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Impact of Reading Competencies on Scientific Literacy for Social Science Students
Burcu Umut ZAN, Nuray ZAN
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DOI:10.17265/2161-623X/2026.06.001
Çankırı Karatekin University, Çankırı, Turkey
The given research was implemented in order to investigate the correlation between reading comprehension awareness and scientific literacy of end-of-year students pursuing final-year programmes in social sciences (Information and Document Management, Geography, Philosophy, Turkish Language and Literature, and Islamic Studies) in a developing university. In this regard, the research was to find out whether there was a departmental disparity in achievements of social sciences students in reading comprehension and scientific literacy, and whether there was a correlation between the two skills. The methodology of the study was developed in 2 stages. The first stage involved a scale that was used to establish the level of the self-efficacy of the participants in their reading comprehension. The second stage of the research involved information literacy/critical thinking questions on a text that had the topics of health, nutrition, and food in relation to day-to-day life. The overall results acquired during the study show that even though the students were scoring high in the reading comprehension self-efficacy scale, their level of scientific literacy was lower than expected. The results illustrate that there are challenges in scientific process abilities including reading comprehension and interpretation, presenting scientific evidence, and scientific reasoning. The correlation studies validate the fact that the presence of reading comprehension skills is not enough to be scientifically literate and that such skills must be nurtured. The findings of the research indicate that the objective of the education system which implies that every citizen should be scientifically literate has some weaknesses. Considering these outcomes, it is implied that the curricula of social sciences need to be enhanced to train the abilities of scientific reasoning, and the additional programmes are to be proposed to enhance the levels of student competencies on this matter.
scientific literacy, critical thinking, social science students, academic achievement, reading comprehension, critical inquiry
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