本研究旨在探討性別導向閱讀文本與如何對青少年閱讀理解能力造成影響。本研究採用質性研究中的個案研究法，參與本次研究的對象者為臺灣花蓮市區年齡13歲、不同性別的國中生，為求公正性，研究對象中的男生與女生各一位。本研究方法包括放聲思考、個別訪談以及研究者省思札記等三角檢測法來蒐集資料。男女國中生各利用放聲思考閱讀兩篇性別相關文章和三篇性別中立文章，並採用Many和Cox的4層閱讀理解力來分析資料。
本研究探討的研究問題有三，分別為：（1）女性導向閱讀文本如何影響女性與男性青少年的閱讀理解？（2）男性導向閱讀文本如何影響女性與男性青少年的閱讀理解？ （3）性別中立閱讀文本如何影響女性與男性青少年的閱讀理解？本研究發現，對閱讀文本內容的熟悉度會影響不同性別的閱讀理解能力。不同性別的閱讀理解能力層次與學生本身對閱讀文本內容的背景知識相關。女性青少年在閱讀女性導向的文章時達到最高閱讀理解能力，而男性青少年是在閱讀男性導向的文章時達到最高閱讀理解能力。
研究者希望藉由以上的研究問題，引起第二語言教學老師與政府機關重視閱
讀教材的選用或設計語言能力測驗時對性別差異的適切性與公平性。

This research aims to investigate how gender-oriented texts impact adolescents’ reading comprehension. A case study of qualitative research is adopted for this research. One female and one male junior high student, both thirteen years of age, participated in the research. The researcher collected data through triangulation, the think aloud method, semi-structured oral interviews and the researcher’s own reflective notes. With think aloud methods, both of the participants read two gender-oriented texts consisting of a female-oriented and a male-oriented text, and three gender-neutral texts. Four levels of reading comprehension adopted from Many and Cox (1992, p. 56) were applied for the data analysis.
Three research questions of this research are: (1) How do female-oriented texts impact adolescents’ reading comprehension? (2) How do male-oriented texts impact adolescents’ reading comprehension? (3) How do gender-neutral texts impact adolescents’ reading comprehension? The findings indicated that content familiarity influences EFL reading comprehension. Different reading comprehension levels of male and female students were associated with their differences in prior knowledge. The female student had the highest comprehension level on the female-oriented reading text while the male student had the highest comprehension level on male-oriented reading text.
The researcher also hopes that second language instructors, editors, the government and related organizations will heed the findings of this study when they select reading materials for learners and when they design second language proficiency tests.

ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS II
中文摘要 III
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES XI
Chapter One: Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation for the Research 1
1.2 Purpose of the Research 4
1.3 Research Questions 4
1.4 Significance of the Study 5
1.5 Limitation and Delimitation of the Study 5
1.6 Definition of Terms 7
1.6.1 Gender Differences 7
1.6.2 Gender-oriented Text 7
1.6.3 Gender-neutral Text 7
Chapter Two: Literature Review 8
2.1 Reading 8
2.2 Reading and Reading Comprehension 9
2.3 Reading and Schema Theory 10
2.4 Reading and Reading Texts 11
2.5 Reading and Gender 12
2.6 Think Aloud Method 15
Chapter Three: Methodology 16
3.1 Research Design 16
3.2 Research Method 17
3.2.1 Qualitative Research Method 17
3.2.2 Qualitative Case Study
3.3 Setting and Participants 18
3.4 Reading Materials 21
3.5 Data Collection 24
3.6 Data Analysis 30
3.7 Trustworthiness 33
Chapter Four: Result and Discussion 35
4.1 Gender-oriented Texts 36
4.1.1 Formal text GOT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 1 37
4.1.2 Formal text GOT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 2 40
4.1.3 Formal text GOT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 3 43
4.1.4 Formal text GOT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 4 46
4.1.5 Formal text GOT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 1 49
4.1.6 Formal text GOT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 2 51
4.1.7 Formal text GOT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 3 54
4.1.8 Formal text GOT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 4 56
4.1.9 Discussion on Research Questions One and Two 58
4.2 Gender-neutral Texts 60
4.2.1 Formal text GNT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 1 61
4.2.2 Formal text GNT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 2 63
4.2.3 Formal text GNT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 3 66
4.2.4 Formal text GNT1: Reading Comprehension -Level 4 68
4.2.5 Formal text GNT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 1 69
4.2.6 Formal text GNT2: Reading Comprehension -Level 2~4 71
4.2.7 Formal text GNT3: Reading Comprehension -Level 1 72
4.2.8 Formal text GNT3: Reading Comprehension -Level 2 74
4.2.9 Formal text GNT3: Reading Comprehension -Level 3 76
4.2.10 Formal text GNT3: Reading Comprehension -Level 4 79
4.2.11 Discussion on Research Question Three 80
4.3 Conclusion
Chapter Five:Conclusion and Recommendations 84
5.1 Summary of the Findings 84
5.2 Pedagogical Implications 85
5.3 Recommendations for Future Research 87

References 88

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