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INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
English is the medium of formal education to all levels of education in Ghana. Indeed
it is an enable- subject and our surest passport for easy travel on the international
communication highway. Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that those educated need
to be taught properly the spelling of words for learning skills especially reading and
writing. This can be done by the varied practical methodology in teaching and
learning various aspects of English.
Language is powerful tool for unity. In the bible, during the attempt to build the tower
of Babel, God had to cause the problem of multiplicity of language. According to
daily graphic (Feb, 2008), Busia contents that language is one of the positive gains
of colonialism and has prepared us for effective membership in the wider
community. It is the commonest spoken language of people of different cultures,
thus, has becomes the lingua Franca for everybody.
In this light, English language enables students to go through our educational system
successfully without barriers once it is well studied. This is because all the other
subjects apart from the local languages are all written and taught in English.
The importance of English language is not farfetched since we benefit from it daily.
It is important to note that every man who knows how to read has in his own power
to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exits to make life full significant
and interesting (Huxely, 2007).
English language enables us become computer literates, the acquisition of jobs is not
left out. In Ghana today, workers are expected to be able to communicate effectively
in English. Our scientific world, modern invention like atoms, TV antenna,
capacitors etc are all described in English language before they are able to perform
this task.
Knowledge of English makes us aware of what happens in our world and enables
people feel comfortable when they live their towns and villages to seek greener
pastures
Reading is lifelong activity. Those who enjoy reading derive pleasure and
satisfaction from it.
Adigun and Oyelude (2003) observe that skill in reading will not only assist pupils
in organizing their thoughts and jotting down important facts while reading, but also
equip them to comprehend entire texts.
Despite general forms of instruction, some individuals have difficulty acquiring the
fundamental reading skills necessary to be in a position to read to learn.
Often, these youngsters are referred to school psychologists because of their reading
difficulties. Moreover, in many cases, students needs are not adequately identified
because school psychologists and educators spend considerable time generating
circular reasons as to why a particular student has difficulties learning to read. For
example, many professionals provide rationales such as, Johnny has a reading
problem because he has a learning disability or Sally has a reading problem
because she is dyslexic. Instead, professionals time might be better spent targeting
reading skill areas that are in need of intervention or further instruction.
It is very important to note that reading in general as an educational skills is the most
effective self- reliant for learning a skill that opens the door to physical, emotional,
intellectual moral improvement. Reading skills is very essential since it cuts across
all the subject areas. It is one of the basis for which every child could be successful
in education. These skills however, seem to be lacking in the pupils of basic four of
Changnayili AME Zion Primary School.
Perceived Problem
In a lesson, it was observed that many of the pupils in basic four of Changnayili AME
Zion Primary School were not able to read simple sentences of the English course
book. Pupils were interviewed with at least ninety percent (90%) of the students
expressing their fear of not being able to read the English Language Primary Four
textbook fluently and efficiently. This problem the choice of the topic reading
difficulties in the target school and to find out the causes and possible solutions to
the problem.
Problem Diagnosis
Through observation, it was observed that pupils inability to read sentences had an
influence in their participation during classroom discussions. The research involved
using interviews and reading test to discover the level of poor reading skills among
pupils in the school.
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abstract ideas if provided with sufficient materials and concrete experiences with
phenomenon that they are to understand
Finally, poor attendance to school, bad attitude towards learning and reading could
have also contributed to the problem at hand.
Research Questions
The following were the research questions used to gather data for the research work
1. What are the causes of Changnayili AME Zion Primary School basic four pupils
inability to read?
2. What effect does reading have on the academic performance of pupils of Changnayili
AME Zion Primary School basic four?
3. How would word puzzle help improve upon the reading skills of pupils of
Changnayili AME Zion Primary School?
Delimitation
This research was carried out in Changnayili AME Zion Primary School Class Four
only. It did not include all classes in the school and also not involving other schools
within the same catchment area. The study also was solely in English Language and
not other subject area.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The chapter is intended to help the reader get to know both empirical and theoretical
literature on the topic. This chapter will throw more light on the views that other
writers have come out with on the same topic.
The literature is reviewed under the following sub-titles: Definition of games and
types of games used in this write-up; Behaviourist theory; Cognitive theory;
Advantages of language games; Meaning of reading; Appropriate in teaching
reading; Causes of poor reading; Effects of reading inability.
communicative language teaching games. Language practice games are those which
involve the use of a particular language items like language drills which opportunities
for repetition of language items that are intended to be learned.
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communicate in pairs or in groups. The learners then use their own language
resources to play the games. These are sub language games. As young learners in
primary three (3), they could be engaged in all sort of games oriented activities such
as the phonic method.
Word Puzzle Games
How the Game is played
The preparation of the word puzzle games requires the following tools and materials.
Tools:
Material:
Cardboard.
Steps in Preparation
The first step is to rule a margin and divided the length of the cardboard into equal
parts and the next step was to write the alphabet forming the words in the boxes
Rules of the Game
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Phonic Method
Preparing Pupils to Play the Game
Before pupils are able to play the game, they are taken through the following
activities. Sounds of the alphabet, here, the pupils are made to know the vowels and
the consonants. The vowels a, e, i, o, u and the consonant, b, c, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n,
p, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, a.
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11
According to Websters new world dictionary for young readers, reading is how to
get meaning of something written or printed by understanding as letters, signs or
numbers. It emphasized on the merits of reading, thus it indicated that through
reading we got to know what is happening in the world. It is also stated that people
develop vocabulary acquisition through reading. Websters new world dictionary is
important to the study since it talks about how reading helps are to identify his or her
ways.
To Clymer (1934), reading is discovery of the various sounds or symbols associated
with the various words.
distinguished from thinking. He emphasized that the teacher should be able to throw
more lights on the teaching of how to identify the various words before the actual
reading. This involves consideration of the nature of the child, the method to be
adopted, the intellectual level of the child and the goals to be attained.
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13
parents can help their children by selecting helpful materials like story books which
do not have difficult words and also short passage that deliver clear messages to
improve the reading ability of their children. An article by Robert Rock in 19998,
made emphasize on the point that HICHD research on children with reading
disabilities has shown that deficiencies in processing letter words are the heart of
most readers problems. This article illustrates how letter sound processing works
and describes strategies for teaching children these skills.
Dyslexia is perhaps the learning disability that is most widely known primarily
because of Barb Bushs effort to make adults become aware of the problem of
children with this and other learning disabilities. Stories about children trying to
overcome their reading disabilities in the mass media are common.
In its broadcast sense dyslexia refers to the over whelming difficulty in learning to
read and write by normally intelligent children exposed to suitable educational
opportunities in school at home. The Dyslexia childrens verbal reading levels fall
for below what would have been predicted for their quick and alert intelligence
(Bryant and Bradley, 1985). Also teachers and parents should appreciate childrens
thinking as the foundation of their language abilities and maintain some flexibility in
their expectation regarding their childrens development of decoding skills. Such as
reading for children to feel successful. They have to be aware of the unique learning
strengths of the children, so that they may apply them effectively when working to
strength the lagging areas. (Webb, 1992).
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15
to read appear to have a disruption in the part of the brain involved in reading
phonetically.
They also found that children who read properly and do not receive any extra help or
training eventually compensate for disability by using other parts of the brain as
backup systems for the improved brain regions. Although most of these children
with reading inability eventually do learn to read, they never do so with the same
fluency as do good readers.
This is because the backup brain systems they use when reading apparently cannot
speak the language and because of that they cannot socialize with their friends who
are better off. They feel shy to move with their friends because pupils think that if
thy say something wrong, they would be laughed at.
According to some teachers, the pupils inability to read poses the problem of reading
to understand written sentences or words. The childs inability to get the clearer
understanding of what he reads goes a long way to affect the child in understanding
of other subjects. This can lead the child to achieve poor results in his or her
examinations because he/she cannot read to understand what examinations questions
require from him or her. Therefore, the inability of a child to read can affect his
writing skills. If this is not so, how can a person write a word without knowing how
it is read? With this effect in mind, a person reading skills will have problem in
spelling.
The ability to read and receive meaning from printed text is a complex skill which
we all need to be able to live in a world dominated by prints. As commended by Burn
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et al (1999) reading should not be mistakenly viewed as a single skill for pronouncing
words but rather a combination of many skills that lead to the derivation of meaning.
Grellet (1981) and Seznam (1997), also share a common view on reading. They
consider reading as one of the basic skills which is essential for survival in the
modern world. Reading is a big skills known as micro skills. It includes;
a. Reading from left to right
b. Reading words which are not phonetic.
c. Distinguishing words which look similar.
d. Recognizing different types of print and handwriting.
e. Reading without using the finger to trace the words.
f. Reading silently
g. Recognizing the significance of each punctuation mark.
h. Skimming
i. Scanning
They assert that all the skills may not be equally learnt well and sometimes a reading
problem that a child has later in life can be traced back to not learning a particular
micro skill well. For instance, people who cannot skim and scan waste a very large
amount of time when reading.
Langan (1988), Udall and Udal (1982), point out some steps or factors which are
essential in improving reading skills. Langan points out ten (10) steps which are:
1. Understanding vocabulary idea,
2. Recognizing the main idea,
3. Identifying key supporting details,
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ii.
iii.
18
dwell on the role of interest in reading. They argue that, reading interest plays
important role in the teaching and learning of reading. They profess that before
effective teaching in reading can be done, the interest of the pupils should be aroused
first so as to enhance proper teaching and learning.
Jordan conducted survey on the reading interest of 1,080 Sierra Leone school
children aged through thirteen years. He reported that children preferred adventure
stories, history books, stories on family life, folk tales stories about bird and animals
and this improves their reading skills.
The School Council Research Project designed to investigate the reading interest on
children aged ten to fifteen years in Britain came up with these findings; children still
read classics widely, just as the children did 40 years ago, the most popular books
being Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, Little Women, Oliver Twist, Black Beauty.
It was recorded that children read comics widely and that no evidence could be found
to support the fact that they read political or aesthetic journals of the kind that
interests some of their more earnest teachers. They also read a wide range of
informal magazines, the boys reading them than the girls. Considering the wards
Jordan and the School Council Research Project, it can be observed that school
childrens interest in books differ from ones cultural background to another.
African child would read more and feel at home with books on animal stories from
the scriptures (Bibles, Quran) and folklores as these are part and parcel of his or her
daily life. On a contrary, the European child would be more comfortable relating to
objects of stories like Black Beauty. Little Woman among others which depicts
his or her cultural background.
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Agyei (1996), writes that there is a need to improve children reading habits early in
life. This has been mentioned by other writers. She points out that considering the
virtues of reading. It would be great value for reading to enable them live up to the
growing standards of the immediate society and the worlds at large.
Agyei (1996), perceives on outcomes of a seminar organized in Accra by the
Children Literature Foundation to promote excellence in children literature. It was
realized by participants that a child who acquires reading habits early gains a head
start in education to cope with the fast growing world of technology. Based on the
above, it could be noted that the interest of a child goes a long way to affect his or
her reading skills.
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trained with pattern of words recognition materials were reported to have improved
significantly in reading performance. The teachers should therefore make an effort
to design and use instructional materials as well as employ reading methodologies
that accommodate childrens perpetual learning abilities (Gilberg and Gilberg, 1973)
Other measures to improve reading performance may include teaching children how
to discriminate among letters, numerals, words and pictures. Therefore per this
method, the child must know how to use a printed material to tell which part of the
material is the back, where a line of print starts and /or ends, and how one page leads
to another.
Oliver and Boyd (1986), also emphasized that in practice, it is necessary to consider
the treatment of reading inability are recognized, it may be necessary to consider
general curriculum and organizational issues as well as the problem of individual
pupils. In some schools, what is taught and how it is taught inhibits rather than
encourage Language development. Reading problem proliferate and remedial
measures are ineffective. Some change in content to teaching and in the quality of
the classroom relationship must accompany remedial action.
Secondly, some accepted strategy for classroom action needs to be established. One
useful approach is to isolate short - term objectives for individual or small groups of
pupils. These goals should be defined and attainable within one or two weeks.
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the school, nature of English Language teaching programme in the elementary school
and home back ground factors which accounted for over a third of the variance. It
was observed by Anderson (1972) that, children from homes where parents are well
educated, where socio economic level was high, where there were many books in the
home and where parents took interest in their childrens school activities read English
with greater comprehension.
Smith (1990), contributes to reading problems by asserting that lack of parental
involvement in developing good reading habits in the classroom and children. As
quoted by Miller (1986), if a child sees a parent reading regularly for example,
learning to read becomes important to the child because the most important person
in the world reads.
Smith explains that parental involvement helps children learn more effectively and
teachers who are successful at involving parents in their childrens school work are
successful because they work together.
Ijioma (1981), also identified some of the factors which may cause a child to be a
low starter or unable to read at first as, poor ability, ill heath, malnutrition, fatigue,
overwork, lack of concentration, deprived home, background tension, emotional
disturbances and mother tongue inferences.
Edward (1978), on his part called out the following as reading problems, insufficient
sight vocabulary, inadequate visual analysis skills, inadequate comprehension skills,
inefficient rates of reading.
According to Edward (1978), these problems emanate from the following factors
lack of experiential background, lack of incentives, limited reading experiences.
22
Overuse of the alphabets and phonic methods in beginning construction and small
speaking vocabulary.
In this sense, it could be noted that geographical location affects pupils reading
ability. Also, poor parental guide, lack of suitable literature and emotional
disturbances contributes to reading deficiencies in pupils.
gradually with a lot of repetition. Again, pre reading exercise like left to right eye
movement, picture sequence in simple stories, writing patterns which help children
to move their eye in the right directions and the use of the alphabets should be
emphasized.
He further recommends the use of pre reading games saying that before children
can recognize words, they must be able to recognize and identify pictures. He
proposes that, they need to learn how to recognize picture fit together, two similar
objects and how to concentrate. Examples of such games are making use of picture
cards, picture dominoes or alphabet dominoes and memory games.
In this vein, one may not know that reading being a basic skill is open to a dozen of
constraints. Many experts in the field have expressed their view on probable causes
of reading problems as well as appropriate measures to deal with them.
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Tsadidey (2002) advocates three activities on the part of the teacher for the
improvement in the reading ability of pupils.
In the first activity, the teacher makes a collection of a host of objectives such as
bottle tops, buttons and stencils of letters of the alphabets or various geometrical
shapes. The items shall be differentiated by size, colours and shape. The child is
given the box containing the assorted items according to their kind; for example, if
the bottle of drinks, the child could be asked to sort out any group the kind of marks
to help the child make the grouping. This activity aids to develop reading ability in
the child because it provides the much needed training in visual discrimination. The
ability to tell one size or colour from another will prepare the reader to be able to
state the differences existing among the various shapes of the letters of the alphabet.
The next activity is story telling in pictures. In this activity, a series of pictures are
prepared by the teacher and arranged to show some kind of logical connection to one
another so that, somehow, a beginning and an end can be seen. The pictures are then
pasted along the walls for pupils to see. Naturally, their curiosity will make them
move from one pictures to the other so that they can easily practice reading.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research design refers to the process of learning and structuring the format of the
research to draw out valid and reliable information. There are various types of
research but the design used in this study is Action Research. The Action Research
is defined by Manion (2001) as the essentially on spot procedure designed to deal
with a concrete problem located in an immediate environment.
Some of the reasons which again compelled the researcher to use the Action Research
are as follows;
It helps to provide teachers with the opportunity of acquiring a better understanding
of all aspect of their own practice.
It helps the researcher to understand what actually goes into teaching and identify
the right teaching and learning materials.
Despite the strength of the research work stated above, it has lapses. One of the
problems in action research is time factor. Another problem is the insufficient
resources to cover a large number of respondents.
To carry out an action research, there are certain materials which need to be
purchased and without money the project will be difficult to be carried out.
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Research Instruments
Questionnaire was the only instrument used to gather data and all the three (3) set of
questionnaires were designed (that is one for each group of person) some items were
devoted to get personal data of respondent. The rest of the items were devoted to
gathering information related to topic of the study. A copy of the questionnaire can
be found in the Appendix A-C
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puzzle game, work samples of the pupils and scores obtained by the pupils are shown
in Appendix D, E, and F respectively.
Intervention process
The process of intervention covered pre-intervention, intervention and post
intervention.
Pre-Intervention
Test on word puzzle game and dictation was conducted among the twenty-eight (28)
pupils of Changnayili AME Zion Primary School basic four. The pupils were to
encircle the words given to them on the word puzzle game and after that spell the
word they have encircled. The test was scored out of ten (10). The duration for the
test was thirty (30) minutes. Meanwhile, questionnaire were administered on the six
(6) teachers, six (6) parents and twenty-eight pupils of Changnayili AME Zion
Primary School basic four to find out their views on the causes of pupils inability to
read simple sentences.
Intervention
Findings from the intervention prompted the researcher to adopt new methods of
teaching English reading for learners to be able to read affectively and coherently,
and also to be actively involved in the lesson. More emphasis is placed on the use
of language games to help check pupils reading inability. During the first lesson of
the 4th week the researcher shifted attention to the use of language games, which are
activities designed by a classroom teacher to help solve pupils reading difficulties.
27
During this lesson, the main focus was on how to help pupils to recognize and to
pronounce word correctly.
Steps in Preparation
The first step was to rule a magic of 2cm along the edges of the cardboard and divide
the length of the cardboard into equal parts with a felt pen and ruler.
The last step was to write the alphabets forming the words in the boxes
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
The first group to encircle the correct word becomes the winner.
28
29
30
Phonic Method
Preparing Pupils to Play the Game
Before pupils were able to play the game, they were taken through the following
activities, sound of the alphabet. The pupils were made to know the vowel and the
consonants.
Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
Consonant: b, c, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.
Sounds of the alphabet
Sound of the alphabet were taught to pupils /a/, //, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ words that could
be formed under each alphabet and its sound were written down for pupils to observe
and say them.
//, - eg. Ball, cull, hall, tall
e - // eg. Bed, cell, debt, fell, wed
o - // eg. Dog, not, hot, rot, lot, lot, for
u - // eg. Bat, rub, must, shut
u - // eg. Burn, turn, turf.
Sion - /s/ eg. Comprehension, decision, precision
ture - /ts/ eg picture, adventure, venture
wh - /w/ eg what, where, white, who, whose, when, wheel.
ph - /f/ eg. Graph, telephone, elephant.
ch - /ts/ eg. Children, child, church, challenge, chapter, chase, change, cheese,
water, which, each.
Such - // eg. Pleasure, pressure, treasure, measure
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I - /ai/ eg. Bits, abide, cite, nine, ripe, bright, eight, give, later, rice, mind, kind
Post Intervention
After two weeks a post-test was conducted to assess the pupils as to how far the game
had been able to remedy the problem. The test was conducted in the form of dictation
which was marked over ten. Words used included: meet, camp, winter, chew, wide,
ram, knife, zoo, net, flag, egg, men, ten, mat, hand, come, pot, cat.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS
The previous chapter describes the research methodology comprising of research
design, population. Sample and sampling procedures, research instruments used,
procedures used in collecting data and analysis.
This chapter presents the results analysis of data obtained from the respondents on
how language is used at the primary level. That is, it entails the analysis collected
from the finding. Connection with the questionnaires given to them. The data
obtained has been analyzed and presented into two (2) sections. The first section
deals with an overview of statistical procedures and results by research questions and
objectives, whereas the second section deals with other findings and an overall
summary of the chapter.
The results were presented on a table and interpreted. Each finding is based on the
research for the study.
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Research Questions 1
What are the causes of Changnayili AME Zion Primary School English reading
disability?
Table 1: Factors leading to Pupils inability to read
Factors
No. of Respondent
to
mention
16
Percentage (%)
53.33
words
26.67
6.67
13.33
30
100
material
Lack of exposure to the language
Total
The item of the questionnaire was asking pupils some of the factors that hindered
pupils from reading properly. Sixteen (16) pupils representing 60.0% said lack of
reading books is the main cause. Inability to mention words properly when reading
was chosen by 8 pupils representing 26.7% of the pupils. Two (2) pupils said one of
the factors hindering pupils from reading activities was inadequate teaching and
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learning materials and four (4) pupils said lack of exposure to the language was
chosen by 6.7% representing four of the pupils.
Research Question 2
Are the teachers interested in the use of language games to solve the reading
difficulty of their pupils?
Table 2: teachers who use language games
Interest
Male
No. of Respondents
teachers
language
games
often
use
in
their
Percentage (%)
13.3
24
80
6.7
30
100
English lessons
Female teachers use language
games
Old teachers use language
games
Total
The item of the questionnaire was asking pupils to choose from the options the
interest of the teachers in using language games to help solve reading inability of the
pupils. In responding to this item, four pupils representing 13.3% said teachers often
use language games in teaching English lessons.
representing 80% were of the view that female teachers involve language games in
35
their lessons. Lastly, two (2) pupils also said old teachers use language games
representing 6.7%.
Research Question 3
How should the language game activities be used to improve the English reading
skills of the pupils?
Table 3: activities involved in using word puzzle
Activities
No. of Respondents
Percentage (%)
13.3
6.7
24
80
30
100
language games
Involving
pupils
in
the
language games
Lack of exposure to the
language
Total
In responding to the items of the questionnaire, two (2) pupils representing 6.7% said
that the effect of reading inability on pupils academic work is high. Five (5) pupils
representing 16.7% said pupils cannot write effectively.
representing 26.7% said that pupils cannot read and understand lastly fifteen (15)
pupils were of the view of that pupil reading inability results in poor performance of
the pupils.
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The second parts of the chapter deals with sample of pupils work selected for the
study. Overall, six (6) samples were selected for marking. The table below depicts
their marks at the pre-test level.
Table 4: Performance of Selected Pupils in Pre-test
Names of Pupils
Age
Marked score
Mark (%)
Abubakar
12
5/10
50
Musa
13
3/10
40
Tutu
12
5/10
35
Alijata
13
2/10
30
Agyeiwaa
11
4/10
40
Zulaiha
12
10/10
50
29
6
= 4.83
The table above indicated that marks of sampled pupils selected for the study.
According to the table six (6), three (3) boys had 5/10, 3/10and 5/10 respectively which
represents 41.7% of the total marks. Also the three (3) girls selected had 2/10, 4/10
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and 10/10 respectively, representing 40% of the total marks. In each case the marks in
percentage was not encouraging. The implication of the marks obtained by the pupils
was that, the pupils are unable to read neither the questions nor the passage. Their
inability to read effectively affected their understanding of the passage negatively.
Again, this problem came into being as a result of the fact that teachers do not involve
language games in their English lesson to help check pupils reading difficulties.
Table 5: Performance of the pupils in post-test
Names of pupils
Age
Marked scored
Marks (%)
Abubakar
12
9/10
95
Musa
13
6/10
75
Kwabi
12
7/10
85
Halijata
13
8/10
90
Agyeiwaa
11
8/10
90
Zaliaya
12
10/10
100
Average marks = 9 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 8 + 10
6
48
6
=8
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The table seven (7) indicates the results of the pupils after the post-test. According
to table 5, girls selected scored 10/10, 8/10 and 8/10 respectively, representing 93%
of the total marks whereas the boys also had 9/10, 6/10, and 7/10 also representing
90% of the total marks scored. The implication of the marks scored by pupils after
the post-test is that the intervention taken by the researcher by using language games
in his lessons helped check the pupils reading difficulties. Hence, they had perfect
understanding of the same passage which reflected in their performance in the
passage.
Analysis of results
The bar graph depicts the marks of the pupils at the post-level and it is obvious that
these marks obtained by the pupils exceed that of the marks of the pre-test. This
shows that when pupils are taught well with good lesson plans and well planned
teaching aids, it improves the pupils performance it tots. That alone was able to
make one person score 100% which was encouraging.
In view of this, the researcher was able to find answers to the questions presented in
research questions. The researcher made some observations to parents, teachers and
pupils. The main problem pupils encountered is sentence reading which most of the
pupils despair during English lessons on the issues of materials used in language
games. The teachers made used of the following materials, letter cards, sentences
cards, word cards and phonic card just to mention a few.
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The researcher observed that, when language games were used, the whole class
participated in the lesson which made lesson lively and interesting. The teachers
realized that the use of games are tedious, hence they are not interested in using them.
This however does not mean that the do not use them at all. The teachers gave
relevance of the language games and paramount among them was they create
opportunity for pupils to practices the new structure and vocabulary item taught.
Language games lead to spontaneous and creative use of language. It brings teachers
and pupils do together in an agreeable way which helps case the process of teaching
and learning.
The teachers also added that when language games are used in a lesson, there is fall
participation on the parts of the pupils. The parents said that teachers should help
their wards to be able to red since reading is the gateway to all other subjects.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
This is the last chapter of the action research and it deals with the summary,
conclusion and recommendation for this project.
Discussion of Results
The problem of the study was on the reading difficulty of primary school 3 pupils of
Changnayili AME Zion Primary School. The aim of the study was find a remedy to
improve upon the reading inabilities of pupils. Intervention was developed to
improve upon the identified problem. Various teaching activities and materials were
used to teach pupils to improve upon their reading inability.
The major concern which the study looked at was the use of language games to solve
reading comprehension difficulties and the materials used in preparation of those
language games. The study reveals that most teachers, especially the aged are not
interested in the use of language games and so do not often use them in their English
lessons, based on the problems and the objectives of the study, the following findings
were made from the analysis.
It was realized that the use of games is effective in solving reading comprehension
difficulties. Also few teachers were found to be interested in the use of language
games. Despite that, female teachers also use language games more often as against
their male counterparts. Some teachers who are not interest in the use of language
41
games explained that it wastes or consumes time especially if the materials are to be
prepared in the classroom.
The study also indicated that parents have come to realized the essence of education
and know its benefits to individuals. Thus, they encouraged their words to learn at
home.
Pupils also answered questions excellently and teachers too, except that
some did not want to disclose their ages. In the case of measurement of issues, the
instruments used were the questionnaire, fact and exact answers are needed that is
Yes/No. Also the researcher did not encounter any statistical problem except that
the total population which was assured to be part of the researcher was mere dream
as only few took part of it and all assumptions were met in good faith.
42
Conclusion
From what has been said so far, when these suggestions recommended are practiced,
there will be a general improvement in the teaching and learning of reading
comprehension of pupils and poor reading will be minimized if not totally eradicated.
Recommendations
One very good and essential thing worth saying is the careful selection and the use
of good materials as reading plan must be considered before the child is taught. The
following are suggestions intended to be of interest to the child. It must provide
lively stones which are based on the childs experience little knowledge they have.
As usual children like listening to fancy stories as it helps them to cultivate the habit
of reading further for information. The vocabularies which are to be taught must be
well selected and treated. That is the vocabularies used in the early stages should be
within the level of the child. This will help the child to combine words chosen for
reading must be within the ability of the pupils.
The introduction of the new words must be carefully controlled and frequent
repetition of words must be encouraged to secure easy memorization of words by the
average child.
Also the book should be attractive to the child and illustrations must be clear and
helpful to the reader of the test.
43
REFERENCES
1. Adeloya & Arua (1997), A survey of the reading interest and reading abilities of
children in some schools in Sierra Leone, West African Journal of Education
Volume 3 number 3.
2. Adu Gyimah (1996), Topics In Life Skills for Senior Secondary School, Yamans
Paper Production, Accra, Ghana.
3. Akinbade, K. (2007), Gateway to English for Primary School (Pg 62).: Sedco
Publishing Limited.
4. Anthony (2004), Teaching Ghanaian language and culture, Winneba: University
College of Education Press Ltd.
5. Bond and Thinker (1973), Beginning Social Work Research, Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
6. Brunner, J. S (1957) on perpetual Readiness. New York: Longman Publishing
Group.
7. Bryant, Peter and Lyneter, B. (1985). Childrens Reading Problems. London, Basil:
8. Cape Coast: University Press.
9. Chihemen (2007) Developing pupils reading ability, London: MacMillan
Education
Limited.
10. Dakubu M. E. K (1997) English in Ghana Accra, Accra, Block Mask Publishers.
11. Dike, J. (2006) Teaching English in the Basic School. Accra: McMillan Publishers
12. Farr, B. (2001), A proposal for teaching spelling (3rd edition) Hong Kong:
Longman Press Ltd
44
13. Farrant J S. (1996), Fundamentals of Basic Reading Instruction. New York: David
Mokay Company Inc. USA.
14. Folaranmi, K. (2007) Toward a Psychology of Reading, Hillsdale: Lawrence
Erbaum
15. Gates (1947), Improving reading Institution, New York: Harcourt Bruce and
World Inc. USA.
16. Gilberg and Gilberg (1973) Toward a Psychology of Reading, Hillsdale: Lawrence
Erbaum Horn (1937), Becoming a nation of Readers. Canada: Addison Wesley
Publishing.
17. Krashen (1993). Reading as the ability to look at and understand something.
San Francisco: MacMillan Company
18. Johns K. (1980) Simulating, games for learning. London: Cambridge University
Press.
19. Lawal (1988), Ten steps to improving reading skills. New Jersey: Townsend
Press. Longman
20. Montogmery (1977), Close Procedure and the Teaching of Reading, Landon:
Hellman New Jersey: Townsend Press.
21. Ojo (1993), Teaching English in the primary school, London: Macmillan
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22. Oliver and Boyd (1986), reading in todays schools, Robert Stevenson House 1-2
B Axters Place of English.
23. Oyetunde, E. (1986). Survey of research methods. California: Wadsworth
Publishing Company.
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46
APPENDIX
Questionnaire for Teachers
The information being sought for an academic research works and has no legal implication
whatsoever. Any information given would be treated with the highest degree of confidentiality.
Feel free to respond to the questions as sincerely and objectives as possible. Instruction:
Underline the appropriate one
Section A
I would be glad if you could kindly responds to the questions below.
(1) Can lack of reading book lead to pupils inability to read?
Yes [
No [
No [
No [
No [
No [
No [
No [
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No [
No [
(3) Can pupils performance in reading be improved by using appropriate teaching and learning
materials?
48