Abstract:
Reading is one of the basic skills that children should master during their first school
year to be able to assimulate new knowledge and skills in future.This case study was
undertaken to investigate the reading difficulties among JHS pupils of Konongo M/A.
The study also aimed at suggesting appropriate stratagies to enable pupils to be
competent readers. The study particularly attempted to find out the causes and effects of
reading difficulties. The study was conducted on 20 sampled pupils and seven teachers.
Qualitative research design was employed. Teacher and student questionnaire,
classroom observation, oral interview and test were the research instruments used to
obtain the required data. The study found that, most of the pupils in JHS1 were not able
to read as expected at their level. As they read, they committed errors such as skipping
and ignoring word endings, reading individual words and making several stops. In the
course of teaching pupils reading, the study again found that, the classes were
overcrowded with high student-teaching ratio of 1:3. Hence teachers could not have
time to attend to individual students with reading difficulties. It was further found
through the oral interviews counducted and tests that, some textbooks used were not
suitable for the level of the pupils and were not adequate. The questionniare presented
to teachers and the tests assigned to the pupils indicated that the reading problems
occured because some parents engaged their wards in farming activities instead of
providing reading opportunities for them. Teachers techniques used for teaching were
not found to be adequate to improve pupils reading performances. That resulted in the
poor performance of pupils in the reading test conducted for pupils. The study
sugguested that, large class sizes should be reduced. There should be organized
workshops for teachers and there must be provision of adequate teaching and learning
materials.
Description:
A Dissertation 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 award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Teaching English as a Second Language)
In the University of Education, Winneba