Läsförståelse hos svenska gymnasieelever : En undersökning av hur gymnasieelever som läst svenska B respektive svenska som andraspråk B klarar TISUS-testets läsförståelsedel

Sammanfattning: Abstract This paper aims to examine reading comprehension among Swedish Upper Secondary School students who are doing their last school year. My research questions are if the students have sufficient reading comprehension to cope with university studies and higher education according to a comprehension test and if there is a difference between students who studied Swedish B course or Swedish as a second language B course. Furthermore it involves issues of differences in results depending on gender and if the second-language students were born in Sweden or abroad. To get answers to my questions, I let 112 students in my survey carry out the reading comprehension part of the TISUS test, observed several test sessions, and interviewed 24 students who participated in the test. The result shows that most students have difficulties with the reading comprehension, and probably would find it difficult to study at universities or colleges. There are major differences in the results between the Swedish B-students and Swedish as a second language students, but also within these groupings. The students in theoretical programs managethe reading comprehension test to a greater extent than the students on practical programs, whether they had studied Swedish B or Swedish as a second language B. Inadequaciesin vocabulary, reading rate and comprehension strategies appear to be the main cause of low test results. Differences between the results of the men and women can also be discerned but the most surprising result is that second language students who were born abroad manage the reading comprehension test better than second language students born in Sweden.