Freshman and Preparatory Complete Students: Do they Exhibit Difference in their Reading Achievement?

Abstract

A study was conducted to see if Addis Ababa University students from the freshman complete and preparatory complete perform differently on a reading comprehension test. Two groups, one of freshman and another of preparatory complete from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, were randomly selected and took a reading comprehension test consisting of different kinds of questions. The test papers written by these students were marked and scores achieved were put to an independent samples t-test to compare performances of both groups. Results showed that freshman complete students performed significantly higher than the preparatory complete ones. This signals that schools should pay special attention to the preparatory programmes and see to it that the students are given the necessary support required to prepare them for tertiary level academic demands