EVALUATION OF THE READABILITY OF BASIC SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS IN USE IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of students’ reading ability on their achievement in Basic science in the selected Junior Secondary School. The target population was 1,235 students of the school. A pre-test and post-test was administered in form 2 “A”,B” and “C” which comprised of 179 students. Cloze test was also administered in all the classes to determine the reading ability of the students in Basic science. The Cloze test contained 72 words with 10 words deleted at regular intervals. The statistical software SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used to analyse scores obtained from both Basic science test and Cloze test. Students were categorised into poor readers, average readers, good readers and excellent readers based on their performance in the Cloze test. The results revealed that many students of the selected Junior Secondary School including both sexes had poor reading ability because more than 50% of the students scored low marks in the Cloze test. Modified science teaching notes, core points and test to reduce their readability, impacted positively on the performance of the students in Basic science test. There was a significant difference in performance between male and female students of the school with the female outperforming the male in the Cloze test. It was also revealed that the male outperformed the female significantly in the Basic science test. It was therefore concluded, in conformity with other literature works, that reading ability of students impacts greatly on their performance in Basic science. Based on the finding of this study, it was recommended among others that Government and stakeholders should provide secondary schools with up-to-date library facilities that will foster reading among students. Teachers should also endeavour to collaborate effectively with each other to ensure that English and science are taught as a whole.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

Overview

This chapter highlights important sections of this study. It will lay foundation for the need and importance of the study. Also problem statement will be formulated and a diagnosis of the problem will be expounded.  A brief statement will be made on the objectives and significance of this study. Research questions would be outlined and this chapter will close up on limitations and delimitations of the study.

 

Background to the Study

Many factors interact to bring about learning and achievement in a test. In the teaching and learning of Basic science, learners are required to read various texts, make meaning out of them, carry out experiments and also respond to questions. They are expected to record the results obtained, make write-ups and demonstrate knowledge in many content areas. The important skill needed to achieve the above is reading skill. The reading performance of students may therefore adversely affect ability to learn, carry out experiments and demonstrate science achievement (Ireland, 1987).

Teachers of Basic science need to have an in-depth knowledge of the relationship between reading performance, the learning process and science achievement. Skill in reading cannot be underestimated in any aspect of learning. In all the sciences, students are required to engage in hands-on activities which require a strong ability to read and comprehend instructions. In every practical activity students will be expected to read and comprehend worksheets and the related text books recommended by the instructor.

Central to achievement in any subject in our educational system is the student’s ability to read a variety of print materials. Student-centred approaches to teaching can only be achieved through students’ aptitude in reading and comprehension of a variety of media content. The fact is that the teacher cannot achieve her/his set goals if the students cannot read and comprehend worksheets, textbooks and core points delivered during lessons. Many students who are struggling readers need to build more reading fluency before they can comprehend what they are reading in the content areas (Carnine & Carnine, 2004). It is therefore important that learners take practical steps towards acquiring higher reading abilities while the teacher facilitates the process by designing worksheets and core points that meet the reading ability of the students.

Educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success (Shoebottom, 2012). In other words, students who are good readers are more likely to do well in school and pass exams than students who are weak readers. It is evident that students with low reading performance score very poorly in achievement test though their school work and class participation indicates acquisition of appropriate content knowledge.

At the selected Junior Secondary School, the study area, Basic science is often taught using the chalk and board method. Teacher-centred approaches are frequently employed in the teaching of Basic science. Students are rarely required to manipulate equipment, or use worksheets to carry out practical activities. Students are frequently engaged in note-taking activities rather than hands-on practical activities contrary to the injunction that science students should be aided to acquire a high level of proficiency in the use of tools and equipment for scientific work (Ministry of Education, 2010). Teachers dictate or write prepared teaching notes on the chalkboard for students to copy. Regardless of the instructional method employed by the teacher, students will need some level of reading skills to enable them read the notes on the chalkboard.

The enormous emphasis put on knowledge and understanding means that students would need to learn and remember a lot of information and hence the use of science textbooks by both teachers and pupils is of utmost importance (Ghartey-Ampiah, 2006). In recent times, the Nigeria Education Service has supplied adequate GAST Basic science books for students to use and this has therefore reduced the overreliance on teacher-prepared notes.

The school has also supplied other recommended Basic science books to the students. Though these text books are available to students, the problem of language difficulty level of these science materials is quite glaring. Most of them are unable to read the books with comprehension

Textbooks for Basic science that are designed for essentially the same grade levels have a much greater range of reading difficulty (Johnson , 2000). It is suggested that teachers should select textbooks using the level of reading difficulty as a criterion, and that publishers need to take greater cognizance of the levels of reading difficulty of the textbooks they produce (Barton, Heidema, & Jordan, 2002). Approximately 60% of students at this school are low performance readers. Therefore, there is the need for texts, references, worksheets and testing instruments to be written at a language level that the students can read and understand.

In the selected Junior Secondary School, it is apparent that the poor performance of students over the past years in SSSCE/WASSCE (2009) and End-of-Term Examination results is partly due to the low reading performance of the students. Some of the students were unable to understand the material they read. Studies have indicated a direct correlation between reading performance and achievement in any subject of study (Pretorius & Ribbens, 2005). The local dialect in the community has also greatly impacted on the way students read, write and comprehend text. For instance, scripts marked by the English tutor contained sentences like “It is sympathy seeing the students “shaving”food on the floor”. This is a clear indication that the difficulty of pronouncing “Sh” as in shave and “S” as in serve has invariably affected the way students read and spell words. It is common in the school to encounter such problems.

 

Statement of the Problem

The problem of the language difficulty level of Basic science textual materials became apparent when students were given practical instruction worksheets to complete the task outlined. Students were to read each of the listed items one after the other and comply with the instructions. It was observed that many students were simply trying to copy other students’ procedures. The low ability readers were not sure of the activity to be performed apart from the fact that they knew the instructions had to be complied with. Most of the more daring students were asking many questions related to understanding the content, the directions, the hands-on activity to be completed and what was required in the final writeup. It was also clear from the end of term examination that most students’ scripts were written with little comprehension of what was required of them in the question paper. Once the worksheets or examination test items were explained in simpler language, the students found it relatively easy to complete worksheets. They also answered the questions correctly. The students’ inability to read and understand text in English language is even more obvious in both internal and external examinations. Many students merely copied the questions back into their answer booklets.  The WASSCE results analysis of Bongo JHS (2008, 2009, 2010), indicated that more than 70% of students who obtained “F9” in English also failed in science. Similar trends were observed in the end of term examinations.

Purpose of the Study

This study aims at evaluating students reading ability, analysing the language difficulty of both teaching notes and practical worksheets and developing easily readable text content for Basic science instruction. The objectives of this study are outlined below:

• To investigate the cause of the low proficiency in reading among form 2 “A”, “B” and “C” students of the selected school.
• To find out if there were differences in performance in science among Form 2

“A”, “B” and “C” students with varying degrees of proficiency in reading.

• To find out if there were differences in performance in science between male and female students of Form 2 “A”, “B” and “C”

Research Questions

This study focused on answering the following research questions;

1. What is the current level of reading ability of the JHS students in the selected school?
2. Will modification of the language difficulty of science material enable students with low reading ability to increase their scores in science test?
3. What is the difference in performance in science among low, average, good and excellent readers?
4. Do female students in Form 2 “A”, “B”, “C” who are proficient in English perform to the same extent as their male counterparts who are equally proficient in English language?

Significance of the Study

This study would be of immense benefit to science teachers, students and the research community at large. It will provide opportunity for low reading performance students who are often penalized in content areas (Hammill & Finkelstein, 1969). There are instances students acquire science content knowledge but are unable to adequately demonstrate high achievement in science test due to poor reading and comprehension skills. The following are highlights of the significance of this study; o It will prompt teachers to examine critically students who demonstrate poor performance in science achievement test. Most students grasp the basic science concept but are unable to effectively read and attain laurels in science test.

• It will afford low performance readers in the school the opportunity to adopt new strategies in reading science so as to enhance their performance in science test. o Most schools do not cultivate a culture of reading or have a dedicated reading or literacy period in their timetable which suggests that reading is not perceived as being central to learning (Pretorius & Ribbens, 2005). This research will re-eco the importance of reading as the most important and empowering skill that learners need in the learning context.
• It will serve as a source of reference or bases for other research that may be carried out in the school or elsewhere.
• Finally, this study will provide empirical data on the effects of reading performance of students in Basic science.

Delimitation

The study is focused on obtaining data on the effects of English proficiency on students’ performance in science as a broad subject. It did not focus on students’ ability and performance in only one topic in science. As outlined in the objectives, the teachers cognitive abilities in science was not covered.

Limitations

There are numerous limiting factors that would be encountered during the entire research period. Relevant issue of concern would be the tendency of target group absenting themselves from class. This is because a large percentage of the students in the selected

Junior Secondary School are day students and a minority especially the females are in boarding house. There is therefore the possibility that some students may occasionally stay away from school during the intervention period.

There is evidence that poor performance readers tend to hide their inability especially at the high school level (Alderson, 2000). The issue of identifying students with poor reading skills will require employing meticulous and carefully selected procedures so as to minimize errors in the final results obtained.

The most evident and unavoidable challenge is the large class sizes of Basic science coupled with a resource-poor environment. Professional and workable knowledge of how to handle large class sizes is an indispensible requirement for the success of this research. There is also no doubt that activity based science teaching in a resource-poor setting requires dedication and creativity on the part of the teacher (Erinosho, 2008).

Intervention period is short to achieve a complete and comprehensive data on reading performance of students. Reading and comprehension ability of students can be fully ascertained through a long period of interpersonal academic interaction with the students concerned. Unfortunately this research is time-bound and does not give the researcher a wide range of freedom.

Apart from that, the research is carried out in only the selected JHS year two (2) class and does not cover the entire school. Therefore data obtained would not necessarily reflect similar outcomes in the other classes or other Junior Secondary Schools.

Reading and comprehension of science text will only constitute a part of the problem. Other factors such as students’ ability to commit into memory and recall theories and facts and computational aspect of the sciences will not be covered. The effect of these other factors on science achievement could potentially mar the results obtained

Operational and Conceptual Definition of Terms

The relevant terms which need to be well defined for this research are;

• Science Achievement: In the school situation, science achievement refers to the student’s results on written tests both theory and practical at the end of the term. In this study, science achievement refers to a major topic test theory or practical items taken at the end of the topic
• Reading Performance: Reading performance is the reading level demonstrated

by the students at their stage.

EVALUATION OF THE READABILITY OF BASIC SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS IN USE IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

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