READING STRATEGIES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN MATHEMATICS

READING STRATEGIES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN MATHEMATICS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

Reading is an important source of human knowledge and information of all kind. It is the fundamental importance of academic progress and general human development. At the national level, the ability to read is important. To a nation’s social and economic advancement. While at the individual level, reading in the 21st century is an important gateway to personal development, social and civic life in the school setting reading is a powerful tool for academic success because it provides pupils with access to information and in the 21st-century information is power and without reading it is meaningless. In essence, reading is crucial to the growth of a nation, the success of individuals and academic achievement. This implies that the ability to read in the modern world tends to drive development in all aspects of life.

However, reading is not always popular among all people in developed countries such as the United State of America and on the African countries reading is generally not popular the example in Nigeria (Adeleye, 2008). In December 2010 the president of Nigeria, President Jonathan called for the book to be brought back into the classroom and society, and he emphasized that reading should be given an important position in school and society if development is to be achieved and sustained.

Research findings have shown that the majority of pupils seemed to struggle with reading. They read slowly and forcefully. They did not engage in any pleasure reading outside of their formal study requirement.

In approaching a reading text, pupils may use reading strategies to help them understand the text. The use of reading strategies differentiates proficient readers from novice readers because proficient readers are more aware of their reading process by monitoring the process and applying strategies when facing comprehension problems.

Reading strategies, referred to as the mental operations involved when readers purposefully approach a text to make sense of what they read.

However, some researchers believe that strategies that have become automatic should be termed “skills”, and this automaticity is a differentiation between the term “strategies” and “skills” making the two terms not interchangeable. Reading strategies are described as purposeful, cognitive actions that pupils take when they are reading to help them construct and maintain meaning.

Reading strategies are those conscious actions were taken by readers to enhance understanding of the text. Some of the strategies include decoding, shared reading, guided reading, and scaffolding. Other reading strategies include summarizing, reading comprehension monitoring, questioning and visualizing etc.

The use of reading strategies to improve the academic performance of pupils has been recommended by many researchers. The report shows that pupils who used more reading strategies on both standardized test reading and textbook reading scored higher on performance, out there was no relation found between unique strategies and reading comprehension as readers with high comprehension and how comprehension both reported using the same processing strategies.

In essence, there are various opinions as to which strategies that they believe will help their pupils to attain better comprehension. It can be inferred that the effectiveness of strategies depending on the peculiarity of each class with regard to differences in pupils’ abilities in this regard, then the aim of this study is to examine the effect of reading strategies and academic performance of the pre-primary school pupils in mathematics in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

In Nigerian schools and all over the world, it is guaranteed that at some point during the school day, teachers will say, pupils take out your reading books. Pupils will either love or dread this time of the day because there are one million struggling readers between the pre-primary even up to higher education. During reading time, pupils may participate in a variety of activities, some may read Round Robin style when each pupil reads a paragraph aloud in succession, other may be caused to read aloud randomly or pupils may read with a partner or in a small group. Typically there are some reading difficulties that the readers encountered in the reading materials that a teacher model the reading through reading aloud or think aloud. Yet, the level of pupils reading comprehension is still worrisome.

With the average scores remaining under changed for pre-primary school pupils as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), teachers wonder what they can do to improve the reading strategies of pupils. Textbooks often do not include many reading strategies or they may use many different approaches, but do not allow enough time for pupils to practices the strategies. Reading is much different than mathematics. There is no formula to follow or memorize and it is needed to be mastered like, other subjects. Teachers may try to compensate for what textbook lack, so they use auxiliary materials and a variety of different approaches but want to know what strategy(is) is/are best for improving reading strategies among pre-primary school pupils.

1.3     Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of reading strategies and academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

Specifically, the study sought to:

(i)      determine the influence of guided reading strategy on academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics.

(ii)     assess the influence of shared reading strategy on academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics.

(iii)    examine the influence of context clues reading strategies influence pupils academic performance in mathematics. 

1.4     Significance of the Study

This study will be an immense benefit for several reasons first; it will serve the educational need for improving reading comprehension of the pupils.

Secondly, it will extend the research in reading strategies and academic performance of pupils in pre-primary school. 

Lastly, it will help to create better reads that can use their knowledge and apply it in society and the workforce. Also, the study will provide teachers with beneficial reading strategies and help improve pupils’ comprehension which could be incorporated into the curriculum. For education stakeholders and policy makers; this study will place them on the right track as it will unveil the secrete to improve reading strategies.

1.5     Research Question

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

(i)                To what extent does guide reading strategy influence academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics?

(ii)     How does shared reading strategy influence academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics?

(iii)    To what extent do context clues reading strategy affect the academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics?

1.6     Research Hypotheses

                    The following research hypotheses were postulated to guide the study:

(i)      There is no significant difference between guided reading strategies and academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics.

(ii)     There is no significant difference between shared reading strategies and academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics.

(iii)    There is no significant difference between context clues and academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics.

1.7     Delimitation of the Study 

          The study was restricted to examine reading strategies and academic performance of pre-primary school pupils in mathematics in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. The study focus on guided strategy, shared reading strategy, context clues, decoding among others and its impact on pupils performance in mathematics.

1.8     Limitation of the Study

          The research encountered some difficulty in obtaining information for this study, being involved with pre-primary pupils; there is a little work on the subject of the study. For this reason, the study was limited due to resources, time frame and financial constraint. The researcher restricted the study to the selected primary school in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

1.9     Definition of Terms  

          Reading Strategies: These are conscious actions taken by readers to enhance understanding of the text.

academic performance: This refers to the overall session achievement of learning in either a particular subject or the entire subject offered.

Pre-primary School: Is an education given to children between the age of 3 to 5 years before entering primary school, this includes the crèches, the nursery, and kindergarten.

Mathematics: Is a science of numbers an symbols.