Structural equation modeling analysis of academic reading literacy and influence factors among Taiwan high school students

Project-based inquiry and independent learning have become important learning modes for high school students in Taiwan, and academic reading literacy is a key competency for independent learning and project-based inquiry. Unlike general reading literacy, academic reading literacy necessitates an active, exploratory, and recursive approach, making it essential for completing academic assignments. In the past, there were relatively few studies on academic reading literacy, and there was a lack of questionnaires to investigate high school students’ academic reading literacy levels. This study first analyzed the concept of academic reading literacy in the literature. Then, an academic reading literacy scale applicable to high school students in Taiwan was established through focused interviews, the Delphi method, factor analysis, etc. Next, a convenience sampling survey of high school students’ academic reading literacy was conducted. Results indicated that among high school students’ academic reading literacy skills, “academic reading attitudes” scored highest, whereas “academic text sensitivity” scored lowest. This study also used structural equation modeling to analyze relationships between the components of academic reading literacy. We noted that “academic reading attitudes” had the greatest impact on other aspects; that by improving their academic reading attitudes and academic text sensitivity, high school students could improve their information retrieval knowledge and reading comprehension skills, respectively; and that strengthened high school student academic reading attitudes, academic text sensitivity, and reading comprehension skills could improve their performance in reflective evaluation.