Dificultades en la comprensión de textos expositivos en niños de los primeros grados de la escuela primaria

Abstract

This article explores the difficulties for understanding expository texts in a non-probability convenience sample of Spanish-speaking primary school children (N = 317) attending grades 2 (aged 7.77 on average), 3 (9.01), and 4 (10.03) at 2 primary schools in Córdoba, Argentina (154 females and 163 males). Its aim was to identify difficulties for understanding texts, considering the cognitive processes and the textual factors involved. Five texts with different characteristics (structure and vocabulary familiarity) were selected, about which literal and inferential questions were asked. Students were required to read each text and answer the questionnaire orally. The results were analyzed quantitatively (ANOVA and Student's t test) and qualitatively (categorical analysis). Differences were observed among groups in literal and inferential questions as well as in total scores. Grade 4 students scored higher than those in grades 2 and 3. Nevertheless, in general, difficulties related with inferential processes were observed, specifically with inferential questions requiring students to explain causes or consequences and link textual information with prior knowledge. Even though students performed better in literal questions, they had difficulties extracting textually explicit concepts.