Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which poor reading
comprehension affects academic performance of Koforidua Presbyterian Junior High
School in the New Juaben District (Eastern Region), Ghana. The study‘s objective
was to establish the comprehension errors made by students, the effects of poor
reading comprehension on students‘ academic performances for the various subjects
in the school and the strategies put in place to address poor reading comprehension.
The research approach is qualitative. The target population for the study was the
pupils of Koforidua Presbyterian Junior High School in the New Juaben south
Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The researcher used the purposive
sampling technique. A simple passage was given to the students to read and answer
the comprehension questions that followed. All students (N = 22) that scored less than
three out of five in the comprehension exercise, being 9 boys and 13 girls were
selected. The end of first term exams scores for these students were investigated to
know the impact of their reading comprehension on their academic performances.
Based on the responses given by pupils and teachers it was found out that the students
had difficulty in their English reading comprehension and it affected their general
academic performances. The impact of poor reading comprehension on the academic
performance of students in Koforidua Presbyterian Junior High School One in English
language was higher in female students than in male students
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Applied Linguistics
Foreign Languages Education and Communication,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for award of the Degree of
Master of Education (Teaching English Language as a Second Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba
DECEMBER, 2020