Family Characteristics Influencing Reading Readiness Of Pupils In Pre-Primary Schools In Siaya County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Extensive researches are available on school factors influencing reading ability of the pre-primary school Pupils are available. However, there are relatively few studies on the family characteristics influencing reading readiness of pre-primary school pupils. Moreover, the family characteristics‟ role in reading readiness of the children cannot be underestimated. Reading incompetency has always been assumed to be as a result of school related factors and many attempts have been made by the government and different organizations to improve teaching of reading competency but there has been less effort focusing on family characteristics influencing reading readiness. This study therefore explored the family characteristics influencing reading readiness of preprimary school pupils. The objectives of the study were to determine the influence of parents‟ occupation, family income, parents‟ level of education and parental involvement on reading readiness of pre-primary school pupils. The study may be significant since the study findings may provide important information that may be utilized by the stakeholders in education to improve the level of reading readiness among the pre-primary school pupils. This study was guided by Brofenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory. This theory shows the different aspects of the environment which influence a child‟s development relationship. The study adopted a descriptive research design which allowed for in-depth exploration of the study variables. The dependent variable for the study was pre-primary pupils‟ reading readiness while the independent variables were family characteristics namely; family income, parents‟ occupation, parents‟ level of education and parental involvement. This study was carried out in Siaya County where the reading level has been lower than the national level. The target population of the study was pre-primary school pupils and their parents in Siaya County since this is the age at which family characteristics are believed to have a great influence. Stratified random sampling was used to sample schools as public and private pre-primary schools. Purposive sampling was used to select schools and pupils. A sample of 96 public pre-primary school pupils and 16 private pre-primary school pupils were included in the study. Questionnaires and reading readiness test analysis were used for data collection. Reading readiness test analysis was used to collect data from the children while questionnaires were used to collect data from the parents. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. The findings of the study revealed that parents‟ occupation, family income, parents‟ level of education and parental involvement influences reading readiness of pupils in pre-primary schools. The study recommends in-service training for the teachers on teaching reading readiness skills, adult education programmes for the parents, resource mobilization and awareness creation on family income and parental involvement.