READING DIFFICULTIES AMONG KONONGO M/A JHS 1 PUPILS

ABSTRACT Reading is one of the basic skills that children should master during their first school year to be able to assimulate new knowledge and skills in future.This case study was undertaken to investigate the reading difficulties among JHS pupils of Konongo M/A. The study also aimed at suggesting appropriate stratagies to enable pupils to be competent readers. The study particularly attempted to find out the causes and effects of reading difficulties. The study was conducted on 20 sampled pupils and seven teachers. Qualitative research design was employed. Teacher and student questionnaire, classroom observation, oral interview and test were the research instruments used to obtain the required data. The study found that, most of the pupils in JHS1 were not able to read as expected at their level. As they read, they committed errors such as skipping and ignoring word endings, reading individual words and making several stops. In the course of teaching pupils reading, the study again found that, the classes were overcrowded with high student-teaching ratio of 1:3. Hence teachers could not have time to attend to individual students with reading difficulties. It was further found through the oral interviews counducted and tests that, some textbooks used were not suitable for the level of the pupils and were not adequate. The questionniare presented to teachers and the tests assigned to the pupils indicated that the reading problems occured because some parents engaged their wards in farming activities instead of providing reading opportunities for them. Teachers techniques used for teaching were not found to be adequate to improve pupils reading performances. That resulted in the poor performance of pupils in the reading test conducted for pupils. The study sugguested that, large class sizes should be reduced. There should be organized workshops for teachers and there must be provision of adequate teaching and learning materials.