CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the introduction which is subdivided into background to

the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study,

research questions, significance of the study, limitations, delimitations and organisation

of the study.

Background to the study

It has been acknowledged generally that the act of reading plays a very

important and significant role in the education. Educational system worldwide demands

a lot of reading in the process of learning. The ability of an individual to read fluently

and understand what he/she reads is an indication of general intellectual ability. The

encouragement and teaching of reading is the whole responsibility of the school since

the school is endowed with educational resources to ensure the educational success and

competence of the individual.

The increasing importance of reading in the English language is widely

recognised as a success in any form of education and training and at the work place

generally depends upon the ability to read, understand and use English effectively. It is

obvious that, in our educational system, all subjects with the exception of Ghanaian

languages are supposed to be answered in English language. It is also a known fact that

English language is the official language in Ghana. The act of reading is indeed an

interaction between what the readers know from what they read and what the writer

writes.

It is obvious that the importance of reading in our educational set-up cannot be

under-estimated. This calls for the need to carry out a very comprehensive action

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research on the problem of poor reading ability among five basic six pupils of Fodome

Amele E.P. Primary School in order to improve upon the performance in reading

English Language.

Fodome Amele is situated some 11 miles from Hohoe in the Volta Region of

Ghana. The people of Fodome have their root at Notsie in the Republic of Togo where

they bore the name “Yeveawo”. History has it that the forebears of Fodome were noted

for their longevity. It is also a fact that Fodome in the Hohoe municipality of Volta is a

section of Abutia people.

According to history, Fodome people migrated from their ancestral

brother and sister at Abutia, Foli a renowned hunter, the first son of the leader of Abutia

from a hunting expedition noted that his father had sacrifice his Junior brother for a

ritual to establish chieftaincy black-stool. He in anger fed from his father’s home to

settle on one of his hunting ground known as Fodome. Years later, upon the news of

Foli’s death, many of the Abutia people traveled to his father to pay homage and there

came the name “Folidome” which means “Foli’s grave” which finally was corrupted to

be “Fodome”. The people found the land (Fodome) very attractive and therefore

decided to remain there.

People of Abutia and Fodome are one people and some ethnic people from

common root. Fodome people speak Ewe. Their population is about eight hundred plus.

Their main occupation is subsistence farming and petty trading.

Some of the children go to farm before coming to school and others sell

before getting money to come to school. This causes lateness and absenteeism on the

part of the pupils and has affected teaching and learning in the school.

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 This has resulted in poor academic performance of pupils more especially in

reading of which the researcher stand to assist pupils to improve their reading abilities.

Because of the farming activities, most parents do not pay attention to their

wards education. They do not see the importance of education and this affects the

studies of the pupils. Some parents in the community sometimes ask permission to take

their wards to farm and also to convey farm produce to the market on market days few

people in the community are sociable whiles the rest are not approachable. The

economics status of the people in the community is not up to standard so the pupils do

not get all the necessary items for studies, which also affect their academic

performance.

Statement of the Problem

The researcher identified the problem through observation during the two weeks

observation of the in-in-out programme at Fodome Amele E.P. Primary School. She

observed a lesson which was delivered by the mentor and realised that the pupils had a

problem with reading, this observation was made when the mentor was teaching reading

comprehension and then took the pupils through several model reading and yet they

could not read a sentence on their own. She observed the same problem when her co-

mentee was also teaching reading comprehension and then pupils were finding it

difficult to read simple sentences after her. Having realised that they need to helped in

English language that was why the researcher choose the topic “developing strategies to

help improve the reading ability among five basic six pupils”.

Purpose of the Study

Generally, this project aims at achieving the following objectives at the end of

the studies.

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 1. to identify the causes of pupils’ inability to read English language.

2. to identify the effects of pupils’ inability to read on their academic performance.

3. to develop and apply curative measures and strategies to help five pupils in basic

six of Fodome Amele E.P. Primary School to improve upon their reading ability.

Research Questions

This research is designed to answer the following questions in a bid to find the

possible solution to the problem.

1. What are the causes of pupils’ inability to read English Language?

2. What are the effects of pupils’ inability to read on their academic performance?

3. What are the curative measures and strategies to help improve upon the reading

ability of five basic six pupils of Fodome Amele E.P. Primary School.

Significance of the Study

When the project is completed, it will benefits the following people.

1. Parents will benefit from it because their children will be able to read and by so

doing, they will be able to perform well in examination. When they perform well

in examination and they are gainfully employed, they will not become burden on

the parents

2. Ghana Education Service will also benefit from the study because when the

researcher’s suggestions and findings or recommendations are put into practice,

other teachers can use her methods to improve their teaching techniques for

reading lessons.

3. The study will also expand the knowledge of pupils in Fodome Amele E.P.

Primary School in particular and Ghanaian learners at the basic level in general

to improve their reading skills.

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 Limitations

The researcher’s efforts were limited by certain constraints while carrying out

her project work. Some of them are getting time for intervention teaching alongside the

sample selected for research. Also, the pupils selected absent themselves from school at

times which made it impossible for the intervention to take place smoothly.

Delimitations

The researcher restricted her study on reading and not any other aspect of

English because the problem was identified during her in-in-out segment of the off-

campus teaching practice and she has to write lesson note, mark exercises and

assignments and prepare teaching and learning materials, which will take part of her

time. The researcher was once again restricted to only five basic six pupils of Fodome

Amele E.P. Primary School because that was the particular class and pupils the

researcher encountered the problem with. The scope of the issue was also confined to

identify the possible causes of poor reading ability in English among these pupils and to

develop possible strategies to find solutions to the problem.

Organisation of the Study

The work was divided into five main chapters. They are as follows:

Chapter One: this chapter is called the introduction. It is made up of the background to

the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions,

significance of the study, limitations, delimitation and organisation of the study.

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Chapter Two: This chapter is called the literature review and is made up of review of

earlier study on similar topic. It deals with the work of earlier researchers, it looks at

what others have said about the topic under study.

Chapter Three: this chapter is called methodology. Under this chapter, the following

topics were treated. The research design, population and sample, research instruments,

pre-test, post-test and intervention.

Chapter Four: This chapter is called presentation of findings, results and the

interventions.

Chapter Five: This chapter deals with summary, conclusion and recommendations.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

In an attempt to design an intervention to the reading difficulties of five primary

six pupils of Fodome Amele E.P. Primary School, some literature was consulted. This

chapter talks about how certain journals, magazines, books, encyclopaedias and

individuals have brought out their views about reading as an aspect of the English

Language.

The literature will be reviewed under the following headings;

(i) The meaning of reading

(ii) The importance of reading

(iii) Causes of reading difficulties

(iv) Impact of pupils inability to read

(v) The approach used in teaching reading

The Meaning of Reading

Reading can be said to be the best process of understanding a written linguistic

message, putting into use or making use of the sense of sight and touch. It can also be

explained as the process of retrieving and comprehending some of stored information or

idea.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, to read is to comprehend, utter

or read aloud by interpreting the true nature or meaning of someone or something

written or printed through close scrutiny to have the knowledge of a language necessary

to understand a literature.

S.W.K. Tsadidey (2012) defines reading as “the ability to hold converse with

written material or to get a message that has been set out in a written piece.”

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 The Cambridge International Dictionary of English sees reading as “the skills or

activity of getting information from words”

According to Reza Abbasi (2015), reading is a complex cognitive process of

decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning. It is a means of language

acquisition of communication and of sharing information and ideas. Like all language, it

is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s

prior knowledge, experience, attitude and language community which is culturally and

socially situated. The reading process requires continuous practice, development and

refinement. In addition, reading requires creativity and critical analysis. Consumers of

literature make ventured with each piece, innately deviating from literal words to create

images that make sense to them in the unfamiliar places the text describe.

Because reading is such a complex process, it cannot be controlled or restricted

to one or two interpretations. There are no concrete laws in reading, but rather allows

readers an escape to produce their own products introspectively. This promotes deep

exploration of texts during interpretation. In effect, reading can be viewed as the act of

practicing by a reader to reading aloud with the mentality of understanding meaning

from print by the brain.

According to Longman Contemporary English Dictionary (2015), “Reading is the

ability to look at written words and understand what they mean. This means that, inability to

read is the inability to identify written words and understand what they mean. Therefore,

children with this problem should be helped to overcome the task in order to improve upon

their performances.

The book “Teaching English in Basic School” (2012) by Seth Ayivi-Tosua,

Asamoah and Wiafe described reading as “ability to gather information from print.” This

suggests that reading enables individuals to gain access to information that are vital to their

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day-to-day activities so, pupils with reading disability will surely miss this opportunity if

they are not helped to overcome this problem hence the need for the researcher to investigate

into the causes of the problem and finding solution to the task, she identified to work on.

The Importance of Reading

Reading as described in the earlier stage of this chapter has a lot of significance in

the child’s educational plans.

As part of the benefits of education, every community is pleased to see its

citizens being able to read with understanding.

The Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard (2015), talks about reading this

way. It would be almost impossible for a child to reach school going age without

appreciating that reading is important, useful and socially accepted activity. It continued

that most schools aimed at encouraging pupils to see reading as a valued activity,

capable of enhancing the reader’s reading pleasure; that is a reader who suddenly bursts

out laughing should not be taken as madness, but, simply a reaction emotionally to the

message he has gotten from that particular print. Reading widens pupils’ knowledge and

enables them to function successfully in a society. Schools aim at teaching children to

move from experienced readers, who require considerable support, to readers who are

able to read wide variety of texts for different purposes. This may perhaps convince us

that we, as teachers, are going to be able to help our pupils to play their part effectively

in the global village in whose life the printed words play such important role.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia (2015), reading helps in functional

literacy. This means that people read road signs for proper driving, maps, and labels on

chemical substances as to how to apply or take them. In addition, people read books,

dairies, magazines and other documented materials for personal information. Many

people also read to learn more about their special interest such as sports, the science,

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and geography and so on. All those point to the fact that reading helps develop the

individuals’ educational skills. It is also sharpens the readers’ literacy so as to broaden

his or her outlook.

S.W.K. Tsadidey says “reading could be said to be the door to communication

with sages over the years to the fountain of wisdom”. No wonder, the library can be said

to be the literates’ kitchen. Home, pupils, teachers and every learner reads from books

written by people of old to prepare themselves by way of upgrading knowledge. We are

able to communicate with great scholars like David Ben-Gurion, Calvert Watins, and

William Morris through their work even though we could not have the opportunity to

talk to them verbally.

According to the same author (S.W.K. Tsadidey 2012:31), reading as an

educational skill, is important because it is the self-reliant tool for learning a skill that

opens the door to physical, emotional and the intellectual world. To profit from formal

education depends largely on the quality and quantity of reading that the individual

does.

As outlined above, reading plays a very vital role in formal education. In the

sense that, every information needed in order to be successful is acquired through

reading. Subjects such as English Language, Science, Religious and Moral Education,

social studies etc. all require extensive reading in order to make good grades. Questions

in Mathematics based on story problems cannot be answered correctly without reading

as they are being presented in written forms. Without reading, pupils or students cannot

answer questions in the various subjects when writing exams as they will not be able to

know the requirement not to talk of meeting them.

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 It is therefore very important for the researcher to take reading lessons seriously

since the betterment of the child’s education is strongly based on the child’s ability to

read and understand.

Reading exercises our brains. Reading is much more complex task for the human

brain, than say watching TV is. Reading strengthens brains connection and actually builds

new connections.

Reading improves a child’s vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language

skills and improves the child’s ability to write well. This is because children learn new

words as they read but also because they unconsciously absorb information as they read

about things like how to structure sentences and how to use words and language effectively.

Reading develops a child’s imagination. This is because when we read our brains

translate the descriptions we read of people, places and things into pictures. When we

engage in story, we are also imagining how the characters are feeling. We use our own

experience to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.

Causes of Pupils’ Inability to Read a Book

Reading Strategies (2012), by Robert J. Tierney and John E. Radiance stated that,

“Students gain exposure to wide varieties of reading materials” since the reading materials

in our school are inadequate, students are finding it difficult to have access to varieties of

reading materials and with this how can they be exposed to varieties of reading material?

As quoted above, when children are given the opportunity to have access to varieties

of reading materials, they can be exposed to reading of the materials such as: newspapers,

magazines and story books written by their own peers.

To Robert J. Tierney and John E. Radians in their book entitled “Reading Strategies

and Practices” (2012), they argued that, “Students receive important personal direction from

the teachers.” But the situation is that the methods used by the class teacher in teaching the

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reading aspect of the English Language were never the best. Everything was based in L 1 and

the teacher failed to stress individualized reading programme. Therefore how can these

children with reading disabilities overcome the problem hence the need to change the

method of teaching reading in our basic schools.

In the book Extending Beginning Reading (2013) by Vera Southgate, Helen Arnold

and Sandra Johnson. They also argued that, “when children leave Primary School, they

should be able to read with fluency, understanding and enjoyment.” But the situation is that,

children lack interest in reading therefore how can they read with understanding, enjoyment

and fluency before leaving the primary school?

There is an adage that, “practice makes man perfect.” But the case is that parents

failed to provide their children with reading materials which could be of help to them by

improving on their personal reading ability positively hence the need to address this problem

with concrete approaches thereby assisting the children to improve upon their reading

ability.

Environmental factors such as harsh parents’ excessive use of punishment to force

children to learn. This makes the child to develop hatred for learning. Inadequate facilities

for learning at home and child labour, hence he or she comes to school very tired.

According to Tsadidey (2012), the causes of English disability are many and varied.

The sounds of the alphabets in our Ghanaian languages never change unlike those of the

English language. For example, the shape “a” represents the sound /a/ in our Ghanaian

language. No matter where it is found it never changes. But in English, the shape “a”

represents the sound /ӕ/ as in “man.” It also represents the sound /o/ as in “tall”. This is

quite confusing and the irregularity discourages people from developing the habit of reading

English some people also develop disability in English reading due to their inability to speak

fluently and also their low level of interest in books and pictures.

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 According to J.C Gagg (2014), some children are forced to read at a too early age.

This kills their spirit towards reading hence developing hatred for reading. Many teachers

also presume that the previous teachers have taught the beginning of reading. Little did they

know that the children have insufficient knowledge of the infant stages of reading such

children end up disliking the act of reading. Another cause of reading disability is the

unavailability of suitable reading books. Some of the books may be uninteresting to

children, their illustrations may be poor, the print may be too small or too complicated or

their vocabulary control may be bad. That is, children may become frustrated at a page full

of new words, however simple they may be. All these are likely to cause English reading

disability in our schools.

Impacts of Pupil’s Inability to Read

Smith in his book named Understanding Reading (2014) stated that, reading helps

pupils in extracting information from a print.” This implies that, pupil’s performance in

other subject areas become poor. Since they cannot read, how will they be able to extract

information from a print that will be meaningful to them?

Frank Smith (2014) argues that, “what children learn and think about in literacy is

largely determined by the practices and attitude of the teacher towards the teaching and the

methods used in teaching reading has made the pupils lack interest in reading.

Frank Smith (2014) again stated that, “Reading enables children to become objects

of their own behaviour. This means that, reading has a lot to do in the child’s educational

journey but in a situation that they cannot read, it can lead to poor academic performance

where the child’s dream of becoming prominent personnel would not be achieved.

Moreover, being unable to read properly does not always harm people in life, but it

certainly lessens one’s options regarding work and education. Some people who have made

a success of their lives will think that being able to read is not that important, but they would

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be wrong because reading could actually take their lives to a whole new level of

achievement, through gossip magazines. If there is a big discussion about a prominent news

story, which initially broke in a newspaper then although watching reports on TV or hearing

reports on the radio will give people the basic information about a story, those who cannot

read will have been denied the opportunity to have read about it as it happened. There is the

feeling that sometimes those who cannot read will feel left out.

Another problem for people unable to read is dealing with bureaucracy. We all have

a minefield of forms to fill in during our lives and they can be problematical for people who

can read, let alone those who can’t. Some people will not be given the help that they are

entitled to, sometimes because they can’t read and are too embarrassed to ask for help and

explanations.

Literacy rates around the world may have improved, but they are still too low and

when literacy levels are low it really shames society itself. It seems that society isn’t trying

hard enough to be inclusive to, in particular poorer sections of society.

Approaches Used In Teaching Reading

The Eclectic Approach

The eclectic approach is the intervention used by the researcher to help solve the

reading difficulties pertaining to five Primary Six pupils of Fodome Amele E.P primary

school.

Tsadidey (2012) sees the eclectic approach as a combination of two or more of

the methods of teaching English Language to help pupils read well. This, he said, will

make room for innovations. Since the use of pupils different methods will help the

teacher to identify the suitable method for his or her pupils.

The researcher therefore employs the eclectic approach in her work to make a

more comprehensive one. In reality, a method that will suit pupils at Logba-Vuinta may

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not suit pupils of Fodome Amele where the researcher is having her internship

programme.

This disparity can be due to the socio-economic activities and environmental factors. A

methods which will be able at cater for a child under all conditions is the eclectic

approach.

The Phonic Method

The two major methods employed by the researcher in this work are the syllabic

and the phonic method which are under the Eclectic Approach.

Teaching English in Basic Schools, a book printed by the Teacher Education

Division (2012, pg.89) states that the phonic method is a good teaching technique to

teaching reading. It further states that, in using this method, the child reads new words

by saying the sound together and pronounces the word.

According to the World Book Encyclopaedia (2015 pg. 159), the phonic method

teaches children to relate letters to sounds. Using phonic principles, pupils learn to

associate correct sounds with each part of a word and to recognize and pronounce

words.

S.W.K. Tsadidey (2012 pg. 41) sees the phonic method as a technique which lays

emphasis on the individual letters making up the word. He said “We should call it

reading by spelling”. Here, the child pronounces the letters forming the word before

saying it. Example p-i-g = pig, c-u-p- = cup, p-e-n = pen.

Tsadidey added that while this method helps the child to embolden his efforts

and to spell or pronounce some words that may be completely new to him, it has some

limitations. But before that, let’s look at some advantages.

(i) It helps pupils to work out the pronunciation of new words without the teacher’s

guide.

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(ii) It helps pupils to train themselves in the left to right eye movement since letters

have to be sounded in the right order from left to right.

(iii) The knowledge of phonics enables a person to determine the sounds of many

unfamiliar words. (World Book Encyclopaedia).

Demerits of the Phonic Method

i. The pupils can become so involved in the sounding out individual letters that

they may forget about the rest of the sentences.

ii. English letters sounding can be very irregular. Sometimes, the same letter is

pronounced differently under different circumstances. For example, the letter

“a” in “fame” and “fall” are pronounced differently. (Teaching English in

Basic Schools)

The Syllabic Technique

This is one of the techniques employed by the researcher in this project work

which together with the phonic method constituted the eclectic approach.

Teaching English by Teacher Education Division (2012 pg. 95) talks about the

syllabic method this way;

When children are able to recognize letters, you can get them concentrate or help them

read letters which are put together to make syllables. The selected word should either

begin with a consonant or end with a vowel. Example is to-ma-to. According to S.W.K.

Tsadidey, (2004 pg. 42) in using syllabic method, the child is taught how to read letters

put together to make syllables. He went on to say that the selected words either begin in

consonants or end in vowels. Examples /no/, /be/.

Teaching English by Teacher Education Division further stated that, the syllabic

method can, be used to teach pupils reading with the use of simple activity.

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The activity becomes helpful when pupils find it very difficult pronouncing a word.

Here is the activity

i. Indicate to pupils that you will raise one finger and it signifies the first syllable

of the word.

ii. A second finger means the second syllable. So, when you raise a second finger,

you expect them to pronounce the second syllable of the word.

iii. But should the two be raised together, pupils shall pronounce the two syllables

together.

Example; The word “pencil”, pupils will be expected to pronounce the first syllable

(pen) upon seeing the first finger raised. The second finger when raised signifies the

syllable (cil) which is second.

The two fingers raised together expect the pupils to pronounce the two syllables,

which is “pen – cil”.

We are advised that the same activity can be used for three (3), four (4) syllabic

words, if pupils master the activity.

Advantages of the Syllabic Technique

i. It helps the children to learn new words.

ii. Another major benefit of this method is that it helps children to progress very

fast at the initial stage. Since it becomes very easy to read a host of disyllabic

words (S.W.K. Tsadidey).

Disadvantages of the Syllabic Technique

i. Reading by syllables is very slow and pupils can therefore, not read very fast.

ii. English as an intonation language observed stress patterns seriously and that not

all words are stressing each and every single syllable when reading.

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 In short, the mastering of the phonic and syllabic technique will go a long way

to help pupils to read with little or no difficulty. Pupils are therefore given the

opportunity to read on their own without the supervision of a teacher.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methods used for this study. It talks about the research

design, the population and sample selection, research instruments as well as data

collection procedures. The chapter ends with the data analysis plan of the whole

methodology process.

Research Design

This is an action research conducted by the researcher. This design aims at

improving the problem related issues and through practical change. It makes the teacher

understand what actually goes on in the teaching and learning process hence, being

critical with their own practices and to be prepared to change, promote their personal

development as well as the pupils involved. It employs other people as part of its shared

enquiry and thus makes it collaborative.

The design has a lot advantages. Some of them are;

1. It encourages teachers to be aware of their own practice to be critical of that practice

and to be prepared to change.

2. It is participatory in the sense that it involves the teacher in its enquiry.

3. It is also collaborative in the sense that it involves other people as part of the shared

enquiry

The design also has its weakness. The following are some of them:

1. The problems are posed when the population involved does not co-operate to solve

the problems.

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2. The time interval allotted to this research is also a problem. This period is normally

very short for the researcher to conduct a very comprehensive action research of

nature.

Population and Sample Selection

The population involved in this research work was the Primary Six (6) pupils of

Fodome Amele E.P Primary School. The total population of the school is two hundred

and eight (208). Much. Much emphasis is on the five pupils who happened to be in

primary six. The sampled population was chosen based on their reading abilities.

The type of sampling used by the researcher is the probability (Random)

sampling. This sampling used by the researcher is the probability rules in the selection

process. With this, every member or unit of the population or sub-group has an equal

calculation and non-zero probability of being selected.

Moreover, the researcher used probability sampling due to:

i. Its high reliability

ii. Its high degree of representatives.

A reading test organized exhibited that, this group of five pupils in primary six

(6) have great reading difficulties and that was the main reason why the researcher

intended to conduct this research on them.

Research Instruments

The researcher captured the mode of her findings under this topic. On five

pupils, the researcher went into how they read and why they had difficulties in reading

resulting in their performance which is below average.

The two major instruments used in collecting data on pupils are:

i. The observation

ii. Test (Reading)

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 Observation which is the act or faculty of paying attention or noticing a

phenomenon often with instruments and recording it for scientific or other purposes. In

a research work, it is said to be a process of watching something or someone for a

period of time in order to find out an answer or solution to a problem.

Initially, a general observation was made on the sample population during an

English reading and Comprehension exercise. After two weeks stay at the school, the

researcher realized that the sampled population needed much attention. Afterwards, a

more careful observation was done.

The activities, attitudes and behaviour of these pupils were poor during reading

lessons. The class was absent-minded; they either looked in the book without extracting,

meaning or look at the instructor with boredom. Information gathered on them from

teachers and parents revealed that the pupil have less interest in reading. The

observation was done to assess pupils’ performance, particularly in English Language.

Based on this, an intervention was designed to aid the pupils to improve upon their

reading. To confirm this observation, the second instrument was employed by the

researcher which was Test.

A test can be explained as a tool or device for measuring a sample of behaviour.

To help diagnose this problem of reading difficulties among these pupils, the test

underwent three (3) stages namely;

Pre-test I and II

Testing stage.

Post-test

In the pre-test I, a short passage from pupils English Reading Book six was

given to pupils to read. In fact, this test was conducted to identify the specific reading

problem of these pupils.

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 In pre-test II, sentences were given to pupils to read. Words of four and five

letters were also given to them to pronounce. At the testing stage, the researcher used

the phonic and syllabic technique to design the intervention to improve upon the pupils’

read reading. The post-test was used to determine the effectiveness of the interventions

used.

Data Collection Procedure

The researcher followed three steps in assembling the data for this work.

These are:

i. The pre-intervention stage.

ii. Intervention stage

iii. Post-intervention

An intervention is a set of strategies planned and implemented to a specific

problem or improve upon educational practice located in an immediate situation.

Pre-Intervention Stage

At the pre-intervention stage, two different activities were undertaken. This

stage had the pre-test I and II.

Pre-test I

This was a short passage taken from the Primary school English book Six (6)

page 13.

We are going to look at how, as adolescents, we keep ourselves healthy and

remain safe for your roles as adults in the society.

Health means wellbeing. When a person is healthy, it means he or she has no

disease or injury to disturb the normal working of the body or any part of it.

21
Young people between the ages of thirteen and sixteen tend to grow very fast. This

shows that nature is making them ready for their roles in adult life. The reproductive

organs in particular, begins to develop more fully.

Boys tends to grow tall and big.

Their muscles become tough. Their voices break. They become strong and active.

Girls, especially, show definite signs of growth and change. Their hips becomes broad

and their shapes or figures become rounder. They look more like grown-up women.

With the first flow of blood from their bodies, they get the feeling that nature is giving

them signs that they can have babies if they have sex with men.

This reading test was actually conducted to identify specific difficulties those

pupils have in reading. This took a lot of time as pupils were asked to read on their own

with little assistance from the researcher. The fifteen (15) underlined words were those

the pupils could not pronounce.

Pre-test II

Not too long after the first test, the researcher conducted another test based on

simple sentences. This was based on the fact that in the first test, the pupils could not

read the passage and they could only do so after the teacher had read for them to repeat

after her. The following were sentences used.

i. We carried on playing football in spite of the weather.

ii. Evans thanked the speaker on behalf of the whole class.

iii. The garage is at the front of the building.

iv. Was Mrs. Ameko’s illness serious or not?

v. Do you have a favourite drink?

The sentences above were not above the pupils. Yet, they were unable to read.

On the average, the underlined words were those the pupils could not tackle during the

22
test. Here the inability of the pupils to read was perhaps attributed to the lengthy nature

of some of the sentences.

These words were used to climax the pupils’ effort in four and five words. As it

was done in the first test, pupils pronounce selected words with some rhyming one after

the other.

bore hour bought refuse

ache figure check Republic

ability adopt news bake

regretted council bowl candidate

dark calm vote bulk

The underlined words above were found to be difficult for pupils to pronounce.

Below are some of the problems realized to be associated with the pupils’ inability to

read properly;

i. Failure to take the pupils through enough pre-reading activities by previous

teachers.

ii. Inappropriate reading methods and the absence of teaching and learning

materials in reading lessons.

The researcher went on to design the following interventions to help improve

upon the reading of the pupils in Primary Six (6) at Fodome Amele E.P Primary

School.

Interventions

It is believed that nothing happens under this sun without a cause.

The problems and causes outlined and stated above come with these activities to help

rectify the situation.

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 The Use of the Phonic Method

This method was used to help pupils to recognize the sounds produce by

particular letter or group of letters. With this, the researcher guided the pupils to read

words rather than spelling them. With the introduction of this technique, the researcher

did not ask the pupils to spell out the letters as it appears in the word “b-o-o-k”, but

rather, she assisted them to identify the phonic sounds of some of the letters of the

phonic symbols which were used.

Though it was particularly impossible for the researcher to teach every sound

mentioned in different words, the following sounds were introduced to the pupils as part

of the phonic instruction. These were vowels and some two, three letter words. For

example, /a/as in am, an, act, at, hat and rat. The letter “a” sometimes sounds as /ɔ / as

in ball, call, tall, and small.

The activity went on leading to the introduction of the /i/ sound. We identify it

in words such as bit, fit, hit, etc. The letter “e” was introduced later with emphasis on

cases where it sounded /ε/ as in pet, net, test, best, nest, etc. Sounds like /θ/ and /∫/ as in

“th” and “ch” respectively were not hidden from the pupils. The pupils were taught

the /in/ sound as ‘ing. These phonic sounds mentioned above were used to form words.

Example, the /θ/ sound in these, those, them, that. The /∫/ sound as in words like such,

church, touch, lunch. The /in/ as found in – “ing” was used in the following words;

going, crying, praying, buying, spraying etc. The researcher ended the phonic procedure

by introducing to pupils the /ea/ combination as in eat, tea, beat and neat.

The Syllabic Technique Used

After the researcher had taken the pupils through the phonic method, it was

discovered that, the pupils still had problems in pronouncing six, seven letter words.

This compelled the researcher to employ the syllabic technique in his work.

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The emphasis here was helping them to read letters put together to make syllables.

The words selected had either consonants as first letter or ending with vowels.

Examples of some of the words used are illustrated below:

lyrics ly-ricks

topic to-pic

maximum ma-xi-mum

holiday ho-li-day

shadow sha-dow

television te-le-vi-sion

dominate do-mi-nate

stranger stran-ger

educated e-du-ca-ted

handsome hand-some

The researcher pointed to the words above written on the chalkboard for pupils

to mention. The first syllable is pointed at, followed by the second syllable. The two

syllables are then put together to make the whole word which is pronounced by the

pupils.

After the researcher had taken the pupils through this method, all the words that

the pupils could not read during the pre-test were made available to them again.

This was to check the extent of learning and the degree of absorption, the credibility of

the methods used and the pupils’ ability to implement the methods into real reading.

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 A post-test was therefore conducted to verify the extent to which pupils

responded to the techniques used and it was realized that, the pupils were able to read

almost all the words given to them with no difficulties.

Post - Test
As noted earlier on, the researcher repeated the similar test conducted at the pre-
test stages to make a final conclusion of the pupils’ level of attainment after the
interventions. The same passage in pre-test I was read again. Below is an analysis of the
outcome of the various tests conducted at this stage.
Post –Test I

bore hair check ability

refuse bowl bought dark

vote bake (ache) (regretted)

council candidate news

adopt calm

Only two words out of the nineteen words given to pupils to pronounce were

noticed to be wrong. These are the circled words. Researcher commended the effort of

the pupils and encouraged them to keep it up.

Post Test II

The pupils were given simple sentences to read.

i. Pink flowers are pretty.

ii. Days in November are hot

iii. Learning to drive a car is difficult

iv. River Volta is long

v. Was Ivy’s illness serious or not?

It was at this stage that the researcher observed a remarkable improvement in the

performance of the pupils. Nevertheless, the pupils read nicely.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter entails the results, findings and a discussion of the researcher’s

work. All data collected are statistically presented. In the presentation, tables are used

with variables and their corresponding percentages. In effect, four tables were

presented and discussed to depict the results of the study. Below is the first table which

covers the causes of pupils’ reading difficulties.

Causes of pupils’ reading difficulties

As noted earlier on, the major causes of the pupils’ reading difficulties were

lack of motivation, inadequate pre-reading activities, inadequate teaching-learning

materials and lack of continuous practice. The table above elaborated on those major

causes.

To begin with, lack of motivation by both parents and teachers was seen as a

major cause of pupils’ reading difficulties. A follow-up to the pupils’ houses revealed

that parents had no time for their ward, when he or she is reading and they tend to insult

him whenever he or she fumbles with the pronunciation of some words. This was

noticed anytime a child reads. Meanwhile, a careful observation conducted showed that,

the regular teacher never induced the pupils to read; rather she treated them with canes

27
the moment they read slowly. This made the pupils confused and reducing their interest

in reading.

The study also revealed that, inadequate pre-reading activities and inadequate

teaching and learning materials are essential tools necessary for the teaching and

learning process.

In conclusion, the question on the causes of the pupils’ reading difficulties were

discussed here and recommended that, teachers should go through the necessary reading

activities and use the necessary teaching learning materials before and during reading

lessons respectively.

Effectiveness of the eclectic approach

The syllabic and the phonic methods were used single handed during the initial

stage to help pupils to improve upon their reading. It was however observed by the

researcher that, those methods only have a small impact on the pupils reading

performance.

It was realised that the single method to teaching English reading which were

syllabic and phonic methods could not fully complete pupils reading objective

compared to the combined approach (Eclectic approach). For instance, this phonic

technique, even though helped learner to combine the sounds of individual letters to

pronounce a word, it does not present the understanding of the word to learners.

This goes on to buttress the fact that, each technique when used in isolation had

deficiencies.

The phonic and syllabic methods together presented to the pupils with a clear

and comprehensive pronunciation and reading exercise. The phonic method tried to help

the pupils with easy pronunciation of seventy to eight letter words.

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 It can be deduced that, the eclectic approach is the best approach that can be

used in teaching English reading since one method which works with pupils in school

may not work for pupils in another.

On the whole, the eclectic approach (phonic and syllabic methods) corrects the

shortfalls of each other and makes it the best approach for this study.

Findings of Pre-tests

This study had two different pre-tests. Pre-test I was a passage. Pre-Test II was

different simple sentences including some few letter words. Each of those tests was

scored over 100%.

The pre-test I (passage) had fifty (50) out of the total, which is 50%. This was

because, for a whole passage of about a hundred and forty (140) words, the pupils were

able to pronounce only sixty (60) to seventy (70) words

In pre-test II, (sentences) according to the table above records 20%. Lists of five

simple sentences were given to pupils to read but the pupils were able to read only one

sentence correctly and a few words in the other sentences. Learners had this percentage

because of the cumbersome nature of the pre-test I which seemed to have been reduced

to simple sentence which appeared very easy to read as compared to the whole passage.

Pupils’ ability to read was also described as low since they were found wanting with

simple sentences.

The last pre-test to help identify pupils’ reading problem was a list of some

words. Out of nineteen (19) words given, the pupils could mention but a few.

29
This accorded them thirty marks out of hundred (100) marks, which is 30%. The words

given were easy, yet learners could not pronounce them well, leading to such a low

percentage.

After the pre-test, it was realized from the table that learners have a very big problem in

reading.

Findings of Post-tests

This was conducted to check the pupils’ performance after the right intervention

had been introduced. A post-test given was conducted on each of the pre-test given to

the pupils. In similar way, the Post-test II had the similar words, and sentences just as in

the case of the pre-test II.

Post-test I had similar words used in the pre-test I. Only a few of the words were

the ones almost all the pupils could not mention. This attracted them a mark of ninety

90 out of hundred (100), that is 90%. This indicated that, a tremendous improvement

has been recorded relatively to pre-test I where we saw pupils scoring 30% with the

same words. This also meant that there had been a 60% increase in the way pupils

pronounce the words given them.

Eighty marks out of hundred 80% was recorded in the post II thus (sentences used).

The eclectic approach, according to this performance is the best in the teaching

of English reading. 80% is a high mark as compared to the performance before the

intervention. A difference of 60% was again recorded after these sentences had been

given to these pupils to read. However, it must be noted that similar sentences were

used again in the post-test II.

In the post-test I, the same passage pupils were given to read in the pre-test I,

was given to the pupils to read. The success of the intervention can also be felt here

since learners had progressed.

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 The researcher was finally very happy as she saw the tremendous improvement

in the pupils’ performance which generally was a positive one.

In sum, the intervention can be said to be the right intervention for those pupils

since there was a climax in the total performance of the pupils’ reading abilities.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter of the project work is made up of the summary of the whole study,

the conclusion and recommendations.

Summary of the study

The whole study was about using the eclectic approach teaching English reading

to help five (5) primary Six (6) pupils of Fodome Amele E.P Primary School to

overcome their reading difficulties.

The study revealed that the problem of the pupils was a result of four major

causes which were; lack of continuous practice, lack of motivation, inadequate pre-

reading activities and inadequate teaching and learning materials.

Based on this, a methodology for curbing these problems was designed in

chapter three (3). Probability (random) was used by the researcher when sampling.

Observation and tests were the major instruments used for the study. The

observation helped to assess all pupils’ performance while the test helped to identify

31
specific reading difficulties of the pupils. Basically, the phonic and the syllabic

techniques were the two main methods used for this research work.

The result of the entire study was presented finally in a tabular forms in this

chapter. The findings as well as the discussion, were found in this chapter. The chapter

in all had four (4) tables. The presentation of these tables was based on the research

questions used.

Recommendably, the study found out after these result that the intervention

(eclectic approach) used enabled the pupils to improve upon their reading. Reading

efficiency and competency, which were ten percent (10%) before the intervention saw a

drastic leap of seventy percent (70%) after was used.

Conclusions of the study

Generally speaking, this study is made up of four (4) major conclusions.

First, the study concluded that parents as well as teachers can motivate pupils in

their early reading stages.

Also, the use of teaching and learning can also improve upon pupils reading

skills. Teaching learning materials such as word cards, flash cards and pictures can be

used to boost pupils’ interest during reading lessons.

Furthermore, pre-reading activities must be introduced to pupils before formal

reading begins. The researcher eventually concluded that, the success of the teaching of

any formal educational matter lies greatly on both parents and teachers.

Recommendations of the study

Based on the results and the analysis of the findings of this study, the following

recommendations were made.

i. The Government should try to provide more reading materials for schools.

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 ii. Communities should also try to support education by helping build at least one

library for their community.

iii. Teachers should use teaching learning materials during English lessons

iv. More than one technique is recommended during English reading periods.

v. Parents should help by supporting the work of teaching whilst at home.

Suggestions for further study

In every human institution, problems are bound to emerge. But when it comes to

solving human problems such as the problem at hand, the difficulties encountered no

longer become problems but challenges. Such challenges can be over-ruled with

commitment and dedication to our course.

This study on the use of the eclectic approach to assisting pupils of Fodome

Amele E.P Primary School Basic Six (6) limited itself to the use of the phonic and the

syllabic techniques.

The researcher therefore suggested that further researchers who will take the

task of improving upon pupils’ reading ability should use other combinations of the

eclectic approach such as the look and say techniques, the holistic (sentence) technique

and other combination when necessary to cover more pupils’ reading problems.

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Robert K, (1971). Reading Strategies and Practice, fifth edition printed in U.S.A

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Tsadidey, S.W.K., (2012). The Principles and Practice of English Language Teaching, Ho:

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