Construção e validação de um instrumento de avaliação da fluência e da compreensão de leitura para estudantes do ensino médio e superior

Abstract

Secondary education in Brazil seeks to strengthen elementary school skills and develop essential skills for adult life. Higher education aims to train qualified professionals in their areas of specialization. However, there are few studies that investigate the development of reading and text comprehension in adolescents and adults. Objective: to develop an instrument to assess fluency and reading comprehension suitable for high school and higher education students. Methodology: The study involved the participation of 54 higher education students of both genders, aged between 19 and 48, enrolled in public and private universities in cities in Minas Gerais. The methodological process for developing an instrument to assess reading fluency and text comprehension followed the methodology suggested by Coluci, Alexandre and Milani, (2015). Data collection was done remotely. The analysis of the experts' responses and suggestions was carried out in a quantitative way, using a calculation of the percentage of agreement and qualitative correction suggestions. For data from reading tests, descriptive and inferential statistics were used, with a significance level of 5%, for the variables rate, accuracy and total reading time and correct answers in text comprehension questions. Results: study 1 presents the methodology for constructing an instrument for assessing fluency and text comprehension, consisting of an expository text and ten multiple-choice questions. A base text entitled “The Uninhabitable Island” was created, consisting of 521 words and a Flesh Reading Ease Index of 26.57; and a multiple-choice questionnaire with ten questions, five literal and five inferential. The base text was considered adequate, but there was a need to revise the multiple-choice questionnaire. Study 2 aimed to validate the instrument for assessing fluency and reading comprehension in high school and higher education students. Participants were divided into three groups: The QA group answered the questionnaire before reading the text aloud, the QD group read it aloud before answering the questionnaire and the DL group read it twice, one silently and the other in out loud before answering the questionnaire. The results showed that the groups had similar results in relation to reading fluency, and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the text comprehension task. The reading fluency and comprehension assessment instrument is suitable for measuring reading development in students. However, the reading comprehension questionnaire did not prove to be accurate in identifying the different skills required for this process, especially for inferential questions.