ABSTRACT
This study sought to examine the effect of comprehension teaching methods on reading comprehension of pupils with reading difficulties in schools in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Four research questions and 4 hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted an experimental research design. The population comprised 60 primary six pupils in Bwari and Municipal Area councils of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. A comprehension Reading Passage developed by the researcher was used as an instrument for data collection which was validated by three experts in the field of special education, measurement and Evaluation and language education all in Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined through trial testing of the instrument on 20 pupil;s outside the area of the study. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Kudar Richardson (K-R20) formula and reliability co-efficient values of passage 1= 0.643, passage 2= .58 and passage 3=0.77 were obtained respectively. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions 1-4, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at p<.05 level of significance. Major findings of the study showed that the experimental group achieved better than the control group with comprehension teaching methods, pupils in the age 9 years and above achieved better than those in age below 9 years that male pupils achieved better than their female pupils, that urban pupils achieved better than the rural pupils. Based on the findings conclusions were drawn and the educational implications were discussed. Among the recommendations made were teachers of English language should develop ways of identifying pupils with reading difficulties, observe their performances in English language assignments, tests and examinations and be able to apply the appropriate comprehension teaching methods once they notice pupils poor performance due to lack of comprehension. Government should ensure that English language teachers get necessary training on comprehension teaching methods, skills through seminars, workshop as to improve their delivery process. Special educators psychologists, school administrators should encourage the use of comprehension teaching methods in schools because teachers and pupils see them as role models. The government needs to overhaul ministries of education to be abrest with new innovations on comprehension teaching methods so that curriculum planners and developers will effect them in their curriculum for primary schools as to improve reading comprehension of pupils with reading difficulties.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The educational institution of any country is the gold mine in the technological, political and economic development of that particular society. As such, any country that over looks the importance which education plays in this area, is heading to stagnation. Education is a basic instrument for development and has three levels, the primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary is the first level of education in Nigeria and it is the bedrock on which other levels lies. Pupils in the primary schools are usually between the ages of six to twelve years of age. At this level, pupils are introduced to the basics, foundations of educational development. The secondary level begins from ages twelve to eighteen years and at times beyond. Here, students are taught building on the initial foundation that has been laid on their primary level. The tertiary level is when students go to a more advanced levels of education in different institutions of higher learning.
Primary education is the foundation of any educational system. This is why the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) states that the rest of other levels of education is built on it, and that the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system since it is the bedrock upon which other levels of education lie. In the National Policy on Education, the importance of reading and writing as a means of communication and as a means of developing permanent literacy is emphasized. As stated in the objective of primary education, it stresses, “the inculcation of permanent literacy, numeracy and ability to communicate effectively and giving the child the opportunity to develop manipulative skills that will enable him/her to function effectively in the society” (FRN, 2004). These skills include essentials in language, reading and comprehension and ability to communicate effectively. In most developing countries with multiple ethnic groups and languages like Nigeria, there is a practice of having an official language that is foreign to the members of the society such as English language. English is an official language in Nigeria. This fact was articulated by Bamgbose (1971:35-37) when he observed the followings:
“of the entire heritage left behind in Nigeria by the British at the
end of colonial administration, probably none is more important
than the English language. This is now the language of government
business, and commerce, education, the mass media as the language
of mass information, propaganda in creative art and literature, as the
most popular language for words, poems, short stories, music and
drama in sum the gate of educational advancement, of job opportunities
and fuller participation in the cultural life and other social intercourse”.
Since Nigeria uses English language as her language for official transactions, it means that teaching and learning process are all done in English language. Every language has its own characteristics ways of communicating information and ideas, and of signaling meaning. These help the reader’s understanding of both the language and the ideas and messages they communicate. English language contains numerous homophones, words that are pronounced alike but have different meanings and sometimes different spellings. Homophones confuse readers when an individual does not picture the correct word while reading, the meaning of the information is unclear and therefore reading comprehension is diminished. For example, if the word “weak” is used repeatedly in a story, and the student pictures “seven days” each time, instead of something that is not strong, the student’s comprehension of the reading material is poor.
The main purpose for reading is to comprehend the ideas in the material. Without comprehension, reading would be empty and meaningless. Reading involves making visual contact with letters or groups of letters or alphabets and relating them to the sounds of language which they represent. Reading is a perceptual activity involving the interpretation of sensory signs and symbols into meaningful units. Reading to learn is an activity pupils try to accomplish right from the primary school. Ability to read is very crucial in the child’s life because it provides a strong foundation for future academic achievement. Amao (2005) stated that from the middle years in the Nigeria primary school, the school child spends much of his time reading in order to obtain information from printed text. Most times the pupils who could not read do not do well in comprehension tasks. Many of such the pupils fail standardized entrance examination due to lack of comprehension skills. Moreover, the need to read encompasses all school subjects in the social sciences, humanities and the sciences. Thus, reading is not just for leisure, but also for understanding information towards proper adjustment in the environment. Despite the crucial nature of this skill, many pupils do not have the capacity and proficiency to read for comprehension. Pupils need to develop interest in reading not only as a professional activity but also as a life long activity. Reading as a permanent habit helps one to develop mastery of the English language in a number of ways and also help the individual’s intellectual development.
Comprehension is a complex intellectual process of making meaning from a body of printed or oral information. It has to do with clear understanding of the theme and meaning of a text. To comprehend, a reader must have a wide range of capacities and abilities. These include cognitive capacities (e.g. attention, memory, critical analytic ability, inferencing, visualization ability), motivation (a purpose for reading, an interest in the content being read, self-efficacy as a reader), and various topic knowledge (vocabulary, domain and topic knowledge, linguistic and discourse knowledge, knowledge of specific comprehension strategies).
