University of Nigeria Research Publications

Aut

hor

ACHU, Augustina Ihuaru

PG/M.Ed/92/13066

Title

Effects of SQ3R Method of Teaching-Reading

Comprehension on the Performance of Secondary School Students

Facu

lty

Education

Dep

artm

ent

Education

Dat

e

October, 2007

Sign

atur

e

iii

CRR PTF IC RTIW

ACRU, A. lo, a koscgraduabe student i n bhe Deparbment

of EilucaGion an& wi l;h r e g i s t r a t i o n No. FG/MED/S/92/13066

has satisf a c c ~ r i l y completed he r e q u i r e m n t s f o r

course aria r e sea rch work f o r t h e degree of Master of

~ u c z j t i o n . I'he work embodied i n the pro jecb is o r i g i n a l

and has no t been su'bmi t ~ e d i n part o r f u l l f o r any

o t h e r Diploma or degree of this o r any o t h e r Univers i ty ,

d h i s work is dedicated GO

My Pamilg

I am most, p a t e f u l bo my Projecc Supervisor,

Dr ( M L Y ) Grace Chibiko Offorma f o r hb;r Lhorou~h

supzrvis ivn of t u i s WOSACr I indeed found hr:r advice

and correcGions vbry useful .

1 am indebted t o D r . Otagburuagu f o r h i s

invaluable a s s i s ~ a n c e bo me dur ing che process of

c a r r p n g out t h i s inves t iga t ion .

My i g a t i t u d e also goes to my husband

M r . R. E. Achu f o r h i s moral suppork and f o r ,

pa t i e n c l y proof-reauing t h i s work.

My thanks a l s o goes Go fir. Faul Abonyi who

helped ne parb icu la r ly in the a rea of analysf s of

data €or ti5s work.

Above d l , I thank Ghe Almizhty God f o r good

h e a l t h chroughouu "he p,-;riod.

PAGE

iii

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v i i i

i x

Background of the SGudy . . Statemenb of the Froblem .. Purpose of i;he Study . . Signi f icance of the Szudy .. Scope sf U h ~ Stady . - ~esi6arch ~ u e s c i o n s . . ::esearch Hypobheses . .

I'he Headin,, krocess . . I'he F a t w e and Essence of' Ghc S k i l l . . .,

lhe Headin< Coinprehersion Skills .. Reaain;, iroblems i n G e e i a . . bcudies on Re s d i n ~ Comprehension . . Sum lri-ry o P LiGcracure Review

~ 1 ~ 2 2 ~ 2 . 2 , ~ - I~ESLARCH M!,IBODOLOGY . . Research Design . . . . .Area of Sbudy . . . . .

v i i

P o p u l s ~ i o n of he Bbudy . . . . Smple and Ssnpling i!echnio,ile .. I n s c r v a c v t z t i o n . . . . Validity of Instrument . . . - LeliabiliGy of Instrument .. . . rlechod of D s G e Coliect'tion . . . . Kebnod of DataA.~alysS.s .. 0 .

Research Q u e s ~ i o n s a . a - Hypo chesia . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . Educational Zmplicabionu of the ,5 Gudy . . . . . .

iju.ggest;ions for fu r4ha r research ..

3. Sample of' Pre 2 e s ~ Iten.

C. Pre-test and Post-test Scores f o r r;Fe ConG~ol as?. Txperineni;al Groups.

U. Lesson Vc te (Smple) .

v i i i

LISP OF JAI3LES

Difference in performance of skuaenta caught reading comprehension us ing SUE anu chose taught w i ~ h o u t i b . Performance of urban and r u r a l s ~ u d e n t s cau~hb reaciing comprehension with S ~ , 3 3 method - o . o

ATXOVA t'os the group 'Gau~;ht reading comprehension us ing S&3R method and those caught wiGhout it

AWOVA t a b l e of the performance of siiudents f r o n urban and rural scnools who were taught r e d i n g comprehension us ing L@R method

bf f ec ts of SQ3R i n ~eachinl:. reading &prehension

i n suconuary schools ,

Jhe many f a i l u r e s r eg i sg English language

especiall) in readink, comprehension i n publ ic examina~iorns

c a l l f o r a review of >he meehads of teaching i c ,

Obah anti O~agburuagu (19%) has shown c h a t when s tuden is

ari: l;au,ht with apgropriabe techniques and methods they

achieve morz, dhe purpose of t h i s study t he re fo re is

6 0 i'ind ouu the e f f e c t of he SQ3R method of Geaching

reauing coqr6hens ion on the performance of secondary

s tuden t s , l 'hss study Waii quas i exper imen~a l and a

comprehension passage thai; has ben ques cions was used

Yor Ghe r;esl;. A p i l o t scudy i n Torn of cesi; retest

was conduclied GO esGatdish Ghe r e l i a b i l i t y , Phe L e s t

was a d m i n i s ~ e r e d t o 200 jun io r secondary s c h o d s tuden t s

i n b o ~ h urban and r u r a l schools , the scho 31s were

chosen by s b r a b i f i e d random sampling. iiesearch quesG.ions

were answered usinfl; m e :ns and s bsndard d x i a t i o n while

hypouheses were uested ac 0.05 level of s ign i f i cance ,

I'm ~naJol* .laindin,,s a re as fol lows: thaL Lhe SQ3R

rnt?cnoa i.5 s u i ~ a b l e Tor ceaching reading comprehension

ai, ~ t ~ e junior s e c o n d a r ~ school, i'hat locatiion has no

influence on the p-.-rf omance of s i -~dents .

3he resvarch9x recommended among o6her ~ h i n ~ s tha t bhe

SQ3R me Ghod of be achine; reading comprehenaion should

be f ~ l l y e w h r i n e d in che langua@ c u r - i c ~ l u m

'or secondary scnools.

L

Background of t h e scudy:

Phe importance of English language t o Che p resen t

and fucure developmen6 of Xiger ia as a nacion is

recognised by many Vigerians . Nos t FTigerians cons ider

Sngl ish t o be a v i t a l medium of comriiunication without

which Piger i i l could n e i t h e r possess the u n i t y of

resoErces nor f o s Gor s o c i a l , busin.-m and s c i e n c i f i c

changes ~ h n t constitute development, Zngl i sh as a

t o o l 01' l e a m i n d p lays an important r o l e i n manpower

t r a i n i n 6 and humm developmen b i n Nigeria , Engl i sh

servts as c;he comrnon laguage whiah is understood by

many Pikerians. Phis is the Panguwe f o r t r a n s a c t i o n s

of bus iness and oomerce and used by mass media,

Cer ta in s k i l l req~i rernencs are needed f o r PJ5.ge1-in t;o

use English adequately i n a11 iihese s r e a ~ ,

Phe use of Xnglish as bhe medium of i n s t r u c t i o n

i n schools Bas made i ts mastery imperative for success

i n uny achoul subjeot . I n such a l e a r n i n g s i t u a t i o n

Ghe importance of huving proficiency i n English is

pa rmount , I ts masbery is e s s e n t i a l t o a l l Seaming i n

the school. 2h i s extends f a r beyond t h e a ' b i l i t y Go

absorb o r memorise sentences pr insed i n English.

English has been a compulsory school s u b j e c t i n

E i g e r i a s i n c e 1882- lhe Education Ordinance Syl labus

(1930:2) has made iG a medium of i n s t r u c t i o n i n schools,

It furGher sba tea tha t all subjecc t eachers must i n s i s t

on c o r r e c t use o f the language both spoken and w r i t Len,

U n f o r t u n a ~ e l y the Wigerian schoc: c h i l d i s far

below expectat ion i n maatering t h e s k i l l s of both spoken

and wrizten English. Ashby (1960) commented t h a t

the quality of Engl i sh used i n t h e classroom i s such t ha t dl p u p i l s a re aG s e r i o u s disadvantage. I S cannot be doubted tila't thousands of t h e mosk g i f t e d a r e unable t o ob ta in f u r t h e r educauion because chey were not taught well enough i n the language which they were examined,

Sadly enough, one f i n d s t h a t t h e s e Ashby's comenGs are

shill true today e s p e c i a l l y i n reading comprehension

waich is compulsory i n *he Genior school c e r t i f i c a t e

exaninacions, dhe r e s u l t s of the s e n i o r school c e r t i f i c a t e

e x m i n a t i o n s over t; he years have shown t h a t s t u d e n t s

perform poor ly i n the English lmguage, J h i s problem

has been a source of worry ' to a l o t of p e o ~ l e , Many reasons

have Been advanced 50 expla in ch i s inability of wigeden

s Gudenbs '60 pass che examinaLions ,

Obah and O~agbumagu ('l990) i s of =he opinion

Ghat c;ile po .r performance of: sbudentis i n schools and i n

pu'blic exa;oinal;ionu i s as a resulk of d e f i c i e n c i ( ; s in

reading comprenension, s u m a r i s i n g and note-Laking,

dhe s u ~ h o r s oc l i eve bhat he way t o master t hese s k i l l s

is ehrough l;he adoption of pos ib ive ou'Glook and

culeivabion of appropr ia te s t r a t e g i e s md t e c h n i q ~ e s .

Unoh (1973) a l s o observed thaL the Wigerian secondary

sciiool a tuden r; genera l ly performed poor ly i n reading,

H e has iden G i f f ed i;he seve -.a1 f ac Gors in f luenc ing reading

yerformmce aa She relevance Go content , i n t e r m ' t of t h e

reader , r e a d a b i l i t y of she t e x t i n terms of s t r u c t u r e

anci s y n t a ~ mii poor teaching strategies, i'he above

s t a t e m e n ~ a now c a l l for a review of che teacl!intvm of

readin.- comprehension i n our secondary schools ,

Furthermore it; has been observed by Robinscn (1x1)

t n a t va r ious f a c t o r s such as the r e a d e r ' s i n t e l l i g e n c e ,

previous knowledge and concen bra t ion affect comprehension,

It i s a he12 i f a s ludens uses an e f F i c i e n t study

technique. One such Cechnique he designated was SQ3R,

lhis sytnbol scanas for Survey, i ~ ~ e s b i o n , read, r ec ice ,

and review. S@R is a way of having s tuden t s work

effectively when studying on Gheir own. .A s tuden t begins;

by surveyin, the passage Lo be read and getting a genera l

idea of what i C is abobt. Secondly, he r a i s e s quest ions

abouG $he mate r i a l , next he reads the whole sec t ion .

H e reads again where he has f orgotcen. L a t e r he completes

Ghe c e ~ h n i q u e ug rev is in^ what he hiis read while

c o n c e n t r a c i n ~ on m d e r s Ganding and remembering,

h e c ~ u x of the problem of English language teaching

l i e s i n 6ne primary school, f o r it I s here Zhat the

, ceacning of .hnglish starGa and the f o u n d ~ t i o n l a i d .

i i f f en ('l982) a t t r i b u Led t h i s problem t o poor foundation

i n the primary school, poor teaching sb ra teg fes , l a c k

of equipment and i n f r a s b r u c t u r e and wide spread of pidgin

English, Phe amount of i l i f f i c u l t y of madin; demanded

of ch i ld ren inc reases enormo~s ly from t h e end of t h e

primary school t o the beginning of t h e secondary school,

blew ch i ld ren come in60 t h e secondary school prepared GO

Gave Ghe gianii sGep forward i n reading p ro f i c i ency and

c h i s has been che major problem i n the teaching and

l e a r n i n t of linglish.

Sbabcmcnt of the Problem

Phere has been a greac deal of r e sea rch d i r e c t e d

a6 Ghe muses of poor performance i n readink; conprehension.

M i l l e r (1971) Unoh (1976) Obah and OGagburuagu (Ig.jO),

R e s u l ~ s of a number of r e sea rch scud ies Unoh (1976)

Obi (1977) have ~ t t r i b u z e d bhe cause t o mother tongue

f ac tior, poor Geaching as t r a t eg ies , inadequate teaching

mate r i a l s mi q u a l i f i c a t i o n of teachers ,

I n schools , b a s i c reading s k i l l s a r e very necessery

f o r o v e r a l l acquisition of knowledge. I n teaching

learning s i t u a t i o n , it is recogmised chat the a b i l i t y

Go read i s related t o t h e a b i l i ~ y 60 scudy. Grambs (1979)

abated ~ h a c for s k ~ d e n t s t h e key t o success i n school

is Lhe ability Go read, Most of t h e work bhaG skudents

do e i b h c r in group o r i n d i v i a u a l l y and most of the ways

they are e v a l ~ i a t e d depend on how well t n e y read,

I'he objeceive of secondary school reading can only be

aGbained if readin& i s handled i n such a w a y t h a t t h e <

, ' p u p i l s f i n d reading easy and interesting. Phe underlying I

1 f aoGor Go his i f 3 bhe adoption of good teaohing s%rategf es. i

ihe background above has shown s h a t s tuden t s

performance i n mading comprehension is poor. Researchers

i n t h e area of reading comprehension Unoh (1973)

Granbs {lq?9) Obah (3990) po in t t o poor teaching

strategies as one of t h e major f a c t o r s t h a t d e s t r o y

h'tudencs atGitude i n i'he s u b j e c t and t h e r e f o r e r e s u l t

i n poor performance. Based on t h e above context t h i s * . study w a s designed to- f i n d oi*t the e f f e c t of the SQ3R

method of ce acnint; reading comprehension on the

performance of eecondary school s tuden t s ,

Yurpose of Che s tudg

dhe study d m ab f ind ing oub the e f f e c t of S@R

me thou of teaching reading comprehension on t h e performance

of secondary school si;udenbs. It is a l s o t h e purpose

of his B G U ~ ~ . Go e x m i n e ;he effect- of SQ3R on t h e

performance of male and female s tuden t s , I't a l s o seeks

. , to f i n d out i f the d i f fe rence i n the performance of

s tudentn is as a r e s u l t of d i f f e r e n c e i n sex,

S ign i f i cance of the s budy

It is n o t uncommon t o f i n d t h a t s t u d e n t s cannot

sumhiarise passages which t h e y have read o r answer quest ions

posed at the end of a comprehension passage, Phis is

mainly because they l a c k good reading s t r a t e g i e s or:

s k i l l s , d h i s study w i l l provide a b e t t e r a l t e r n a t i v e

t o the exis king mefhod of teaching reading comprehension

i f i G proves eff ea t ive , lhe conven&ional method of

teachin,-, reading comprehension needs .to be reviewed

because of bhe continuous poor performance of s tuden t s

i n y u o l i c examinations.

On the oontrary, the SWR faefhod enables a c h i l d - --.

t o actiack a comprehension passage by surveying t h e passage,

r a i s i n g some quest ions, reading the passage slowly,

reading it again and chen rev i s ing it to get the

d e t a i l s , Every ch i ld has che opportunity of a t tacking

the passage using a mapped-out procedure.

Phe e f f icacy of S@R i f proven w i l l help the s tudents

develop scracegies Ghat w i l l help them i n other subject

areas Laugh5 i n school, Phe r e s u l t of t h i s s tudy w i l l

a l so enhance the teaching an6 learning of reading

comprenension i n secondary schools ,

Scope of t h e s tudy

Phis s tudy i s l imi ted to the teaching and lea rn ing

of reading comprehension only, Phe s tudy w i l l not include

o ~ b e r aspects of teaching the language because it is

d i f f i c u l s to s tudy all the areas i n a s ingle work.

Research Questions

Jhe following research questions hare been designed

L O &wide the researcher i n the study,

I, How does che performance of scucients taught

reading comprehension using SQ3R m e t hod compare

with she performance without the method?

2, How does t h e performance of urban school s tudents

taught reading conprehension wibh the SQ3R

compare with t h e performance of rural school s tudents?

Research Hypotheses

Ihe fol lowing n u l l hypotheses were formulated t o

guide Gite si;udy and w i l l be t e s t e d a t 0-05 l e v e l of:

s ign i f i cance ,

i, I'here is no s ign i f i cant difference i n the

mean achievement scores of studentis taught

reading comprehension with 8Q3R method m d

those Caught wibhout i t .

5i. Phere is no s ign i f i cant difference i n the

mem reading comprehension ec hievemen t

scores of urban and rural students,

I n t h i s chapter, s t ud i e s r e l a t ed t o the present

research are reviewed, Phe following areas are discussed,

I 2he reading process

- Ilhe nature and essence of the reading s k i l l

- i?he reading comprehension skills

- Heading pprblerns i n Riger ia

. 3 tudies on reading comprehension

Phe Reading Process

l he re has been an explosion of knowledge on reading

a c q u i s i ~ i o n and learning from t e x t i n the l a s t 20 years,

Singer ('l985:937), Ph is is as a resu lc of numerous

research s Ludies on a t e n t i o n , encoding, inference,

memory SGorage, and r e t r i e v a l which helped t o produce a

unif ied cheory of cognit ive processing, Pearson ('l984)

Reading comprehension was thus seen a s a complex in t e r ac t ive

process. Rumelhart (1977) Stanovich (1980) A number of

faccors a r e i n~e rwined i n the process: reader, purpose,

f ami l i a r i t y , i n t e r e s t , mot'ivation and comp1exit;y.

Boch conbent and process f a c t o r s are involved i n readkg

comprehension which are knowledge of topic. Anderson,

Reynolds, Sihallert and Goetz (197) Pearson Hansen and

Gordon ('l979) Knowledge of text s t ruc tu re o r genre,

10

Neilson (1977). Omanson (1978). Meyer (1980). Meyer,

Brandt and BLabh (1981) and Pletacognition - knowledge

aboul; G ne procedures, Winogrd a d Johnson (1980).

Baker and Brow (1983).

I n a nu tshe l l , reading compreh.:nsion is viewed as

G M ? process of using the cues provided by the author

md ones p r i o r knowledge t o i n f e r the authors intended

meaning. I'his involves a considerable amounG of i n f e r r i n g

ac a l l l e v e l s as one bui lds a model of mewing of the

t ex t .

dhe Reading Process: Schema theory - A fundamental

assumpGion of schema theo r io t i c approaches t o language

comprehension is chat t he spoken o r wri t ten t e x t does

not i n i t s e l f c a r r y meaning. Adams and Col l ins (1985:406)

Schema theory of text processing suggests t h a t memory f o r

fnformaCian is a function of how w e l l t he information

fits inGo the ex is t ing knowledge s t ruc tu re s , Gaetz and

S h a l l e r t (1B3). If new information is compatible with

exisking memory swuol;ures i b is easy t o comprehend

and encode. Therefore l e s a processing ie neOe8sary and

the information is remembered r e l a t i v e l y w e l l . Converse1 y

i f new informa2;ion does no6 fit well with t h e ex i s t i ng

memory s ~ r u c t u r e s it is more di.Yfioult t o comprehend

and encode, the re fore more processing bime is necessary

I I

and r;he information may s c i l l not be well retained,

Phe ro le of p r io r knowledge often referred to as Schema

theory is bas ica l ly a Gheory about knowledge - a theory

about; now knowledge is represeirced and about how the

representation f a c i l i t a t e s the use of knowledge i n

pa r t i cu la r ways ,

Schema serves a number of functions as Anderson

(1984:240) has enumerated s i x of them. Phey include:

Assimilating t e x t information: A schema provides

a niche o r sloG f o r cer ta in t ex t information.

InformaGion tha t f i t s i n t o the readers schema is

readi ly learned,

Making inf c m n t i a l elaborations tha t f i l l i n gaps

i n Kegsages: "No t ex t is completely expl ic i t "

A readerus schema provides the basis fo r making

inf sreacsea that go beyond the inf orma'cion l i t e r a l l y

s ta ted i n t h e text.

Allouating actention to important cext elements :

Ib is hypo~hesised tha t sk i l l ed readers use

importance as one bas is f o r a l locat ing cognitive

resources t h a t is f o r deciding where t o pay close

a t cention,

Searching memory i n an orderly f aahion: A schema

can guide the reader t o ident i fy the types of

12

information =hat need be r e c a l l e d ,

Eorwulat ' in~~; a sumr~&ry of infornabion: Since schema

c o n ~ a i n s cri~eria of importance i b en aoles the

reader t o praduce sumi,laries Lhet inc lude s i g n i f i c a n t

propos i t ions and omi b t r i v i a l ones,

Making inferences tihat can enable one t o cons t ruc t

an o r i g i n a l message desp i t e having f o r g o t ten some

of che d e t a i l s ,

It i s obvious from Ghe above l i s t t h a t knowledge

possessed by i;he l e a r n e r has pervassive e f f e c t s on c;ne

performance i n reading- Acsivating appropriabe 'Knowledge

i s use fu l because i s i s a fundamenbal aspeci; of tne ac t

o f coaprehending and remembering. Brandsf ord (19'74)-

When some sbudents fa i l , i r ; is not 'because they have

some inherent comprehension o r memory d e f i c i t bui; because ' sheg lack o r f a i l t o acbivake the background knowledge

presupposed by a message o r a t e x t , Phe background

knowledge d e f i c i ~ may be a t two 1ev:;ls: bhe first, no

information about a concept, secondly i n s u f f i c i e n t

infornabion about a concept, dhe ques t i on of what it

means f o r ch i ld ren t o be familiar with the words used

i n a scory is bherefom more complicated chan mighb be

sr.p,xirent a t first glance,

S t r a t e g i c knowledge, factual knowledge and

metacognieive have been w e a m Brown, Compone and Day (1980)

df s Linguish between import an c types of knowledge,

S t r a t e g i c knowledge r e f e r t o m l e s , procedures, t r i c k s ,

and r o u ~ i n e s which are t h e ~ o o l s f o r efficient learn ing .

Fac tua l -knowledge i s in fomna~ion readers have about

subject under cons idera t ion as well as t h e i r genera l

knowledge o 1: he work, I5etacognicive knowledge r e f e r s

G O information that l e a r n e r s have about t h e i r nwn

knowledge base and tile ask demands Ghey a r e facing.

2he e f f e c t s of word knowledge cannot e a s i l y be

sepa ra ted from e f f e c t i v e v a r i a b l e s such as i n t e r w i; md

mo~ivab ion- Hi& i n t e r e s t i n a top ic means g r e a t e r

knowledge abou; a Gopic, Osako and Anderson (7983).

Among sl;udenes who d id well on reading tests achievement,

a tb i tude anti opporbunicies 50 read appeared naturally

G O r e i n f o r c e one m o t h e r ,

I'he Tal;um and msence of che Reading S k i l l - ..----

ileading is the crux of learning. I f a c h i l d cannot

read, he cannoG funct ion e f f e c t i v e l y i n t h e world of

he; school , Near12 a l l information a v a i l a b l e i n s o c i e t y

~ o d a y is scored i n prinGed forms. Pi . ; i s s t o r e of

knowleage c m m l y be opened by one key and chat is

reading, Longe (1979) pointed ouL cha: reading i s a

s p e c i a l i s e d and complex s k i l l involving a number of more

general. o r l e s s e r &ills. Prie first of the s k i l l s is

the recogniiiion of ink marka on a page, Reading at

t h i ~ acage i s elementary and as bhe cotal reading s k i l l

develops his e1emen.b of i G becomes mechanical,

Phe second of Ghe general s k i l l s is t h e a b i l i t y t o

c o r r e l a c e kne pat;&wned shapes o r i n k marks on paper

w i ~ n :Language, Learning t o read cannot t aka p lace

wi.chouc language o r a& leaat t h e capaciby for langclage

i n c e r t a i n s p e c i a l cases. ?he c o r m l a t i o n involved he re

the re fo re , i s between elements of the pacbern on paper

and eLements of t h e language, t h a t is, formal l ingl l i s ' t i c

elemenss. Pheae eiernencs may be complex groups of

sounds which nay be called wwordsfl, "phrases" o r even

"sentenceaU o r h e y may be segment; of sounds which may

be called Hphonsmeo".

Redera who l e a r n by letGer-sound correspondence

are learning by a phonic method while those who l e a r n

t o correlate t;he complete groups with patterns on paper

by "look and sayn method, Bobh kinds of s k i l l s a r e a

p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r satisf a c t o r g performance i n the t o t a l

reading s k i l l fo r example, zeading aloud depends t o

some extent on the development of the phonic s k i l l w h i l e

r ead ing speedAegends cons iderably on t h e look m& say.

dhe ~nird general skill is p u r e l y an intellectual

one, Phis i s the ability t o identify ink marke on tihe

paper by way of h e f o r a a l elements of language,

For this s k i l l we have as i t were Ghree components,

Phe essence of t h e reading s k i l l is the re fo re the

transforming of t h e v i s u a l r ep resen ta t ion of language

i n t o meaning,

Various Concepts of t h e Perm Reading

dhe term "reading" has var ious p o s s i b l e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s o

IG may mean readin& aloud as against reading s i l e n t l y ,

Reading aloud is an o r a l ma t t e r and it cannot be done

properly with a t e x t which i s unfami l ia r t o s tuden t s

otherwise i t w i l l be tantamount t o barking a t print,

S i l e n t reading is obviously 'she g r e a t e s t mount of reading

thaG i s done i n t h e world todey, Phe na tu re of the

s i l e n ~ reading s k i l l i s no t uniform, Some of the

i m p o r t m t uses of s i l e n t reading include:

do survey mate r i a l t o be s tudied;

do skim e s p e c i a l l y when one i tem i s being sought

from a mass of information;

do gain s u p e r f i c i a l comprehension - l i k e reading

f o r pleasure ;

I'o scudy i n aome detail kho oontent of what is read;

10 s cudy the languege i n which t h e t e x t is w r i t t e n

as i n l i t e r a r y criticism, l h e degree of understanding

that is comprehension inc reases ss w e progress

from a - e.

33xtensive and Intensive Re adine;

Of the five kinds of reading s k i l l s - survey

reeding, skimming, sugerf i c i a l reading, content study

reading and l h g u i s t i c shdy reading, the f i r s t three

a re grouped under extensive reading, ?he object of

such reailinb is t o cover the greatest possible time,

1.5 is by engaging i n extensive reading t h a t the volume

of pract ice needed f o r faster reading can be achieved,

Intensive reading is conoemed wlth Ghe study of those

feiicures of language s p 5 a c t i c a l md lexical. which a

reader d.ra;:;s on i n w d e r %o dscode messages. >----

Causes of breakdown i n reading comprehension

Smith (1971) defines comprehension as the acquisi tion

of information about meaning o r extraction of meaning

from GexG, H i l l (1967:252) ident i f ied some causes of ,

comprehension breakdown as folluws :

1, Failure of the student t o ident i fy o r recokmise

black narks property.

2, i2eader1s f ailurr; t o recognise a pa r t i cu lz r l ex ica l

which ex i s t between lexical units.

4. klailure of the reader t o grasp an aachuzts a t t i tude

60 'his writing-

5 . Compt~ts?~ension could break down through the i n o b i l i tp

o.f the r e ~ d ~ : ~ 30 spnl? l o g i c a l prfncicles a l e ~ u n c e l y ,

P h e s ~ s r o b l l m s can be hmdled i t ceachers and

~Gudents can adopu good raadiny scrstcci~s iq

teschi.nf; rind leerning readin!' coroprehevsion

Gurreg (1':65).

the :<earling Coapreh~rsicjn S k i l l s - ~ o s a i b l y Ghe -ost cric ics l factor af feo tint

coqprehension i s the reader rather than the passqge ,

l'abachnick (1969~149) has observ.:d c h a t "a c r i t i c a l

not iceable d i f f e r ~ n c e i n s ~ u d e n t s in L h p i ~ a h i l i c p t o

more memin;ful, Lonbc (1969) i5 n* Chn opinion t h a t

It is not n macver o f will-power b\iG i; is a 2 n l ? 50

concentro. ie i!' n s t u d m t uses an efficienk studv Gechnicrue,

C33R. Chis s,ymbol stnnda f o r Survey, "uesLion, Pen:,

ReciSe an3 ?view. hikh t5is s k i l l the sbudcnt's wnrk

more effectivc?lg :hen sG1idy.i.n~ an Lheir own. It mnkea

the reader nose ective rather than passive i n hfs r a 4 i n g .

1; also increases concmhst ion and r e n e n h r i n g ,

Many w ~ i c e r s such as Pabachnic (1979), Longe (1979)

Oba (1990) saw the S33R technique as an e f f i c i e n t

s cra tegy f o r teachinc reading comprehension- Ubahakwe('I979)

a l s o saw this method as very e f f e c t i v e amd a very i m p o r t ~ n t

asnei; f o r any one who in tends t o venture i n t o any kind

of higher i n s t i t u t i o n , F ry (19W) a l s o demonstrated t h o t

s u c : ~ a method can be develosed s o t h a t the readini.; speed

f o r reasonable d e t a i l e d knowledge of content of a book

can be rnisod, He a l s o i d e n t i f i e d t h a t 8Q3R method

encourages s tuden t s t o r e l a t e previous knowledge and

experi.:nce 60 what t h e y a r e going t o read and makes

readinl; an a c ~ i v e and purposeful sea rch f o r answers,

Headini: Problems i n T i g e r i a

Every c h i l d would l i k e t o read well but c h i l d r e n

who meet with f a i l u r e i~ school may be i r a t t e n t i v e in

c l a s s , be e s s i l p d i s t r ac%ed , e x h i b i t misbehaviour and

L may be u n w i l l i n y t o bry, According t o Hake (1969) poor

r e a d e r s exhibii; more nngat ive d e s i r e s and more rnslsdjustive

c l assroom behaviou r than good readers , reachers who

do no t unders tmd these ch i ld ren .nay have confrov bations

with them which w i l l f u r t h e r coap l i ca te the reading

problem,

L i t e r a h r e c i t e d revea l t h a t P ige r i an s tudenss i n

secondary schocls m d u n i v e r s i t y undergrarlua bos g e n e r a l l y

19

have reading problems, Dur'ojaiye (1981). Obah (?9)0),

Some of such problems a re associa ted w i t h speed,

compreh~nsion, poor vocabulary and bad readinkp tendencies,

Johnson (1970) i d e n t i f i e d the m a j o ~ causes of reading

problem i n %-ria a s : beacher q u a l i f i c a t i o n , mother

vongue f a c t o r , teaching method, l ack of adequate teaching

m a t e r i a l s , word recol;7liLion and sentence s t r u c t u r e ,

It i s a known fact t h a t the more q u a l i f i e d bhe teacher

the more l i k e l i h o o d they w i l l d i s p l a y t h e i r conpetences

i n teaching, IP t h e Vakional P o l i c y i n Education (1981:3)

i G i s s t a t e d t h a t no e d u c ~ t i o n a l s tandard of any na t ion

can r i s e above the q u a l i t y of the teachers , P h i s means

t h a t f o r good reading t o be achieved i n schools , t e a c h e r s

must be ava i l ab le - Durojaiye (1981) explai.nod c h i s f a c t

even more when he argued t h a t f o r e f f e c t i v e teaching t o

be done by a teacher he should have among o t h e r q u a l i t i e s - prof 'essional c o q e t e n c e i n s t i m u l a t i l g and guid inc i n s i g h t

i n t o growth pabcern of ch i ld ren , wholesome p e r s o n a l i t y

c h a r a c t e r i s t i c , emocional sGab: l i ty and a ,vood d i s s o s i t i o n ,

According GO him, these c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a re acquired dur ing

his profess iona l t r a i n i n g which nhould prepare him with

c e r t a i n s k i l l s , h a b i t s , d i s c i p l i n e s t h a t r e q u i r e him t o

e f f e c t i v e l y play h i s r o l e as a tescher , Phis i s put

more a p t l y by Durkin (1970:60) when she etabed that

anything tihat makes a teacher nose knowledgeable rlnd

e n t h u s i a s t i c w i l l have a positive e f f e c t on t h e outcome

of h i s i n s ~ r u c t i o n . flccording t o her no method no

mat ier how s c i m t i f i c a 1 l ; g worked out amd no mat t e r how

c a r e f u l l v assembled and handsomely paoksged can take

che p lace o f a t e a c h e r who i s hobh eager avd able t o

succeed. 0 je (1991) ind ica ted t h a t f o r t h e achievement

of the goal of educat ing a l l by the year 2000 t h e most

important issue is t h e quant i tab ive implementation t o

incl.ude teaching p e r ;armel, hfrae2.md ture and adequate

funding-

L'he mozher tongue f a c t o r has been one of t h e major

problems of reading i n V i ger ia . Any s tuden t l e s r n i n g

a language of another c u l t u r a l background w i l l f i n d that

t h e s t r u c t u r e s of h i s own mother tongue w i l l continue

* t o ince r fe re , It is because of t n i s that Garvie (1976)

warned t eachers concerned with the teaching of t h i s t o

be csreful. He saw language l e a r n i n g as a d i f f i c u l t

t a s k raqy i r ing t h e he lp of s k i l l e d techniques w?-Ach w i l l

he lp children- Phe c u l t u r a l environment; i n which a ch i ld

l ives and grows cannot e a s i l y be disp laced from his

ment a1 construot and the mother Gangue is indeed p a r t

of the environment, F i e (1948:20), I n fast the mother

tongue and cul turn are i n t r i c a t e l y inl;erwoven,

Fuenzalida (1949:446) supported by exper t s such as

Herkovits (IW) , MacGinite (1969) and Glads cone (1969)

a l l agree on t h i s i s s u e t 'ha t i n educction, the mother

Gongue i s of c r u c i a l importance s i n c e it fu rn i shes one

with the c a t e g o r i e s with which experiences are expressed,

It equips one with concepts from which one b u i l d s new

c r e a t i o n s of thought and t h e s i g n a l with which one can

d i r e c t onese l f - With such support one can conf iden t ly

say bh3.t nother tongue r e f l e c t s t h e ind iv idua l ' s c u l t u r e

and perxona1it;y. One can then begin to apprec ia te +;he

problems t h a t face s t u d e ~ t s i n a second l a n g u q p s i t u a t i o n -

.She problem of having t o t r a p s l a t e what one mads i n t o

ones rnoth~er tongue f o r b e t Ler comprehension w i l l s u r e l y

r e t a r d reading speed, Rnodim and Azuinye (1983) fouvd

out t h a t a p o d number of j m i o r secondary school s t u d e n t s

could not express themselves c l e a r l g w%ile answering

quest ions, i h e i n a b i l i t y Go express p r e c i s e l y what they

had i n mind was as a r e s u l t of t h e sentence s t r u c t u r e

of t h e mo cher t o n e e in te r fe r ing ; with the t a r g e t language,

Hence Johnson ('l976), s a w t h e language experience method

a s che moss s u i t a b l e t o t h e Figerian c h i l d because i t

f i t s n i c e l y with t h e strengths and t r a d i t i o n s of Yigerian

cul'cure, He a l s o observed t h a t a major problem be ing

faced b y schools i n FTigeria i s l ack of l i n g u i s t i c a l l y and

oalcurally s u i t a b l e m a t e r i a l s f o r reading i n s t r u c t i o n

i n s p i t e of t h e fact that t h e r e a r e e x c e l l e n t l y made

series based on Wigeritln settint:;, cua60ns and costumes,

According to MacMillan ('1972) and Paiwo (1972) the

obvious problem i s that they a r e produced i n Rnglish.

English as a second language c r e a t e s more problem for

t he F ige r i an c h i l d than would normally be ex-peri-enced

by the native user , I n recognit ion of th is f a c t

William (1981 : 4-8) sa id :

In many mspects! foreign end secortd languepe use r s are aG a disadvantage compared t o the first lanpymge readers . Second 2sng1sge users l s c k experience i n the aommunicative functioning of the lanmage as i t is spoken. They d o not have the frame of reference which enable the first language reader t o i n f e r meaning from those aspects of corn!nunicabion wllich are c u l Lure dependent and whi oh acquire u l t i m e t s acquaintance with the written communication Of t h e t a r g e t language.

. I n a n u ~ s h o l l reading problems l i k e o t h e r laryuage

problems m e l i k e l y 6 0 be more pronounced i n a secovd

language s ibua t ion ,

2he teaching method used i n Wigeria is one of the

major problems of reading comprehension, There are many

' ways of teaching reading comprehension but t h e method

adopted by any t e a c h e r e b u k l be made interesting enough

f o r the s tudents . Zohnson (1m> stat'ed t h a t for years

there has been arguments m g a r d i n ~ the m e t t;~ropriate

23 way of teaching chi ldren to read, He sGated t h a t

neiLher the phonic method nor the whole word a;:proach

i s s u i t a b l e f o r tha F7it;erian s icuabion hmce he pos tu la ted

r;he b n i r d approach of teaching reading which he c a l l e d

Che language experience me~hod, It i s the duty of teachers

4 coadop;goodsGral ;eg ieo fo rc f fecc ivcnes t : . Goodman(1970)

is of the opinion Lhat if teachers are more smabhetic,

? 9 may cio better i n reading and w i l l be mobivated t o change rl '1 o r iuiprove poor concepts,

i mobher problem of reading i n P ige r i an schools is

l a c k of adequace mate r i a l s , Many schools do not have

he equipment t o teacn reading e f f e c t i v e l y , I n most

schools 1;here are no l i ~ h t s , no l i b r a r i e s and no good

bextbooks f o r reading, Light , movable . furni ture , magazine

' cuttin,%, wel l stocked l i b r a r y o r book corner , tapes

and records , cexb'uooks - dl chese a r e e s s e n ~ i a l f o r

Ghe development of readin[; s k i l l s . But they are r a r e l y

found. Johnson (1970) observed t h a t a n a j o r problem is

lack of sui able m a t e r i a l s f o r readinb i n s Lruc t ion ,

RecenG s6uaieu have shown Ghat a knowledge of l e t t e r

names i s a good i n d i c a t o r of success i n l e a r n i n g t o read,

ihe p a g i l who has learned t o a s s o c i a t e a name with a

letter al ready learned a b a s i c red in^ s k i l l ,

Re has learned how t o discriminace one v i sua l form

from moGher and has associated a sound and cmscquerL1-p

a nme and meanins with that symbol. Chis s u y o r t s the

findinkg of Larson (1979) t h a t insGructiona1 resnarch

in reading has cenl;red w o n trlc processes involved in

wor.3 r e c o p i t i o n . One reasm f o r Ghis is that r ead ing

is seen - s a bottom-up process, ,jccordinc ;o C S i s view,

p a c e s a i ~ r ; which in burn begin with letter faaturos

which iive r i se Go l e t t e r mcognit ion i n turn leads 50

worn reco@Lior. Woda arl then recorded t o inner

speech frum xhich the reader dorive6 meaning, much che

same is done when l i s k e n i n g La spoken language.

Co~~prehensian is bnkrn i;o be rach+:r uutomatic outcone

of accuracs word recognition. I'he a b i l i t y 50 recognise

words quick ly md accurabely ia fun(;-amen t sl to succpss

' in reading. In order Go be able to recopise words fast

and acnieve m n x i m u m comprehension, 3 reader must have

co acquire a large srock o f sigh6 wortis, Chcse are

l an~uage c!uout;h the st;ag,es provides fluency, It can

be observed chae a reader starbs from word recoe;ni~ion

and improves his readin .' s k i l l . Vben a p u p i l has b u i l ~

up h i s l eve l of word recogni~ion co a saLisfactnry level

he begins Go anjoy readin!.;. Re reads f o r pleasure

because he is hen able t o abtack new words and f ind

zhe ir meanings, 2uis he dues by usinti; any of the at6ack

Gechniques which are r e l a t ed t o word recogni Lion.

1,ie recowition of words has been a r e a d l n ~ problern i n

Nigeria b e c a v s ~ aktdenca do not have many s ight words

lox words they could recognise a t s ight . Garvie (1976)

hss i den t i f i ed Chat the a b i l i t y t o recognise words quickly

and accurately is fundamenbal 60 success in reading.

. Po achieve combination of f ask reco,gnition and maximum

comprehension a reader must possess a vast stock of

s igh6 words.

It is not enough however, tie recognise independent

words i n sentences for t h e meaning of words do change

w i 6 h t h e i r usage i n sentences. Phis sGatmen't was

t e in f orced by Oluikpe (1976: 16) t h a t recoLni'i;ion of

sencence ss ruc ture is fundamental t o comprehension and

G ha'G there are s truc c ura l rela ' t ionships between words

i n a s enknce which are indispensable to making up the

meanin& of Ghe whole. A reader would only unders band

what he nas read because he can aabama~ica l ly i den t i fy

u n i t s of meaning i n a senbence.

Studies on Reading Comprehension

American research has shown tha't we conLribute t o

che improvement of Lhs study skills by teaching method

of both direct and indirect; kinds, In &he direct

approach of ~ e ~ c h i n g read in^ comrehension, i t is

important GO implant i n the szudent )s mind aG che bq;inning

che idea Chat he is neekin{; mean in^ tmd not merely words.

Reviewing the work dono in d he united States of America

on t ha i n f l u e ~ c e of reauing inceres c on comprehension,

Fader and Mcqeil (1968), Asher (1980) denonstrated chat

cherc is a link between h i g h interne2 end high compre-

hension. SGudies in Figeria by James and Odejide (1977)

James and Fe Luga (?979), MohawWd (1-31, Emenyemu (1983) , a &im (4984). Ghendo (1984). Igwe (f984) soppol-b the

tl.L).~.C f ind inm.

On the issue of sex difference, cross cultural

E; tudents have helped GO c l a r i f y and add, coherence t o

the cul t u r a l eociabal explanation for disarepnncies

beGween melc and fernole in reading achievemenb, Steiner

and Newman (lc)78), Holbrook (q988) found ouc thnk girls

performed bezcer than boys in rexiingo Downing (l9?3),

Gross (1970) found o s t that there are no differ. .nces .

C n i l e FresLon (l%2), Johnson (q973) found oub chat in

England, F T i ~ e r i a , India and Germany, boys surpassed

girls i n reading perf ormoncc.

,kcording 20 Olson ana Ames (1972) a person can see

2 whole page of p r i n t a6 a glence. &is doas not mean

he can coapren2nG the whole paGe a t the same time,

However a sGudent who i s readins a material for

comprehension and sGudy purposes a t the r a t e of 250-300 - N O ~ S per arinuc;e is probably reading qui te e f f i c i e n t l g ,

StudanGs who read sb 800 words per minute are not reading

but skimming, i!hey w e skimming t o v e r i f y what t h e i r

previous experience t e l l s them is i n t h e p a r t i c u l a r

coccenb, they are reading. When they come t o new mater ia l

thut m u ~ b be & d i e d they must; elow down. Strang (1967).

Jordan (1974) pointed ouC t h a t comprehension must surely

be the major f u Z o r debermining ~8eading speed, Shores

and i3usbauds ('l350) main ~ a i n e d that with d i f f i c u l t

materitll Ghere is l i t t l e re la t ionahip or even a negative

rdlal;ionship between speed i n reading and com~rehenaion,

readin6 depenljtrs on Lha r a t e of' comprehension, I n o ther

words, i f a paasage is simple, t he student h i l l r eak faster

but che s p e d w i l l l essen when the passage gets more

h i f f i c ~ l s ,

~ c c o r d f n g co maw and Maw ('l962) the re is a prime

motivation f o r reading aC any age, Unless suppressed,

cur ios icy pers i s Gs throughout l i f e and f r e q u e ~ bly tu rns

a person GO read things whicn o f f e r wide oppor tuni t ies

60 s a c i s f y h i s mood of inquiry. I n che Maw anti Maw

s t u d y where i n G e l ~ i g e n c e was key; conscant, c h i l d r e n

who wem raced by Gheir teacher as navink; a high degree

of c u r i o s i c y tended t o sense ohe meaning of sentences

more accurabsly Ghan those whose c u r i o s i c y w a s r a t e d

as low. I n Gregory (1965) sLudy of c h i l d r e n 8 Lo 10

y e a r s o ld , anxiety and r e s t l e s s n e s s appeared t o be - con ~ r i b u t i n g causes of readini; f a i l u r e . Chalman (1939:64)

sugges Ged bhree p r i n c i p a l ways of accounting for

r e l a c i o n s h i p between emo t i o r a l d i f f i c u l t i e s and reading

problems.

'I. Unfawurable condi t ions c w s e reading 'h i lu re and

conseguen 1; emotional problems. Unf avourd.de home

and school condi t ions may Ave r i s e t o an i n i b i a l

readlnt d i f f i c u l t y which soon begins to have

smo Sional repercussions.

2. I n sone s i ~ u a t i o n s , i m e r c o n f l i c t s and emoi;iond

i m 1;abili t y may prevent an i nd iv idua l from

concen t ra t ing on t h e reading process. He may nob

be access ib le 60 in s t2uc t ions i n reading u n t i l t h e

emosional block hae been r e m d . Resiutarrce t o

reading nay be a means of expressing h o s t i l i t y

dowarda someone In the environmen=.

3. ReadLn,: disability and emotional problems usually

have a reciprocal relacion. dhere i~ a circular

process.

Emol;ional factors fin Bending diff ic i : lbies

Increased reading ~ x i c t y tmd f u r t h e r a i f f i c d cy

' E p h r ~ r ~ ('1'353j pointed, cruG chac fears such aa fears about

s c k o l work, fears of real or iaagined inadequacies,

anxie cy about rnis~ekes, fears of fa i lure i n hebem-sexual

edJustnent;, fear connected with f,mily relationahfns

contribuGe Go readin& ymblems. Phe feerful indiviAua1

may be witharem and be unable bo concentrate. On the

, other hand he indfvf dual may reseni; authority and reowt

Lo vmdnlfsrn. Such aonduc~ may deprcse t h e sLudenkc6

readin,; achievement or agt;ravate existing readf ng

dif ricul ~ i e e . Chdlman ('l939), Ephron (lg53), m a w and

Kaw (4962), Gregory (q965) scudied the effecc of anxiety

c u r i o s i ~ g and fear on readin6 comprehension, Trom t h e i r

findings one undemcsnds thaC anxiety, fear and

unfavourable home md ~ c h o o l oondicions dejzass reading

m i l i c y while curiaaity iffipmvee reading abi l i ty ,

Olson and Amex (1972) asserted that t h e adolescents

leadin& in.ceres c s may noc necessarily correspond w i Lh

t h e i r l i f e in t e res t s , Accordin& Go them, a student m a y

be interested i n baseball or electronics but may not be

f n terested i n reading abouc them, Vaughn (1963) conducted

a s ~ u d y on read in^ i n t e r e s t s wi th eighth grade students,

Phe subJecks who were boys and g i r l s were divided i n t o

three SnGallec ~ u a l groups - bright, average, dul l ,

Vaughn noted Ghat bright g i r l s chose books re la ted to

home and. school ma'ccrids, mysteries, adventure, while

average girls showed preference f o r hone and school

s Gories, novels and poetry, Dull g i r l s chose f a i r y t a l e s

a d de ~ e c t i v e s cories, Bright boya chose adven kurs

s t o r i e s , invention, science materials, average boys c3ose

iie cective s t o r i e s , advenhre and his tory materials,

D u l l 'boys chose detective s to r i e s , biographies and f a i r y

b d e s . Olson and Kosen (1967) investigated reading

i n te res c of Negro a d Caucasian ninth grade students-

ihey discovered tha t black s ~ u d e n t s appear to have strong

~ h o i c e s f o r reading currant materials such a newspapers

and magazines and stronger mading i n t e r e s t s i n such

t opica a s social relakione, romance, teenage pmblems,

humour and aocupaGian are- than whf bes , Ihe hlack

s r'udenk tended G O r a t e magazines reflectink3 male and

female intaresta in cheir l e a s t l i ked category while

t h e white sfudenca did not . Causaseian ahdent s least

like books r e l a t ed Go hobbies and sports. From the

f ind ings of Vaughn (l963), Olson and Hosen (l967), Olson

and Ames {3w2), Jordan (1974) i t was nobed t h a t i n t e r e s t

affects the reading a b i l i t y of an individual ,

Amording t o Olson and Ames (1972) reading a b i l i t y

and intelligence have much in common, Obon and Ames

(1972) asserted that a cor re la t ion of 0.50 t o 0.80

between in te l l igence t e s t and reading a b i l i t y a re

freqiiencly reported. NcKillop and Yolye (1962) worked

on reauin, d i f f i c u l s i e s of undeqyaduates University of

Ibadan and discovered t h a ~ t h e s tudents have problem

oS re adin g speed and warprehension . .?hey concluded t h a t

tyi.icril s ~ u d e n t s needed help i n both speed and

comprehension. >he f indings of McKillop and Yolye were

p a r t i a l l y confirmed by Chapman (1950). Her repor t showed

thal; University of Ibadan s h d e n l-s compared f avourably

w i ~h Aua bra l im s tudents i n vocabulary bul; were i n f e r i o r

t o NUS t rabian a Cudencs i n comprehension. Further analys is

however revealed tihat i n s p i t e of t h e i r slow speed i n

comprehension, the Nigerian s tuden G s were on t h e average

50 percenr; correc2; while the Ausbralian were 73% cor rec t

i n comprehension best. Unoh (19'72) ca r r i ed out another

research on reading d i f f i c u l t i e s of Nigerian students ,

L i ~ e Chapman and NcKillop, his work was done i n the

Universi ty of Ibadan, He concluded that; inc idents of

reading d i f f i c u l t i e s were high i n t h e population,

Speed of reading comprehension was one of the major

d i f l ' i cu lc ies i den t i f i ed , He a l s o found ou t that i n

Germs of sex the incidence of reading d i f f i c u l t y was

nibher among g i r l s than boys.

&skey (1973) emphasised the importance of comprehension

by poincing our; that; t h e student who speaks English

language fluently but cannoG read o r write well is much

more l i k e l y to f i n d himself i n mouble bhan the student

who speaks with a heavy foreign accent but understand8

what ne reads and wri tes acceptable English, A number of

f a c t o r s are l i k e l y to affecc t he speed md oomprahensim

of tile Rigerian chi ld , According to Montgomery (1986)

cha y r i ~ a r y school l ea rne r is of ten at such an elementary

s t age i n reading t h a t he reads out aloud out of choice.

He may never have been encouraged G O read si lenkly.

He aag move hia l i p s which slows h i m down, Pollowing the

grinti with Ghe f i n g e r under t h e l i n e has t h e same e f f e c t

and ~o does the prac t ice of moving the head from s i d e

co side while reading. Phis acauffiulation Of faults, lack

of necessary s k i l l s and impoverished a t t i t u d e t o reading

is very

s Ludenc

rebardin; in view of. w h a t is expected of the

bowh dur ing h i s sccodary education and afterwards

U G U n i v e r ~ i L?. Ken tr-*ornery concluded by s z f l n ~ 'Ghat the

ochlevernen G of t tle reo..linc, standard scated aS.~tc: .lepcrds

vergt mcA upon the romat ion o f [l;ood readin - habits in

;he e a r l y years o f Ghe sccondury school ,

Summary of Literature Review

h e review of related l i b e r s t u r n was csrried out

, under f ive subheadings newly r- the r e a d i n g process,

Lhe nature and ewence of the reading s k i l l , the reading

comprehension skill., read in^ problems in ?Tigerin, Y t;uciies

on madin t . :he readin, process obherwiso known as

schema theory is explored, 2he theory idenGif i e d

comprehension a s a complex in terac t ive proccss ;hat i s

influenced by a nurnber of' faccors such as reader, purpose,

f amiliari~y of LekG , interes G, motivation and complexi Ly

of.' t e x t . Lckeaa theory also suwests t h a c mernoq f o r

information f i G 8 w i t h the ex i s t ing knawlcdgc structure,

In he second seccion, the Q 3 R meb'nod of teaching reading

and i GS importance were discussed.

I'he t.iird secLion of thel review was on the na ture

an3 esserce of che read in^ skill. It looked at the

various skills and corrcepts of reading, It a l s o looked at

causes of breakdown in rleacling comprehension, In the

f o u r t h sect5an che problems of reading i n Nigeria

were discussed. These problems include the mother tongue

f a c t o r , feaching metnod, t eacher q u a l i f i c a t i o n , teaching

l e a r n i n g mate r i a l s , word recognition and s e n t e r s e

scruocure. Phe f i f t h s e c t i o n of the review was on the

r e sea rch works done on reading comprehension. Many s t u d i e s

have been done i n his a rea wibh the r e s u l t t h a t h igh

i n t e r ~ s t i n readinL r e s n l t s i n high comprehension,

compreuension determines the reading speed, anxie ty and

f e a r appear t o be contributing fac 'sors Lo reading f a i l u r e

while c u r i o s i t y improves reading ability. On the i s s u e

of sex difference, r e sea rch has found our; t h a t i n some

countries girls performed better thm boys while boys

surpass g i r l s i n some count r ies .

CHAPI'ZR l?KRI;=E

RESEARCH MrnlHODOLOGY

Ehis is a sbucly of the effectis of S@R method of

teaching reading comprehension on the performance of

secon&ary school. ~tv.dcncs, I'he SQ3R is a reading teahnique

that aids retention agd r eca l l , I n this chapter 'the

following issues were discussed namely: the research

design, area of the study, population, leanple and sampling

tzchnique, ins trumentation, validity and r e l i a b i l i by of

instrumenl', method of da ta collection and method of

daGa anultvsis,

Research Design

2he desip;n of c h e s tudy is quasi experimental,

l h i s is because there is no randomization of subaects,

r a the r intac't c lasses a re used, The use of in tac t

classes is t o eliminate disruption of normal c l a s s

accivicies during the experiment, Under the quasi

experimental design, a pre-tes b post-test c o n ~ r o l group

was used as shown i n f i g 1,

Fig 1

gig, 1 shows 'char; there were kwo groups of subjects

selected according t o t h e i r classes, Phe SQ3R method

was used t o ceach bhe first group and t h i s group served

- as the experimental group, 2he second group was taught

reading comprehension w i t h c u ~ 6he method md ic served

PO -the c o n t r o l group. A pre- tes t was administered t o

b o ~ h groups before he e x p e r i m e c ~ and a pos t - tes t was

administered a f t e r the treatment. fhe study involved

t he manipulation of independent v a r i a b l e s ; meehod and

l o c a t i o n on a dependent v a r i a b l e s budents ' performance.

Area of Study

Jhe a r e a of s tudy is Owerri zone of Zmo S t a t e ,

O ~ e r r i education zone is one of the th ree z o n a i n Imo

i j ~ a t e . i'he zone was s e l e c t e d because i't is the s e a t of

governen5 and bhe l a r g e s t of the t h r e e education zones

and would provide more data on the Gopic of sGudy,

PopulaGion of Ghe Ssudg:

ihe p o p u l a ~ i o n of che study w e r e a l l t h e s e c o n d ~ r y

school swiencs i n Ehe j un io r secondary schools i n O w e r r i

educat ion zone- 2he jun io r secondary school 3 (JS 3)

was chosen because i G i s t h e l a s ~ c l a s s i n t h e Jun io r

secondary school and the s tudenbs have been exposed t o

reading comprehension i n t h e i r b h g l i s h language curriculum,

Sample and Sampling Yechnique

S t r a t i f i e d sampling technique was used 60 s e l e c t

two secondary schools , hach one r e p r e s e n t s urban and

37

rural population reepecbively. A t o t a l of 200 students

were used, A toQal number of 100 students were selected

from each school,

Instrument at ion

Jhe inscmunents f o r t h i s study were the lesson no'be

md zhe readins comprehension tests, Phe passage

Hihe I n i ~ i a c i o n " was selected from the students' reading

cexc, I'he Intensive Ebglish f o r Junior Secondary School

Book 3, dhe adminisbrabion of. che t e s t was carried out

by che researcher with the co-operation of t h e c lass

teachers, It was necessary G O e s tab l i sh rai)::ort wish

the students as this helped Ghem t o relax, I'he s ~ u d e n t s

were baughc and were tested, Phe t e s t was administered

a f t e r Ghe Greatmen C.

I'he reading paasage used i n the t e s ~ was presented

L O Ghree Lnglish teachers i n t;he researcherts school

and a lec turer i n Ghe Department of English a t Alvan

Ikoku College of Mucation Owerri who approved of i t

as being accegcable,

Reliabil iky of Instrument

Phe teal; item was administered t o a group of 50

s'cudenda in each of the two schools in JaSmS t h e who

were not GO be used i n che experiment and bhe r e s u l t s

were col1ect;ed and che cesc re tes t meth nd was used f o

e s ~ a b l i s h r e l i a b i l i ~ y , l h e zeliabillcy index m s 0.9,

Plethod of Data Collection

I'ne rusearcilttr wenC personally Go $he schools Go

adminisksr the i n s c ~ w m e n t for Ghe study, Phe experimental

group was taught reading comprehension using SQ3R mechod

f o r & period of one monGh, POUP lessons Gn comprehension

were cove~wii wibhir the monch, 2he sGudenca wero l a t e r

~ i v e n a comprehension passage anil adiced Go use the

tec'mique i;o atl;ack Ghe passage. On che ochcr hrind, t h e

control group was Caught wittlout the mechod. and che

same teat; was tdminist;ereA t o t:hem,

Moi'hod of Data Analysis

2ht: data generated. ic this study were anal.jrsed t o

~ e s t the hypochasfs and answer Lhe research questions.

Phe research ques Lions were Lvlswered using means md

s Landard deviaci on while t h e hypotheses were t es ced

us ing an n l y s i s of Covariance (AFCOYA),

CSAP2ER FOUR

DAPA AIBALYSIS

I n t h i s chapter , t h e r e sea rcher p r e s e n t s t h e r e s u l t s

of fhe analysis of d a t a based on t h e two resea rch

questions end two hypobheses t h a t guided the s tudy,

'I'ables showing a e t a i l s of data c o l l e c t e d on which a l l

a n a l y s i s were based are shown i n appendix C.

Research gues bions

&ese=ch ;juestion 1:

How does ;he p e r f o m a c e of s tuden t s %aught reading

comprehension us it^^; S@R eompare with the performance

of Ghose taught without t h e ~ e t h o d ?

i'he resea rcher used means a ~ d s tandard devia t ions

i n answering this research quest ions, Phe d i f f e r e n c e s

i n G a t : aean parformances of t h e two groups f r o m both

pre-tes c and yost-zest scores were computed t o r ep resen t

Gna achieuernen~ gain8 obcetined from the two methods,

2he r e s u l s s obtained from the a n a l y s i s of d a t a are

sumuarised i n khe t a b l e below,

Pable I: Jhis t a b l e shows bhe d i f f e r e n c e between

bhe mean performance of s t u d e n t s taughc

reading comprehension w i t h S@R me thod

and Ghose taughb without i t ,

I Control

Phe t a b l e zbove r e v e a l s mean achievement gain of

3 - 8 5 f o r the exgerimental group t h a ~ is thoae taught

with the SQ3R method and 0.53 f o r t h e c o n t r o l group where

Ghe SQ3R me hod was no t used. On the other hand,

achievemenl; rose from 57.50 bo 85.33 f o r the experimenbal

group while i n the c o n b m i group i'c rase from 49.80 Lo

50.33, &is cocfirms Ghe e f f i c a c y of the S@R method

i n teaching reading comprehension.

Reneerch'ipestion TI:

How does t h o performance of urban school students

taught; reading oomprshension with S@R compare wibh bhe

performance of . ural school s tuden t s?

Ihe researcher a l s o employed the method used i n

research quest ion I i n answering this second resea rch

q~:eal;.:cm. dt?e w m m a r y of the da ta ana lys i s is shown

i n t a b l e IS..

i'able 11: Phis table shows the performance of

urban and rural students taught reading

comprehension with SQ3R method.

Urban 54.29 11.24 86.51 9.42 86.51 - 54.29 32.22

Rural 52.88 10.07 85-98 7-58 85.98 52.88 33.10

Jhe resulcs i n the table above reveal that s tudenbs

in urban a d rural schools do noG show different ial

response to &@R mechod, Both of them performed equally

w e l l with a difference of 0.88 i n their achievement gains,

Urban s GudenLs recorded achievement gain of 32.22 while

heir rural counCerparts recorded a gain of 33.10 from

I; he me t l~od ,

Hypotheses

>he GWU hypobheses i n his research were tested

u s i n g :. a lys i s of co-variance (AIFCOVA).

kio, r lhere will be no s i g n i f i c a n t difference in the mean

achievemenb scores of students taught reading

corngcehension w i t h EQ3R me tihod and $hose taught

bqii-houi; iL,

Yre-best and Pas b-test scores of both the experimental

and con crol groups were taken i n to consideration during

the analysis of covariance, Sumary of results obtained

from the andpis of covariance is shown i n table 311.

table 131: ATTGOVA for the group taught reading

comprehension wing S&3R ar;d those

taught without it,

E' calculated is 6 r e ~ S e r than bhe c r i t ica l value so

d e c i s i o n rule is to rejecb he n u l l hypothesis and accept

che albernative hypoLhesis. Chere is therefom a

s i g n i f i e m t dj fference in the perf ormmce scores of

s Luden t s taughb sendins comprehension u s l n g SUR method

.mu ~ h o g e taughe w i t h ~ u b it;.

SOURCE

Covariate

Be tween

di chin

2ota l

SS

13164.18

3706.66

1.5135-20

1 32006.04 -- r-

d f

1

I

97

99

~)o<is ion rule i s Lo reject bhe n u l l hyyoLhes i~ in

cases where Lhe bbserved F or 2l-cal i s greater than Ghe

cribical value (2-cv). I n his case ;he o ~ s e r v e d P or

I KS

13164.18

3706.66

156-33

F - C d

84-36

23.76

- FCV

5 - 8 4

3-84

43

Ho2: I'here w i l l 'be no significant difference i n the

mean achievement scores of students from urban

and rural schools,

scores on boch pre-test and post-test of the

experimen~al and control groups were used. f o r the analysis.

dhe necessary statis5i.c of the scores were computed and

used i n Ghe mCOVA 'best, Summary of the analysis is

shown i n the table belaw,

J&le I V : AWOVA table of the performance of

st-adenbs from urbsn mit rural ~ c h o o l s

who were taught reading comprehension

u s i c ~ SUR method,

dht: calculabed values of' 3.GG3 and 1,101 are l e ss

Ghnn the c r ib i ca l values of 3.84. Phe decision is t o

rejecc L he null hmothesis when the calculated value i s

nigher Gila11 the c r i t i c a l value, Since t h e calculated

value is noc GreaGer than t h e c r i t i c a l va lue the

resea rcher f d l s t o reject t h e null hypothesis and then

c.oncludes t h a t t h e r e is no s i m i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i n

the mean performance of s t u d e n t s from urban and rural

school who were taught reading comprehension with the

sew method.

I n this chapter t h e f ind ings of che s t u d y were

disoussed, From Ghe f indings the resea rcher drew

conclusions and deduced bhe educat ional impl ica t ions of

~ h b s Gudy. Hecomr~endabions were made. lhe researoher

discussed the l i m i ~ a t i o n s of the study and auggeatea

a r e a s f o r f u r t h e r research.

Research 2,uestions

Research Quessioo I:

How does Che performance of s tudencn caught reading

conprehension using SqR compare with the performance of

bhose taught wichouc he method?

From t h e r e sea rch f i n d i n g s as ohown i n table 1

or' the grevious chapter , Lhe experimerlcal group ' s

performance rose from a pre-Lest score of 57-70 t o 85.33

while in r;he conGral 2,roup periornance only rose from

a meam pre-tesc scorc: of 49-80 Lo 50.33. A meam

achievement gain of ;i'/ -83 w a s ob ~ a i n e d f o r the e q e r i x e n t a l

group w h i l e i;hz coniirol group y ie lded a c r i v i d . gain

of 0.53-

he resulG as shown i n he t a b l e agreus ~ ~ i L 1 - i ~ h c

ea r l i e r idem of donien (igpt), Gross ((1978) and Jolbrook

(1388) iihar; &@H method is super io r G O the L-radf XonaZ

metnod i n P a c i l i bating resAing comprehension i n school.

ch i ldren . According .to Ghem, Ghe app l i ca t ion of S@R

me~hod f a c i l i t a t e s speed, word recogni t ion , and faster

comyrahension of passagas.

I n addi t ion , Smi~h ('i989) i d e n b i f i e d ~ h s t the

a p p l i c a t i o n of S@H me b'wd helps studencs ir! e a s i e r

app l i ca t ion of l o g l c a l ? r i n c i p l e s , f a s t e r recogni i ion

of grammat;ical relst ionships which exist; between l e x i c a1

u n i t s a d quicker recognit ion of l e x i c a l items.

Hesearch Ques t i o n IL:

Gnab is he performance of urbm and rural scho.r:l-

s budents EaugllG redirrt; comprehension w i b h t h e S@R

me m o d ?

Data analysis summarisad in t a b l e XI of chapbe2 flour

shows GhaG for zhs urban schooi , s s ~ d e n a performance

rose f r w fj4.29 Go 86.51 .&ile f o r the r w d students it

rose from 52-38 Go 85.98, ?his i n d i c a t e s an achievement

gain oi' 32.22 Tor. ur3an school s tudenl ;~ and 33.1Q for

r u ~ ? a l u c h w l a Guclentis. ,4l Lhough ilchievomen~ gains of

r u r a l schoui oi;udcnl;s is higlie~l than G h a t ; 9E tho urban

school smdenl;s, che dif fs rence i s nob sisi3"icantw

l'tiis firidin;: runs conLrary Gu t h e amuinptions of

cjde j i d t ~ ( ''1~77) c Igwe (1984) bhat u r b m ~~~~~~~~s at!

more l i i ie l j co respond becce r Lo the Greatmenti.

$hair argument is ' that response to t reatment is r e l a t e d

GO r e a d i n g i n t e r e s t s which is found ko be very h igh in

urban sLudencs compared t o Gheir ~ u r a l counterpar ts ,

Hypothesis

Ho,: i h e r e will be no s i ~ ~ i t ' i c a n t d i f f e rence i n :he mean

achievement soores of s tudenfs Laugh t reading

cowprehension wi..Gh S@R method and those taught

withoul; i t ,

?he r e sea rcher employed a n a l g s i s of co-variance,

In the analyaia of data collected before and after t h e

exps r imen~ , KesulGs cf analysis of data summarized i n

table X U of chap te r f o u r shows the ca lcu la ted value

01' 'P' ' f o r c o v a r i ~ t e as W.36 and 23-76 f o r 6he Between

groups, u h i l e he c l i c i c a l value f o r both c o v a r i a ~ e a.nd

between is 3,cW, 2he sLa t l s t i ca1 decis ion r u l e i s Go

c d c b l a t ed value exce eds t iie c r i t i c al. vdut?. I n t h i ~

perf ommce of scu.cen Gs taught rea2irlg comprs!lension

us in^ S@H miL those i;aughi; without khe method,

A fur ther ana lys i s us in6 the post hoc mul t ip le

coluparison bes t ( h r k e y Procedure) confirms t ha t

yerformcnce is higher Tor t h e experimental group (i,e

p o u p tau;nt with S@R). Also t h e mean achievement

scores revealed by the f i r s t r e sea rch question confirm

& h a t achievemen6 g a b i s v e r y high i n t h e group taught

reauin t comprehension wiuh SQ3R mechod.

1 1 0 ~ : Phere w i l , l be no significant d i f fe rence i n the

mean reading comprehension achievemenb scores of

scudon l ;~ f r o n urban and. r u r a l schools.

I n l i n e w i t h the a n a l y ~ i c a l procedures of: a l l

pre- ces c conl;rol group des icns , che re sea rchs r a l s o

employed che a n a l y s i s of co-variance (AI~COVA) i n ~ e s L i n g

able nr of chapLer1 f o u r r evea l that t h e F-cal f o r che

covar iasc i s 3.003 while t h e E-cal f o r Ghe between

r is I On Ghe oi;her hand, t h e c r i . c i c a l va lue

is 3.@+. In Chis case the c a l c u l a b d values are n o t

higher than the c r i ~ i c a l values. i h e researcher ,

'eherefore fa i ls GO r e j e c t Ghc null hypo5esis and

concluded. thai; there is no s i g n i f i c m t C i f f e r m c e in t h e

nean r e a d i n s comprehension achievemen G scores of smdents

froui urban md rural schools ,

Conclusion

From Ghe reaulcs obtained i n i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n t o

;ne sf'fects of SQ3R method of 'teaching reading

c o q r e h e n s i o n on the performance of secondary school

s cud~nGe, m e researcher made the f ollowinc; conclusions.

a: ihere is a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i n the performance

of sbudsn ts %aught reading comprehension using t h e

SWR method and those taught; without t h e mechod.

2leasures of c o n ~ r o l tendency and use of pos t hoc

m l c i p l e c o m y a r i ~ on c s s ~ r evea l that experirnentfil

group (group taught wil;h t;he S@R math.od) perfcrned

s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than b e c o n t r o l group (group

t aughG xi.thouL the method).

b: Jhere is a d i i f e r e n c e i n LBe performance of students

f ' ros urban and rural schools who were -Li-aught reading

comprehension w i Gh he SQ3R nethod, bus the

d i f fe rence is noz sigruficanc.

X d u c a ~ ~ , wnal I u i p l i c a t i ~ ~ i ~ of the Study ---- a-

ikis aCbuy on Ghe effeccs of F a R method of toxching

m a d i n t coupreritznsiOn on the perfommoe of secorrdar;~

school studenzs has a lot; of educational implicat ions.

dhe r e s u l c of t h i s research having snom t h e e f f i c a c y

of S@H rneGhod in fostering reading comprehersion w i l l

inform che curriculum developer on the need t o enshrine

t h i s approach in the curriculum and ensure thac provis ions

are made for i G s f u l l implernent;ation. Resu l t r ; o f Chis

researcn also have implicatfona for t h e scho~l auchoriLy

and ceachsrs as w e l l . ?he reaulii walk inform h e

aushority of che need Lo encourage Gecxchers to use Lhe

approach Lhrough Lhe provision of bhe mcesseny

ins eruc ~ i o n a l mace~iale and hcencives necessoq f o r

teaching reading comprehension wit-h LQ3R met had,

. Phe rxachcrs e l s o havint; discovered the gains from

t h i s m e ~ h o d ill s c r i v e Lirelt!ssly t o ensure bbst Gheir

Y cudents bencf is from Lhe new approach, thereby reducine

che problem enmuncered b l s~udenbs in reading

conprehension.

Recomnendations

Based an che f ind ings of the s6u4y, the researches

made the follow in^ r ecomxnda t ions :-

(ij ~ ? h e $@R f'le~ilod of teaching reading cmprehension

should oe f u 3 . i ~ included i n the XncLish Language

curriculum for Secondary Schools and teachers

should apply Ghat in Geaching;

(il) Materials necessary f o r che implensntntian OF che

use of che rnebhod should be provided Gs Ceachers

GO ensure their ewccessful ilnplemen tat i o n in a l l

schcroLs;

( i i i ) Young readers ' Club should be formed i n schools

and the SWR method should be used t o teach bhem,

Limitat ions of t h e SBudz

I n ca r ry ing out the sttidy, t h e researcher encountered

a number of l im i t a t i ons :

a: Some scudents understood c h a t t hey a re being used

f o r an experiment and as such developed d i s rup t i ve

'bshaviours i n t h e classroom,

' b: Many of the sCudents used i n che experiment w h o

$, cook the pretest avoided the post-6esb ehereby

making i~ d i f f i cu l l ; f o r the researcher to u t i l i z e - s .a bhe exact number he intended t o use,

,:# bugges t ions f o r f u r t h e r ms8a.mh b

.f' dhe following suggestions have been made f o r

' f u r ~ h c r research:

a: Eactors m i l i t a t i n g agains t the u t i l i z a t i o n of t h e

s&3R Method of teechin& reading comprehension i n

Secondary Schools ;

b: A~GiGudes of Secondary Scnocl teachers and s tuden t s

i;o i-he use of GQ3R Method of teaching reading

comprehension.

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(Camara Laye, Phe African Child, Pontana, 1959, pp 92-103)

C O M P ~ S I O v QlJl%l!IO%

Heuiiing Speeclr 766 1. time i n s e c 0 n . d ~ x 60

- - WPM

mswer bhe fol lowing quesi;ions i n br ief b u t c l e a r senc;ences.

What facbors represented 3igness i n khe speaker's coaununi~y?

Uhy w a s il; ZmporLrmc t o &.he speaker t o be " b i g n ?

Hod, according GO the cusLom, did one becone "bigw?

HOW d i d she c o m u n i ~ y regard ch i s per iod o f coming of ade?

whbt sta te of mind were t h e boys i n on the find. night?

Did they follosr Ehe advice given thea by che aen nho were with them, and i f noc, why n o t ?

W a a Che p o s i t i o n as lei lder i n Lhc j ' inal dance an i r n , > o r ~ a n ~ one?

How u i ~ t h e bops look as Lhey danced he coba nnd why?

Why do you think there was s o much dancing s t t h i s r;ime?

Does i L seem to you easy o r hard LO a>c;ain manhood i n Lhab comuniCy?

1, Goo, was a t l a s t among che b ig boys, BUG it was no t enouth simply Cr, be * i n che b i g boys* c l a s s ; we had t o be: "big8' i n every scnse of che word, and that meanc we had GO become men. BUG I was ssill a c i ~ i l d , Among my companions, znos G of whom were circumcised, I was s ~ i l l looked upon as a chi ld . I had noc reached the age ah which I, Goo, nusb be reborn, at which I, GOO, must abandon my childr~ood onci my innocence a d become a m m ,

Chat year I danced f o r a whole week i n &he main square Ghe dznce of Ghe s o l i , which is the dance of

.t,hose who a ~ e t o be circumcised, Jhe Corn-Corn would ~ h r o b , and w e would dance i n the square u n t i l we were ready t o drop, And as Ghe week wore on, Ghe dances grew longer and the crovcis grew bigger,

ide would dance, as I waa saying, u n ~ i l we were out of breath, but we were no t the only ones dancing, the whole own would dilncs w i F h as ! I n our c ~ u n t r y , a l l dances have bhis ~ l l ! K I h ~ j . ~ e bendency, because e uch beat of Ghtz Gom-tom has an almost i r r e s k i b l e appeal, Soon Ghose who were just spec t scors would be dancing Loo, out;doing u s i n frenzy, men as well as women, women as w e l l as t;irls.

On the f i n a l day, we were a l l worked up in60 a strange kind of excitement, dhe men who perform the i n i c i a ~ i o n , a f t e r having shaved our heads, gathered us coi;e cher in a hul; buill; apors from the compound, de c h a t ~ e r e d among ourselves o f one t,ki.ng and another, c o n c e d i n ~ o u r uneasiness as besL we could, b u ~ how could w e b a n i s h from o u r sainds tho ~hought of go morrow*^ eerenony? 2he men who were with us were not; mawme of G i ~ i t ; SGaFe of nina, whenever i n spite of ourselves, we gave vent; co our anxie by, they woulci be as great pa ins GO reassure us.

"Come, don'b be af ra id ," they said, ?Phis has ha~pened GO every man. Tow thaG you are going G O become men, conduc5 yourselves l i k e men, drive away youp fears , A man is afraid of n ~ c h i n g . ~ '

BUG we were s G i h ch i ld ren , a l l ~ h e same; a l l Shrough Ghat f i n a l day, and a l l ehrough khna . f ina l nighL, we would s G i l l be ch i ld ren , L'amorrow , , , buG i c was bester to ~hink of something e l s e ,

Phis t im w e were going co d a m e on our om; we were going Go dance, and che oGhers were going t o wabch- A s soon as we ap;)eared i n h e main square, Ghe men ran G O neeG us, Me advanced i n s i n b l e f i l e between Gwo rows of men, Kouyatecs faGher, a venerable o l d man wibh whidc beard and wrl i~e h a i r , placed nimself a t o u r hepd, i; was h i s p r i v i l e g e GO show us how bo dance the coba, n dance kepc, l i k e the s o l i , f o r those who are about t o be circumcised md with is danced only on che eve of circumcision,

.. - I was walking behinu him, He ,cold ne 60 pub my nands on 'his shoulders , and Lhen each of us placed h i s hands on Ghe shoulders of the boy i n f r o n t of him. When our Indian f i l e had been l i nked up i n t h i s way, the born-born and drums suddenly ceased, and everyone was s i l e n c cmd still , Kouyacegs f abhe r then drew himself up Lo h i s f u l l he ight , cas t h i s eyes a l l round him - bhero was soaeGhin; imperious and noble i n his ac t icude - a d , as i f iii were 8 corninand, l i f b e d up his voice i n Lne "coba" chant:

"Cobaf Age coba, l m a l "

LC' once &he com-toms and i;he drums nhattsred che s i l e n c e and w e a l l Gook up the phrase "Cobal Aye coba, lama! ''

We had b e b ~ n G O dance round c;he square. L'he older men drew up in 6k'0 rows as w e advanced; and because w e were w a k i n g s lowly tdch our l e g s wide apar t , we looked rabher l i k e ducks waddling along, \Je reached a c i r c u l a r c l e a r i n g , he ground c a ~ l o ~ e l y bare- A 1 1 round grasses grew i l l&, higher Ghan I;he men's heads. We were l i n e d up. :!G ~ n e oGher end of bhe c l e a r i n g bhe men sbood f a ~ i n g us. And we took of f o u r cloches. Suddenly she operator agpeareci. bas I a f r a i d ? I mem, was I even more a f r a i d , hau I aG that p a r t i c u l a r momcn l; a f r m h a w e s - of fear - Lor I h3d been beset Oy fears e v e r s i n c e I had enbered Ghe c l e a r i n g ? I did hage G O be a f r a i d , I felt something, like a b u m , snd I closed my eyes f o r a f r a c t i o n o f a second, khen I opened my eyes, che operaLor was bent over my neighbom. I n a few seconds, bhe dozen o r s o boys t h e ~ e wers GPaL rear becam men,

With a few s w i f t s c r i d e s , I covered the few yards t h a t separated me f r o u che gate, and suddenly I saw my mother, she was standing i n Lne dus ty r o a l a few steps away from G I E fence; she, too, was forbidden G O come any c l o s e r ,

"Mother1 '' I c r i e d , "Mother! " And d l ai; orce I f e l c a lump i n my i ' h r o a ~ , Mas it

beoause I could go no closer because I could noG hug my - mocher? Was i t because we had a l ready been s e p a m t e d

Y O lung, becawe we were sti l l Go be separa ted a long Gime? I do noG bow, A l l I know i s ha^ I could only say, ttMocher[l', and t h a t after rnx joy in see ing h e r I suddenly f e l b a sGrange depression, When I had l e f t my mobnor, I was sti l l a ch i ld , Wow .,, But was I r e a l l y a man now? Was I already a grown man? . ,, I was a aanl Yes, I u s h grown man. And now his manhood had a l ready begun Go stand between my rnochm and rcyself. It kept UB i n f i n i ~ e l y further apart than the few yards t h a t separa ted US now,

ltMothar!'t I s a i d again,

BUG t h i s Line I spoke i G very low, l i k e a lament, s a d y , us if i~ were a 1amer:t .for myself,

F i n a l l y , uhe tine c m e when the h e a l e r considered us c o m p l e ~ e l y recovered and handed us over GO our parents again. \hen I doc back GO my compoun8, the whole family wes waibin? f o r me. My parenGs held me Gie;h:hcly i n iheir arms, p a ~ ~ i c u l e l q my ~nocher, as i f she wus wmting secretly to proclaim that I was 8 t ; i l l her son, that my second b i r c h had Gone noching co albor cne fact t ha t I was shill her son. My father watched u s for a momenb, Ghen he said so me, tilmosc reg res fu l ly :

Vrom now on, c h i s is your hut, ay son," Jhe hut s ~ o o d o p p o s i ~ e !r-y mother's,

IgYes,l1 said my inocher, wyo?t w i l l s l e e p the re now, Bub as you can see, I am gill witillin eershoLOtt

I opened the door of <he huc, my cloGhes were l a i d out on che bed, I wen& up ;o iG md Gobk iihcm i n my hmda one by one, Lhen p u t L-hem crawful ly back; lihey were men's clouhes, Yes, che ‘nut w a s opposi te my mobhcr9a, I w a s sGii1 wit-hin earshot of her voice, bub bhe cloches on Ghe bed were men's cluLhes. I was a man!

"Are 30ti pleased wiGh yohr new cloi;hesP1I askeil my mother,

Pleased? Yes, 1 was pleased; n & t u r a l l y I was pleased, A t leasii I bhink I was pleased, Phey were f i n e c l o ~ h e s , ;hey were ,, , I ~urned 'Cowards my mother, s h e was smi l ing s a d l y al; me,

(hdapted from Camara Laye, I'he African Child, London, Yontana, 1359, pp, 109 - 113,)

mswer tne fol lowing quesGions i n b r i e f but c l e a r sen'tences,

V h a ~ two e m ~ t i o n s d i d Lhe boy f e e l on see ing h i s mo Gher?

;$has, in h i s own view, had made him feel his way?

Why did he la ion6 f o r himself?

WhaG, i n che boy's eyes, d i d his mother's embrace mean?

Whac do you chink Ghe boy r e f e r r e d GO when he t a l k e d abouG "uy second S i r ~ h ' l ?

bJhat did h i s f & h w t e l l him and whab do $ou think he regre cted?

What did t h e boy find i n h i s hu t?

Row did he f e e l when he saw i t ?

How do you ~ h i n k his noGher fel l ;?

Do you b h i n ~ a ~ v a i n i n g adulthood is a time f o r uadneos ur joy o r n e i ~ h e r ?

KAME OF Si!UDET?P

Iwundu Chinasa O r j i Oyh ichukwu

Odigboegwu h u e c h i

Opara Getrude Obinna Chizoma Aso Blessing Emegwa Catherine Okwara Esbher

Osuagwu Marcel l ina P?dun agu Vivi an Ndukwu Geneviv e

Naduagwu Hannah

Sylvia Amadi

Uzoaru Ajuma Okoro Onyinyechi Okoro ji Ogecni i9ere Chidinma

Amaali Prudence

Rdu C'ni j ioke Nnawuc h i Chidinma

Oguike .+da

Ohanuma Agnes J a ~ a Bemina Knwereama Sbe l la mwachukwu C h i ~ o d i

Ginikdnwa Glor ia Usuagwu EdiCh

9Tnorum Clriaoa

Con r o l Group :

NA1I.E OP S1UI)E"P

I f eyinwa Obidike

Ege j u r u Blessing

Onuoha If esinachi EnekwaclG Maria Igwe Chinyere

Aruma&a Babima

Ugwushi e I ' r i s c i l i a

Etoruom Sylvia

Zhenacho 0 jechi Osuagwu Maria-Stella

Eze Aga.Gha

Anymwu Maureen

Okoroafor L u c i a Ejiagu C h i a k a

Ekwulonu Honeybell

Onyinye~hi Opara

Amadi Grace

Fwatmihe Cecil ia

Ejiogu FAibh Nwakanme. Rs t e l l a

Anyanwu MarpJme Ehe G l o r i a

Mbata Chidi

?Jwoe;u A l o y s i u s FwaGuruocha Bernard

Opara Chinonus

O f f urum Benedic e rcfwangene Cletus

nwachukwu Meli tus

Takwocha Remigius

b a d i Rdubusi. ~ h i e c e z i Jude

Con crol Group :

rTATTI5 0 F S I?U DmT t7

Opara I ' i t u s

Ihesnacho Cajecm Opara Koroanus ITwogu Char les Kemakolaa George hkez ie GalisGus Kamalu John Kaualu PeGer rimuneke Cilidi Opara J u s t i n e

banuf o r Easchal- h o s i k e Kelechukwu

Rwachukwu Chiagorom Ywalosi Jerome Alozie Kar t in Iroegbu Godspower

Nwanosike .iugustine Onyeuwaoffia Cade wan ~.kar,wa Anthony

Azuaomike P e t e r Amaechi hTnaema ka

Osu j i Ikechukwu Pbeanw P i d e l i s Gpma Innocen k

Oguchi Samuel

Tmo Maurice I h e b i e Pmbrose Amunike V d e n t i n e Lkemenye Chi j ioke Ugor ji Eonk;inus

m: 91 92 93 YLk

95 96 97 98

. 99 'loo

?Timid 0. S 1 ? D r n i 1

Nwosb Kevin Okers C h i m a o b i

Ob ichere iheoaore

Chukwu C y r i l

Ynociia Knaeaeke Okoro Xmanuel Rjeasnze Chidiebere Mere Stephen

Qkoroafar Chukwu Udechukwu finanna

Pt+i',-2h~! r;.'D i Cid L'uA'iic>l' SCO tcEi FOR L7-YE ~~<i-Lji1&''~2i iL G'dGIJl'

",'1P4 ; (j r' L< Lhd -J i.7' 2

Obinna Opera ?:wachukwu P h i lip

snyonwu SklvesLer Xbe Cninedu Ibekwo AnG hony Pibara ChulEwuui O K O m ?'&mid. Anadi Leonard Idimogu re cer Ckorocha < i n ; s l e y Ogarandidi Joseph Xze j i L'ueoJore

P B ~ Rint ,s lsy A~iakaa Taymond *TJemunze Ikhenn a Ibeawuc,~i I fcwyi

Xze Charles

E jernanu Chinonso Vlwaneri firananuel O p a m ji F i u s tCIezu ~ u d e Oparaochn Chima

AhueXwe JonaGhan

"joicu ;;ichstel

Onyekur; Kelechi

Osuji Chibuika

Agbu~ba Chimuanya

Asoluka Lsmberc Tkwocha Bomven Lure

BkwukwaegDu i)n,valcac hi O n y e ~ b u l a Pestus

Rilukwe Torberc Ugwuegbulom Jerome Atmna Viccor

Uchendu George

x i hilarn Fnanna

F joku Hyginus Egeruo keter

Ejeloru Amanze Unacze Ikec hukwu

Ihcjieco M a r t i n Rwulonu Uchenna Chiekezi Cosmas

nkagha Anthony

Egbejiaba john Nwoke Pichael Ymeje Godwin

Ama, o y i Charles

kkuwudike Vincenc Rwenna C a l i s "us

Un;c Chioma Redu Zuith

Ezc Constance Ogbu lfeoma

Akud o bi C yn b hi a

Chimesic J i d i e u Fbaaiegwu P~~t i tmce Agumnnu Charicy Onyewuchi Chidinmu U j a i ; luchi

Experimen bal Group :

s-&

6 4

62

b3 w 65 66

67 68

69 70 '?'I

72

'If 74 75 76 77

- '78 79 80

81

82

83 84

85 86

8 7 a, 89 90

FT p~ O F i ; ~ g 3 i m ~

R w a n e r i Chinyere Agoamanam Comfort Anyaegbu Victoria

A j iokJu Chiaka

Udumaga "oneruern Mwankpa C h r i s t y

Xharnnwa Y ~ o e i Tdukwe Gnyenyschi 1 roauanyn Piar~ Lpu C a l i s t s

O k ~ f o r E s t h e r Duru Chizoma Aria Ann Piwuchukwu 1.e nee

Iheagwam Ihkuchinyere Anaechi Gloria Iroegbu Regina him L n t h e r

Amaechi Magddine

Odigwe HaYo+oses

lka lonu !?osem~ry Imo Korzina Ekeledo Augus Cine m a d i Ifunanyachi O$uchl C h r i s t ima

EKe Sl;oze

Alozio L h i lonenu

Igbonekwe Blessing Ukonwa J u l i e t 'LTdechukwu Happines8

Iixperimacal Croup:

Aku wwliiEe U1ivj.a Ooii ji Chiaka

O f f ur- at Glivia-Joy

Tinodim P6o zi Gparn J u l i c ~ Gsuaguu 2'3i~s Gina

Wechuu Ihuoma G k e ~ e k e Cons ..jnce

9'3 Onumaegbu Uchec hi ?00 Yzc Assump ba

APPENDIX D

LESSOIT MOTE

Subject: English Language

Topic : Comprehension: Fish production i n Nigeria page 130.

Class : JS 3A

Duration: 40 Minutes

Date: - 6/5/96

Spec i f ic Objective: A t the end of the lesson, the s tudents

w i l l be able t o answer a t l e a s t e ight questions out of t he

t e n posed at the end of t h i s passage. About 8096 of t he

c l a s s w i l l be eble t o give a g i s t of what the passage

i s a l l about.

Entry behaviour: The students have been reading passages,

a l so they use f i s h t o cook at home.

Set induction: What type of f i s h does your mother use

i n her cooking?

L i s t the types of f i s h you know.

In s t ruc t iona l technique: Survey, Question, read, r e c i t e

and review.

In s t ruc t iona l Material : A sketch of four d i f f e r e n t

types of f i s h , class reading t e x t and chalkboard.

Ins t ruc t iona l Procedure:

S tep I

The teacher asks the s tudents t o survey the passage

f o r f ive minutes. Here the students survey through

the passage f o r a general idea of what it contains.

The teacher poses some questions and make them t o search

f o r the answers. Such questions include:

What percentage contribution t o domestic production do

inland waters make?

How many tons of f i s h are Nigerian inland waters capable

of producing under good management?

Where are new f i shery terminals t o be established?

What percentage of f i s h is ~lmoked?

Explain tha t it en ta i l s tha t statements should be turned

i n t o questions and t h e i r answers could be found i n the

passage.

Step 2:

The students are asked t o read the passage again '

while f ixing the queetions i n t h e i r minds, As they read,

they note down the answers t o t h e questions. The teacher

explains tha t the passage should be read again so tha t

they can answer the questions which they fa i led ,

Step 3:

Teacher asks the students t o read the passage again

t h i s time with more concentration so t h a t they would

be able t o answer the questions posed a t the end of the

passage.

Teacher summarises the passage by writing the main ideas

on the chalkboard. A t t h i s stage the students go back

t o the passage f o r t h e f i n a l review. The most relevant

ideas i n the passage i s e q l a i n e d thus: Inland Water

meas are capable of producing over 500,000 metric tona

of f i sh , inland water include lakes, reservoirs, a r t i f i c i a l

ponds and r ivers . Inland water contributes 4 8 percent

of what is needed. Much i a imported therefore pr ices

are high.

Evaltlation: Teacher asks them t o answer the questions

a t the end of the passage,

Chalkboard Summary:

Teacher writes the correct answers t o the

questions.

Three problems tha t plague the f ishing industry

i n Nigeria are inadequate management , iaade quat e

supply of f ishing equipment and poor preservation

me h o d .

The reasons given f o r inadequate supply of f ishing

equipment i s lack of foreign exchange t o import

them since they are not loca l ly manufactured,

The method of preservation t o be adopted t o avoid

l o s s of catch is t o provide cold storage and i c e

making f a c i l i t i e e .

4. The three measures being taken t o boost f i s h

production are , establishment of f i she ry terminals ,

introduction t o mechanised f i sh ing and bui ld ing of

cold storage f a c i l i t i e s i n each s t a t e of t h e

federat ion.

5. The method of preservat ion mostly uaed by l o c a l

fishermen is smoking. A mandate has been given

t o the F i sher ies Division t o incorporate major

programmes which include inventory and acquatic

resources.