PhD defence Corina Breukink: A Case for Greater Focus on Students’ Reading Processes

On Friday 13 December, Corina Breukink will defend her PhD dissertation ‘Aandacht voor het leesproces: Onderzoek naar een leesprogramma voor poëzie en proza, gebaseerd op eye movement modeling examples van peers, voor leerlingen in de havo- en vwo-bovenbouw’.

The importance of comprehension in the classroom

Research indicates that young people in the Netherlands are reading texts less proficiently and less willingly. Since strong reading comprehension is crucial for learning and for functioning in society, Breukink argues that this trend calls for more effective reading instruction in schools.

Breukink contends that current Dutch reading and literature lessons (and those in foreign languages) miss opportunities by focusing primarily on students giving ‘correct’ answers to expert questions about texts. She advocates for a systematic approach to improving students’ reading and comprehension of different text types, particularly poetry, which can enhance language awareness, overall reading skills, and students’ understanding of language and culture.

Reading and understanding poetry and prose

In her dissertation, Breukink is the first to explore how higher general and pre-university students read and understand poetry compared to prose (short stories and expository texts), using text-with-questions and eye movement technology. Her research reveals that students score consistently lower on comprehension questions for poetry than for prose, and while prose comprehension improves between grades, poetry comprehension does not show similar progress.

Another significant finding is that students read both poetry and prose very quickly on the first pass, suggesting they tend to construct only a basic understanding based on explicit content. This indicates that students often read a text for the first time in a superficial way.

An effective reading programme

In response, Breukink developed and tested a poetry and prose reading programme in eighteen havo and vwo classes at the 10^th grade level, focusing on learning to read by observing peer reading processes (using eye movement modeling examples).

The primary finding is that this programme significantly enhances students’ ability to read and understand texts – not only poetry, but also short stories and informational texts. Teachers who implemented the lessons in their classrooms rated them highly. Consequently, Breukink recommends placing greater emphasis on students’ reading processes, particularly their approach to reading poetry, in all lessons where text comprehension is essential.

For guests who attend her PhD defence at Utrecht University Hall, Breukink will hold a layman’s talk at 16:00.