Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which reading difficulties affect
academic performance of secondary school students. The study was to establish
comprehension errors that affect students’ academic performance. This study employed
both quantitative and qualitative approaches for data collection and analyzes both
teachers and students. The research design was a descriptive survey design. Data was
collected by use of questionnaire for teachers of English and student’s cloze test and
reading passage. Data from questionnaire, cloze test and reading passages were
compiled, edited and coded according to the themes of the study. Quantitative data was
analyzed by use of statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS). The target population
comprised 12 teachers of English language and 120 students from Methodist Girls
Senior High School. The sample of the study included 10 teachers of English and 100
form three students from the sampled school. Purposive sampling was used to select
schools, teachers of English, and stratified and random sampling for students from
forms two class. Findings from the reading test indicated that students who had less
problems with word substitution, omission, addition, and mispronunciation are likely
to perform academically well. Cloze test performance where 67 per cent of the students
performed below average was an indicators of poor academic performance as a result
of reading difficulties. It was established that ninety percent of the teachers of English
experienced problems in teaching reading. Sixty per cent of the teachers did not
conduct library lessons at all due to lack of library resources. The study recommends
that teachers of English should be in-serviced regularly and that the school
administration should ensure availability of library resource and reference materials
through the Ministry of Education.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign Languages
Education and Communication, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in
partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Teaching English as a Second Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba
SEPTEMBER, 2019