Causes and effects of poor english reading skills of primary three learners. A case study of TTC Nyamata demonstration schools

Abstract

Literacy in reading is essential for all learning particularly in the information age. According to the report of National Examination and Schools Inspection Authority in 2022, primary three learners in Rwanda do not meet the standards of English literacy. This study, therefore, sought to assess the causes of poor English reading skills and the effects they impose to reading performance of primary three learners of TTC Nyamata Demonstration Schools in Bugesera District of Rwanda. Mixed methods were used to gather information on the study with quantitative as the major. Two hundred and thirteen (213) learners were randomly selected out of a population of four hundred and forty-five (445) learners from five schools under this study. Ten English teachers willingly agreed to take part in this research study. Thus, questionnaires, reading sub-tasks and classroom observations were analysed using SPSS to show respondent frequencies, mean and percentages. Regression analysis was also used to show the correlation between causes and effects of poor English reading. Qualitative data, on the other hand, came from semi-structured interview that were analysed thematically to verify information from quantitative data. The results show that, learners from private Demonstration schools performed better than those from public Demonstration schools of TTC Nyamata with the mean score of 7.23 for private schools and 2.03 for public schools in reading comprehension task which was graded out of 10. Poor English reading skills in specifically in public schools are caused by lack of English teachers’ relevant qualification, low teaching of foundational reading skills, namely; phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension; motivation and the unavailability of reading materials which also were more significant in public schools, whose materials availability mean is 2.04 than that of private schools which is 2.83. Further effect is that most of the assessments are administered in a form of text. As a result, learners' school achievement in both English and other courses are significantly impacted by poor reading skills in English. Based on these results, English teachers should give priority to effective teaching of reading skills and reserving enough time for reading. Parents should support children at home in their reading tasks, and the Ministry of Education should emphasize much on the training of both in pre-service and in-service teachers, providing reading materials and assigning qualified literacy teachers in lower primary including primary three level.