EFFICIENCY OF READING COMPREHENSION TRAINING IN PUPILS LIVING IN POVERTY

The results of Slovene and foreign studies reveal the connection between literacy levels and the level of education, employment opportunities and consequent socio-economic status of individuals and families. Reading efficiency relating to reading comprehension is an important element of reading literacy performance. The findings of several authors indicate empirical evidence of the existence of deficits and poor reading comprehension in pupils living in poverty and stress the importance of offsetting deficits and developing reading comprehension. Results of both foreign and Slovene studies indicate that the program of reading comprehension should be implemented in this group of pupils. In the article, we want to present effectiveness of the reading comprehension improvement program in pupils living in poverty. According to the findings of our research, in which we structured and implemented the reading comprehension program for pupils living in poverty with the Metacognitive-intersentential model of reading comprehension, the reading comprehension of the experimental group pupils who participated in the program improved compared to the control group pupils who did not participate in the program. Experimental group pupils also significantly improved correctness of their reading, their vocabulary and skills of verbal expression. When the program ended, we tested its efficiency by applied tests. The results on the manifest variables indicated that the program was good and efficient for pupils who live in poverty and experience reading comprehension problems