THE IMPACT OF ELLIPSES ON READING COMPREHENSION

Abstract

This study aimed to detect the extent to which comprehending elliptical structures predictedreading comprehension. The study utilized a correlational survey model, and participantsinvolved a total of 173 middle school students. Data were collected through two different toolsbased on the same text in 2019. The ellipsis comprehension test consisted of 40 items thatincluded various types of elliptical structures present in the text. These items were in the formof fill-in-the-blanks. The reading comprehension test that was developed based on the sametext comprised 21 items in the form of multiple-choice items. The tests were administered tothe participants every other day. During the data analysis, a simple linear regression analysiswas performed to reveal the extent to which the ellipsis comprehension ability predictedreading comprehension, and a multiple linear regression analysis was employed to reveal theextent to which the sub-dimensions of ellipsis comprehension ability predicted readingcomprehension. Enter method was used in the regression analysis. Findings showed thatellipsis comprehension was a significant predictor of reading comprehension. The ellipticalsub-dimensions predicting reading comprehension the best appeared to be the ellipses in theform of verb, object and determinative units. However, it was also found that ellipses in theform of subject and indirect object did not significantly predict reading comprehension.