The Actual and Expected Reading Comprehension Ability of Grade Nine Students: Entoto Amba Secondary School in Focus.

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Date

2019-06

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to indicate the gap between the actual and expectedreading comprehension ability of grade nine students with reference to national andinternational reading competency expectations. In relation to this, an attempt was made toinvestigate what factor contributed to theactualreading performance of the students. To thisend, the present study employed descriptive research design, where both qualitativandquantitativdatacollectiontoolsandata analysis procedures were included.Accordingly,twoPETreadingtests,aquestionnaire,documentanalysis,aclassroomobservationchecklistandFry’sReadability Graph were used to collect relevant data. The tests were engaged to determinethe reading ability level grade nine students fall into. The students’ questionnaire was set toindicate the factors that contributed to the actual reading performance of the students. Readingcompetencies, reading texts, reading activities and reading tasks (given and suggested in GradeNine English Textbook, Grade Nine English Syllabus, a document by the Ministry of Educationand a document by CEFR) were inspected in an effort to identify the reading competenciesexpected and to determine the relevance of the chosen tests to the grade level. The classroom observation checklist, on its part, was set to identify the reading skills and strategies that weretreated in the sample classes, to take the observation as input for the reading test selection andto consider the implementation of the three phases of reading with their tasks. Fry’s Readabilitygraph was used to determine the readability grade level of the reading passages in Grade NineEnglish Textbook and the reading tests set for this study. Regarding administration of the tools,the reading tests and students’ questionnaire were administered to a sample of 373 students whowere selected from 21 sections, using the lottery method. The classroom observation was madein the 3 classes, which were selected using the lottery method. Determining readability gradelevel was done by selecting 3 sample passages from Grade Nine English Textbook and other 3from the reading tests. After the data was collected with all the mentioned tools, analysis and interpretations were made. The findings, based on the test results, indicated that all the samplestudents demonstrated reading ability that could identify them with a frustration ability level,where 22 (6.28%) were found to be at elementary reading ability level while the rest 328(93.71%) were at beginner level. The reading passages were of 7th grade readability level, andthe students were frustrated with the passages or found the passages too difficult to understand. A close investigation of the test results also revealed that the students’ performance was pooracross all the tested reading skills and strategies: understanding the message of short texts,reading for detailed information, scanning for specific information, understanding writer’spurpose, attitude and opinion, and completing gaps with grammar and vocabulary words. Theresults from the students’ questionnaire and the classroom observation substantiated the findings from the reading tests. Results from these tools authenticated the poor reading practice studentshad in school and at home, and the poor reading ability they demonstrated. Finally, on the basisof the results of the present study, some recommendations were forwarded. Theserecommendations call for revision of the English language course as an English Language Artscourse, which will provide contents, ideas, themes, issues, problems and conflicts found inclassical and contemporary literature and other texts such as technical manuals, periodicals,speeches and videos, on the part of the bodies concerned; use of additional literary readingmaterials and proper extensive reading guidance on the part of teachers; provision of readingmaterials in libraries and ICT rooms on the part of schools; provision of reading materials andsupport on the part of parents; and extensive reading practice on the part of students.

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Reading performance

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