WELCOME TO KENTERPRO:
IMPACT OF CONTEXTUAL READING COMPREHENSION ON PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MANGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

Reading is a challenging and lifelong activity that necessitates dedication and commitment on the part of the reader. Reading must be done with attention if one is to derive meaning from visually communicated information, which is essential. Multiple processes are involved, including a sensory process, a communication process, a language process, and an interaction process, to name a few. According to Eze (2010) a habitual reader will experience the joy and satisfaction that come from reading on a regular basis. As stated by Uche (2017), reading will not only assist learners in organising their ideas and highlighting essential material when reading, but it will also enable them to absorb the entirety of the text they are reading. According to Rivers (2017), reading aloud is the most important exercise in any language class, not only because it is a valuable source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also because it is a means of consolidating and widening one’s comprehension of the language under study.

It is the ability to comprehend the intended messages of a text that is referred to as the ability to comprehend a text. It refers to the process of grasping and interpreting what has been previously read. Comprehending the meanings of a sufficient number of words or having a significant vocabulary is an important component of comprehension. To the researcher, reading comprehension can be defined as a method of determining whether or not a learner has comprehended what he or she has just read. In accordance with Ado (2016), the reading comprehension process is defined as a conscious, active, and interactive process that takes place prior to, during, and after an individual reads a specific piece of text in a particular language. Reading comprehension, once again, refers to the process of deducing the meaning of oral or written messages from their context.

Vocabulary, word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading rate are all issues that frequently arise in the context of reading. Reading appears to have an impact on success in all other academic subjects, as well as on the demands for and options for vocational training. According to Adams (2017), there are various types of reading challenges that are often observed among students of all grades. Reading habits, word recognition issues, comprehension errors, and a range of other symptoms are all examples of what is known as dyslexia. The author goes on to outline a number of concerns that some children who have reading difficulties face on a regular basis, which are detailed in Feagans (2003). When conducting oral reading activities, these errors include the following: omitting letters, syllables, or words; introducing extra letters, words, or sounds; substituting words that appear or sound similar; mispronouncing words; repeating phrases; and using incorrect intonation. Many children, adolescents, and adults in Nigerian secondary schools nowadays are battling with reading difficulties, and they are debating whether or not to treat them as such. Many people in society, including educators, parents, physicians, and members of the medical profession, are concerned about the lack of reading abilities among children and adults. All teachers have the responsibility of identifying and aiding their students who are experiencing difficulties or becoming frustrated in some way. Teachers of primary classrooms, reading teachers, special educators, and secondary school teachers must be knowledgeable about the assessment and treatment of reading difficulties (Richet, List & Lerner, 2009). In light of the high percentage of students who do not complete their reading assignments (due to poor reading habits) or who do not complete their reading assignments without understanding, it is important to point out that poor answers to comprehension questions are a result of students’ insufficient knowledge of reading method that will aid them in answering comprehension questions correctly. Consequently, they have not been able to raise their academic standards from junior secondary to senior secondary schools. For the most part, these problems are driven by a lack of effective approaches for teaching reading comprehension to children.

Reading comprehension in our secondary schools is difficult to assess; yet, Sandars (2007) says that reading is fundamentally vital in our modern society since it improves the quality of life while also providing access to culture and cultural heritage (Sandars, 2007). Her thesis further states that reading strengthens and emancipates individuals while also uniting them as members of the same social group. When a learner reads, his or her awareness of life is expanded; reading equips him or her with the ability to uncover his or her own talents while also learning about himself or herself and his or her culture. Reading is an essential instrument for learning in the many hierarchies of the modern educational set-up, according to Agade (2008), who follows the same line of thought as the previous author. He feels that reading aids in the learning process and effectively improves the intellectual development of individuals who are pursuing higher education. In addition to providing individual well-being, societal growth, and international understanding, according to China (2009), this reading concept also provides the provision of skills, knowledge, and the correct attitude, which frees one from idleness or boredom, among other benefits. Readability is crucial not only for educational purposes, but also for regular life activities. It boosts the likelihood of academic achievement in school as well as in life after graduation. Academic achievement in school is dependent on one’s ability to read and comprehend what is being taught. It is critical to emphasise that if a lousy reader does not make accommodations for success, he will eventually feel dissatisfied and will end up being a miserable failure in life.

According to Lar (2018) and other researchers, contextualization of reading passages should be done in order to make them represent the culture and norms of the individuals who are reading them. As the Nigerian government has determined, education is the most effective means of improving rural people’s socioeconomic position. This is in conformity with the country’s policy of promoting education. According to the writers, the objective of reading passages and contextualising them is to provide students with a meaningful and effective foundational education that will improve their lives as well as the lives of the nation as a whole. This curriculum requires that passages be produced in accordance with the needs and aspirations of the learner’s lifestyle, while also meeting the requirements of this curriculum.

The created passages were supplied in the form of student passages as well as a teacher’s guide for the purpose of evaluation. On the other hand, it becomes necessary to ask whether the so-called adapted or contextual reading passages are superior to the conventional English texts. In order to determine the impact of contextual reading comprehension passages on Junior secondary schools, this study was conducted by the researcher to answer these questions. When considering the sense in which the world has become a global village, is it true that students require contextual passages for reading comprehension in order to function at the necessary level of competence in order to function at the desired level of competence? Given what has been discussed thus far, the goal of this study is to determine the impact of utilising contextual reading comprehension method on the performance of Junior Secondary School students in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, in particular.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The inability to comprehend what you are reading appears to have an impact on your performance in all other academic subjects. For example, some students with reading disabilities experience difficulties when they omit letters, syllables or words; when they insert extra letters, words or sounds; when they substitute words that look or sound similar; when they repeat words and use improper inflection during oral reading. Teacher candidates in elementary and secondary classrooms, reading specialists, special education specialists, and secondary school teachers all require knowledge of effective reading comprehension instruction.

It goes without saying that contextual reading passages play an important role in the education of Nigerian junior secondary school students. The problem under consideration in this study is that contextual reading passages improve the performance of secondary school students in the Mangu Local Government Area, which is the subject of this investigation. The researcher wonders if contextual reading passages are used in the teaching of reading for comprehension because, as far as the researcher can tell, contextual reading passages are not included in the curriculum for the English language.

A second observation, based on conversations with English language teachers at some secondary schools in Mangu, is that they rarely use contextual passages when teaching students reading comprehension in a lesson. The author claims that some English teachers are lagging behind in their use of contextual reading passages to teach reading comprehension, which has resulted in students’ poor performance in reading comprehension tests. The purpose of this study is to bring to light the primary goals of teaching reading comprehension through the use of contextual reading passages.

When the researcher and some teachers had an interactive session, the researcher discovered that some of them believed contextual reading passages were a better reading comprehension tool than the conventional passages in the passage. This necessitated the conduct of this research in order to determine which reading passage is the most effective for teaching reading comprehension.

Many students read conventional passages from the English syllabus, which are found in many passages. The majority of the time, these passages are abstract to the students because they do not reflect their personal backgrounds. As a result, the events in the passage are unfamiliar to them, especially at the junior class level. Because of this, the purpose of this study is to provide solutions to these controversies with the expectation that it will result in an equitable distribution of reading passages to be used when teaching reading comprehension to junior secondary students in the Mangu Local Government Area.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of contextual reading comprehension on performance of junior secondary school students in Mangu Local Government Area. Other specific objectives of the study include:

1. Examine the pre-test and post test performance of students exposed to conventional reading passage.
2. Find out the pre-test and post test performance of students exposed to contextual reading passages.

• Determine the difference in the performance of students exposed to contextual and conventional reading comprehension.

1.4. Research Questions

            The following questions have been raised to guide the study:

1. What are the pre-test and post test performance of students exposed to conventional reading passage?
2. What are the pre-test and post test performance of students exposed to contextual reading passages?

• What is the difference in the performance of students exposed to contextual and conventional reading comprehension?

1.5. Significance of the Study

The importance of this study cannot be overstated, especially at a time when reading comprehension is more relevant than it has ever been before as a result of the advancement of technology and the rise of social media platforms. As a result, teachers, students, curriculum planners, and future researchers will all benefit from this research.

There is a need for this research because teachers of English language at the junior secondary level in Mangu appear to be perplexed as to the most effective method for teaching reading comprehension in secondary schools.  As a result, the findings of this study may aid in the development of a better understanding of contextual reading comprehension in order to improve the teaching of reading comprehension in Junior Secondary Schools.

Students’ ability to read with comprehension in English, as well as in other subjects, would be improved once more if they were taught using contextual reading passages because they would be able to see their surroundings in what they read. It would benefit students with low, average, or high comprehension capacities because some of the things they see in their surroundings will appear in their reading comprehension passage, allowing them to gain a better understanding of the passage. In fact, comprehension of a text would have been achieved by the time students’ reading comprehension passage reflects their background inferences, predictions or guesses, and the generation of questions from text were reflected in the passage. In conjunction with this, if students are able to comprehend texts, they will be able to interpret test questions and draw out meanings that go beyond the literal level of the questions. This would go a long way toward ensuring that they pass both the termly and the senior school certificate examinations with flying colours.

The research would also assist examination bodies and curriculum planners in developing curriculum that reflects the objective and purpose of teaching reading comprehension through contextualised passages, as well as the objectives and purpose of teaching reading comprehension in general. This could result in greater consistency in the procedures for teaching reading comprehension passages using the curriculum of the Junior secondary schools in the Mangu Local Government Area. If it is discovered that some areas of English language reading comprehension passages, such as vocabulary building, word matching, or activating prior knowledge, to name a few, are effective, it would be extremely beneficial to curriculum planners and examination bodies when setting examinations for students.

The findings of this study, as well as discussions of the theoretical and practical implications of those findings, will be of interest to researchers in second language learning who are interested in reading comprehension method in particular. The findings of this study will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about contextual reading passages.

1.6. Scope of the Study

            This study covers impact of contextual reading method on performance of junior secondary school students in reading comprehension in Mangu Local Government Area. This study shall be restricted to two(2) selected Junior secondary schools in Mangu. Only 100 JSS I students will be used for the study. The aspects of reading comprehension that will be used are literal message in reading comprehension, relationship of thought in reading comprehension and critical and referential thoughts in reading comprehension. The study is restricted to selected secondary schools in Mangu Local Government area of Plateau State.