Examination of the reading self-efficacy of students engaged in reading activities designed according to the understanding by design model

In this doctoral research, the effects the three aspects of comprehension adapted to the Understanding by Design Model on students' reading comprehension achievement were examined. The study employed a convergent parallel design, a type of mixed-methods approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A case study method was utilized in the qualitative phase, whle the survey method was applied in the quantitative phase. The participants comprised 550 student from Erzurum province and 10 teachers who had experience with the Understanding by Design Model. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and the Reading Comprehension Achievement Scale Integrated with Three Dimensions of Comprehension (RCASITDC), developed by the researcher. Qualitative data revealed that students more frequently employed the conceptual actions of "interpretation", "application", and "self-evaluation", the three dimensions of reading comprehension, to better understand the texts they read. Additionally, qualitative findings indicated that teachers perceived the Understanding by Design Model as effective in enhancing students' reading comprehension achievements and expressed intentions to continue utilizing the three adapted dimensions of comprehension in future instruction practices. Consequently, it was determined that students achieved better text comprehension when they employed the "three dimensions of comprehension" in their reading process.This research examines the reading self-efficacy of students who participated in reading activities designed according to the Understanding by Design Model, concerning various variables. In line with this aim, a Reading Self-Efficacy Scale was developed and administered to the students to determine the reading self-efficacy levels of the students from the study group. Additionally, to explain the quantitative data obtained, the opinions of the teachers who taught the students in the study group were gathered. An explanatory sequential design, one of the mixed research methods, was employed in this study of the nature of the research process. In the analysis of the quantitative data obtained from the research, a homogeneity test was initially applied. After determining that the data followed a normal distribution, the independent samples t-test and variance analysis (ANOVA) were used. Content analysis was employed in the analysis of the qualitative data. At the end of the study, it was determined that there were significant differences in the average reading self-efficacy scores of students across the dimensions of interpretation, application, and self-assessment, which constitute the subscales of the reading self-efficacy scale, in terms of both gender and grade level variables. The interpretation of the findings obtained from interviews with teachers revealed that one of the factors influencing reading self-efficacy was individual differences in the context of the gender variable, while another factor was the students' cultural backgrounds, which emerged at each grade level. It was concluded that the significant differences found in the quantitative phase regarding both gender and grade level were also supported by the qualitative results of the study.