Assessing Reading Abilities of Mechanical Engineering College Students: A Prospecting Study

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2014

Authors

Ana Sucena (Author) Other; João Pedro Falcão Carneiro (Author) FEUP; Fernando Gomes Almeida (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: International Journal of Engineering Education

Vol. 30

Pages: 378-387

ISSN: 0949-149X

Publisher: Dublin Institute of Technology Tempus Publications

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 3 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Mechanical engineering

CORDIS: Social sciences > Educational sciences > Learning studies ; Technological sciences > Engineering > Mechanical engineering

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-009-8RT

Abstract (EN): Reading is a basic competence that students have to master to be successful. Despite this fact, recent studies show that there may be a significant decline in the reading abilities of college students, one of the most educated segments of any population. This work is a prospecting study regarding the assessment of reading abilities of college students, namely in the context of Engineering education. Based on an existing screening test for assessing reading difficulties of children and teenagers, this work presents the results obtained by administrating that test to students at a top engineering institution in Portugal. An outcome of this study is the determination of a time range suitable for a massive, time limited, use of the previously mentioned test to assess college students, thus enabling a basic tool that will permit, in future works, to screen reading abilities in wider college populations. This work also shows evidence that ca. 20% of college students present a poor reading performance, revealing a strong need for monitoring college students' reading abilities along different generations.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10