解釋的變異量分別為.68、.35、.81、.73。最後，獨立樣本t 檢定與二因子變異數分析結果顯示，5 -9 年級學生在「理解文本能力」的表現，均無顯著的性別差異，但在「闡釋文本能力」的表現則均是女生顯著優於男生。此外，5 年級學生之「科學多重文本閱讀理解能力」的表現，並未有性別上的差異。然而，6 -9年級學生在「科學多重文本閱讀理解能力」的表現，則有顯著的性別差異，而且均為女生優於男生。

The main purpose of this study was to develop the Scientific Multi-Text Reading Comprehension Assessment (SMTRCA), and to explore whether gender differences exist in the performance of scientific multi-text reading comprehension. 1535 students from grade 5 to 9 participated in this study. To this end, we used scientific texts describing the dispute regarding whether to continue the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant construction in Taiwan, and developed assessment items according to our rubric. Test items included 11 close-ended and 8 open-ended questions and were categorized into 4 subscales: information retrieval, information generalization, information interpretation, and information integration. Base on the test results, we explored the gender differences of scientific multi-text reading comprehension ability in grades 5-9 children. The analysis results showed that the Cronbach’s α values were above .80, indicating that the intra-rater consistency was good. Secondly, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was more than .79 and its p value was smaller than .001, denoting a consistent scoring pattern between raters. Additionally, except for the information interpretation subscale, Cronbach’s α values for the other three sub-scales were larger than .70, indicating that they were all within acceptable range. Thirdly, confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable goodness-of-fit among the SMTRCA and the four factors. The SMTRCA accounted for .68, .35, .81, and .73 of the variance associated with the first order factors of 4 subscales. Finally, the results of Independent-Sample T Test and two-way ANOVA showed no significant gender differences in the comprehension ability of the children in grades 5 -9. But the performance of girls was significantly better than boys in their interpretation ability. Additionally, there were no gender differences in the scientific multi-text reading comprehension ability of the children in grade 5. However, there were significant gender differences in the scientific multi-text reading comprehension ability of the children in grades 6 -9, and the performance of girls was better than boys.