A Study of Four Attitudes and Reading Comprehension of Primary Six Students in Singapore

Abstract

A questionnaire was used to measure attitudes of Chinese & Malay students (N = 645) from the normal bilingual "stream" or track of six primary schools in Singapore, regarding teachers, learning processes, language arts, & mathematics taught in English. A reading comprehension test was also administered. Correlations between scores for the five variables were compared for the two student groups. Findings indicate that in all but one case, there is a positive correlation between all variables for both groups. Significant differences in attitudes across groups were found for three variables, with Chinese students doing better on the reading comprehension test. Findings also indicate that for Malay students, home environment was a more important factor than school environment in determining their ability to master English. Modified HA.