JOURNAL OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION 8(2), JUNE, 2020 ISSN: 2277-0011; Journal homepage: www.atbuftejoste.com Corresponding author: Osikomaiya, M. O. oosikomaiya@noun.edu.ng Arts and Social Sciences Education Department, National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja. © 2020, Faculty of Tech. Educ., ATBU Bauchi. All rights reserved 141 Perspectives of Gender Differences, Students’ Achievement and Attitude to Reading Comprehension 1 Arts and Social Sciences Education Department Faculty of Education National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja 2 Department of Communication and General Studies College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta ABSTRACT Reading skills are specific abilities that enable a reader to read the written form as meaningful language and to mentally interact with the message. Reading is seen as an instrument that induces learning which involves a variety of interrelated activities. Comprehension in reading occurs when the reader takes hold of the writer’s message. It is seen as the basic mechanical side of the reading process because the higher order cognitive processes are not called into play as they are with the more sophisticated side of reading that involves understanding and interpreting what is read. Research findings that have identified differences between gender groups in reading performance are not as clear cut. Various interpretations given by researchers often reported discrepancies between males and females in reading outcome. Not much work has been done on the investigation of gender differences, achievement in and attitude to reading, though there are general consensus that girls have been found in many Nigerian researches to have only a slight positive but statistically insignificant edge over boys in language performance. Also, it has been proven that a positive attitude often leads to successful learning and that students learn more effectively and achieve better when they are interested in what they learn. This study is interested in the provision of clear evidence that gender and attitude influence achievement in reading comprehension. INTRODUCTION Reading is seen as an instrument that induces learning and literacy. This issue of literacy is at the very heart of reading education since one of the primary goals of a reading teacher is the fostering of lifelong readers. Reading is a component of primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions curricula. It is the ability of the brain to perceive, recognise, and interpret printed symbols that involves a variety of interrelated activities. Reading is the act of decoding symbols of a language in order to ensure intelligibility and understanding (Jedege and Kolade, 2017). It is a complex, purposeful, interactive, comprehensible, and flexible activity that takes considerable ARTICLE INFO Article History Received: February, 2020 Received in revised form: April, 2020 Accepted: April, 2020 Published online: June, 2020 KEYWORDS Gender, Gender difference, Students’ Achievement, Students’ Attitude, Reading, Reading Comprehension Osikomaiya Mojisola Olufunke, Popoola Titilayo Elizabeth,