EFFECTS OF READING COMPREHENSION ON NARRATIVE WRITING OF STUDENTS IN SELECTED JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN PANKSHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Reading is a complex activity. The goal of reading is to construct meaning based on visually encoded information (Olaofe and Masembe, 2006). Those who enjoy reading derive pleasure and satisfaction from it. Adigun and Oyelude (2003) observed that the skill of reading will not only assist learners in organizing their thoughts and jotting down important facts while reading, but also equip them to comprehend the entire text. Rivers (2011) propounded that reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s knowledge of the language. Reading is a receptive skill like listening and vocalizing what was stimulated, it is also productive when it is done aloud. However, it is a mental process involving the interpretation of signs perceived through the sense organs. According to Longe and Ojo (2006) reading is the ability to transform the visual representation of language into meaning. Therefore, reading is an active process (not a product like history) in which readers shift between sources of information.

Furthermore, reading is a very complex process which requires an active participation on the part of the reader. According to Harris (2000), the message in the printed text is not something given in advance – or given at all – but something created by the interaction between the writer and reader as participants in a particular communicative situation. To Smith (2007) reading is asking questions of printed text and reading with comprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions answered. This means reading is a thinking process in which it requires the reader to understand and perhaps to use different skills in gaining the information from the text such as inferring, questioning, predicting, and drawing conclusions.Reading involves many complex skills that have to come together in order for the reader to be successful. For example, proficient readers recognize the purpose for reading, approach the reading with that purpose in mind, use strategies that have proven successful to them in the past when reading similar texts for similar purposes, monitor their comprehension of the text in light of the purpose for reading, and if needed adjust their strategy use. Proficient readers know when unknown words will interfere with achieving their purpose for reading, and when they won’t. When unknown words arise and their meaning is needed for comprehension, proficient readers have a number of word attack strategies available to them that will allow them to interpret the meaning of the words to the extent that they are needed to achieve the purpose for reading.

Writing, on the other hand, is the learned process of shaping experiences into text, allowing the writer to discover, develop, clarify and communicate thoughts and feelings. It requires the development of thinking skills. According to Emig (1977), writing is the externalization and remaking of thinking, and to consider writing as separate from the intentions and beliefs of the writer is not to address composition as a reflective tool for making meaning.

There is general agreement that there is a connection between reading and writing, yet we know surprisingly little about the nature of this connection or the interactions between reading and writing with regard to students’ achievements (Graham & Hebert, 2010). For example, how does learning in one influence or alter learning in the other, and how does the instructional process for reading relate to instruction in writing or the instructional process in writing relate to reading instruction? Does instruction in reading improve performance in writing and is the converse true? How does the relationship among these skills change with age and growth/development over the course of childhood and adolescence, and how might these associations change as features of the text change (e.g., genre, complexity of vocabulary, sentence structure)?

While reading and writing are closely correlated, the correlation is far from perfect. Little research has been done on reading–writing relations across different ability levels in each (Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000). Examining the connection between reading and writing should inform us regarding what attributes and aptitudes characterize those who struggle with one of these skills but not the other, and what characterizes those with difficulties in both? Some interesting similarities and differences can be noted between reading and writing. Both (along with the other language skills, listening and speaking) involve knowledge of vocabulary (words, their internal morphology, and their meanings in context) and syntax (sentence structure, complex sentences, and how usage can change the intended message). At their higher levels all of these require reasoning, critical thinking, and analytic ability, and all draw upon background knowledge. Both skilled writing and reading are complex, requiring extensive self-regulation of flexible, goal-directed, problem-solving activities; both require genre knowledge and effective use of strategies (Harris, Graham, Brindle, & Sandmel, 2009).

            In the light of the above discussion, this study will examine the effects of reading comprehension on narrative writing of students in selected Junior Secondary Schools in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Most students at the secondary school level are uninterested in reading; their reading culture is limited. Some of them only read for examination purposes. Thus, most students limit themselves to reading only notes given to them by their class teachers and only few of them have time to read books and other materials outside their class texts. For that reason, Akinbode (2006) discovers that most of them perform poorly in essay writing during their terminal examinations due to inadequate vocabulary usage.

Igwe (2011) identified poor reading skill as a problem of Nigerian students attributed to difficulty in distinguishing main ideas from irrelevant details and inadequate vocabulary or word power. These probably mean that lack of students’ participation inadequate reading comprehension has contributed a lot of problems in acquiring vocabulary or new words which they could use in expressing themselves in written essays.

Studies by White, Graves, and Slatter (2000) have shown that poor readers often lack adequate vocabulary and this affects their understanding of what they read from a text. Consequently, reading is difficult and tedious for them. Students who do not have large vocabularies or effective word-learning strategies often struggle to achieve express themselves in writing. Their poor experiences with reading set them in to a cycle of frustration and failure that continues throughout their schooling.

It is in line with the above that this study seeks to examine the effects of reading comprehension on narrative writing of students in selected Junior Secondary Schools in Pankshin Local Government Area.

• PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of reading comprehension on narrative writing of students in selected Junior Secondary Schools in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State. Other specific objectives of the study are:

1. To determine the differences in the pretest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it.
2. To examine the differences in the posttest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it.
3. To find out the differences in the post test performance of males and females who exposed to reading comprehension.

1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

            The following research questions were raised to guide the study:

1. What are the differences in the pretest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it?
2. What are the differences in the posttest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it?
3. What are the differences in the post test performance of males and females who exposed to reading comprehension?

1.5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

            The following research hypotheses were postulated:

H₀1: There are no significant differences in the pretest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it.

H₀2: There are no significant differences in the posttest performance of students in writing who were exposed to reading comprehension and those who were not exposed to it.

H₀3: There are no significant differences in the post test performance of males and females who exposed to reading comprehension.

1.6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

            This study shall be of benefit to many educational stakeholders such as government, curriculum planners, school administration, teachers, students and researchers.

            The government will benefit from this study as they will come to see the importance of reading comprehension on writing skills of students. Therefore, they will provide more books for effective teaching and learning of reading comprehension in Junior Secondary Schools.

            The study will be of benefit to curriculum planners as they will incorporate reading comprehension as a method of teaching writing.

            School administrators will find this study beneficial as they will see the dire need to provide reading materials for students to get themselves acquainted with reading which will in turn help them to be better writers.

            Teachers who are the executioners of curriculum will benefit from this study as results will prove to them that reading comprehension is indeed a tool for enhancing writing among Junior Secondary School students.

            Students, who are at the centre of this research will benefit from the study because the measures taken by the above stakeholders will help them in developing good writing skills via reading comprehension.

            Finally, when this study is completed, it will serve as a reference material to future researchers who will want to carry out research in the same field. It will add to the already existing body of research on reading and writing.

1.7. SCOPE/DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

            There are a lot of problems confronting teaching and learning of English at the secondary school levels. However, this study covers effects of reading comprehension on narrative writing of students. The study shall be restricted to selected Junior Secondary Schools in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State. However, despite the fact that the study is restricted to the selected area, its findings can be generalized to other parts of the state and country at large.