Predominant factors contributing to low reading abilities of pupils at Elsie Lund Basic School in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predominant factors contributing to low reading abilities of pupils at Elsie Lund Basic School in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. Purposive sampling technique was used to select twelve (12) classroom teachers of the Elsie Lund Basic School. The instrument used to collect data was one-to-one in-depth individual interview. The gathered data were analysed thematically. The analysis of the data showed the following to be the factors contributing to the low reading abilities of the pupils: their lack of confidence to practice how to read in class, poor motivation from teachers and parents to help develop the interest of the pupils in reading, lack of pre-reader books in school and at home, lack of library, teachers inadequate knowledge on phonemic awareness strategy of teaching reading, lack of reading clubs and lack of reading competition among the pupils in the school. Some recommendations were made to ensure an improvement in the reading abilities of the pupils, including: teachers building the confidence level of the pupils in reading through making them read cooperatively, the school authority supplying adequate pre-reader books to facilitate the teaching and learning of reading in the school, parents ensuring adequate supply of pre-reader books at home, parents rewarding and complementing their children for improved reading abilities, the school organising reading competitions among pupils and the school management partnering with the Ghana Education Service to organize in-service training for all language teachers on phonemic awareness strategy in teaching reading skills.

Keywords: Reading, ability, phonemic, reading skills, teaching reading.

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