A Structural Equation Model to Explain the Effect of Fluent Reading, Literal Comprehension and Inferential Comprehension Levels of Elementary School 4th Grade Students on Success in Problem Solving

Abstract

Structural equation model was used in this study to determine the effect of fluent reading, literal comprehension and inferential comprehension levels of elementary school 4th grade students on success in problem solving. The sampling of the research is composed of 279 students at elementary school 4th grade. In the research, in order to figure out reading accuracy percentage and reading rate, total 5 scales were used: a reading text, prosodic reading scale, literal comprehension scale, inferential comprehension scale and problem solving scale. As a result of the research, when the factors among the reading comprehension skills were analyzed, it was seen that fluent reading affects literal comprehension directly and inferential comprehension both directly and through literal comprehension and that fluent comprehension explains 31% of the variance in literal comprehension while both fluent reading and literal comprehension together explain 58% of the variance in inferential comprehension. When the research results were analyzed in terms of the effect of reading comprehension skills on problem solving skills, it was found that fluent reading skills do not affect problem solving skills directly, but through literal and inferential comprehension; that literal comprehension affects problem solving success both directly and through inferential comprehension; and that inferential comprehension skill affects problem solving success directly. As a result of the research, it was also determined that the variance of fluent reading, literal comprehension and inferential comprehension skills explains 54% of the variance in problem solving success. The relation between these interrelated skills reveals that rather than only as a part of mathematics lesson, problem solving exercises should be used interactively with language skills.