An investigation into the factors for poor performance of grade twelve pupils in reading comprehension: A case study of selected High schools in Kalomo District
type: CreativeWork
description: There have been some concerns on the poor performance of pupils in reading comprehension from people in different fora. For instance during School Programme for In-Service for the Term (SPRINT) Meetings in schools, and Grade Twelve Marking Centers. Examiners and teachers have expressed this concern generally in Zambia. The concern is that generally Grade Twelve pupils do not perform well in Reading Comprehension. An analysis of the Examinations Council of Zambia examiners report on the 2007 Joint School Certificate and General Certificate of Education examinations also shows this weakness on the part of pupils in reading comprehension tasks. Reporting on the passage, the report indicates that more than fifty percent of the candidates scored below half the total mark in reading comprehension section; with some scoring as low as between 0 and 5 marks out of 20. The 2008 Examination Council of Zambia, Examiners’ report shows almost the same scenario. This state of affairs has raised concerns among education practitioners and officials in the country. However, the performance and reasons for the performance varies from one school to another. The focus of this study was to find out the reasons for the performance of grade twelve pupils in reading comprehension in the selected High Schools in Kalomo District. The study had (5) five main objectives and were: 1. Find out the teachers’ attitudes towards reading comprehension component. 2. Find out the rate of teachers’ planning and preparation for reading comprehension lessons. 3. Find out how a reading comprehension lesson proceeded in grade twelve classes observed in the selected schools in Kalomo District. 4. Find out the appropriancy of the materials used for teaching reading comprehension to the pupils. The study followed a descriptive research design. Interviews, observations and focus group discussions helped to derive the respondents’ opinion on the performance and reasons behind the performance in reading comprehens…
abstract: There have been some concerns on the poor performance of pupils in reading comprehension from people in different fora. For instance during School Programme for In-Service for the Term (SPRINT) Meetings in schools, and Grade Twelve Marking Centers. Examiners and teachers have expressed this concern generally in Zambia. The concern is that generally Grade Twelve pupils do not perform well in Reading Comprehension. An analysis of the Examinations Council of Zambia examiners report on the 2007 Joint School Certificate and General Certificate of Education examinations also shows this weakness on the part of pupils in reading comprehension tasks. Reporting on the passage, the report indicates that more than fifty percent of the candidates scored below half the total mark in reading comprehension section; with some scoring as low as between 0 and 5 marks out of 20. The 2008 Examination Council of Zambia, Examiners’ report shows almost the same scenario. This state of affairs has raised concerns among education practitioners and officials in the country. However, the performance and reasons for the performance varies from one school to another. The focus of this study was to find out the reasons for the performance of grade twelve pupils in reading comprehension in the selected High Schools in Kalomo District. The study had (5) five main objectives and were: 1. Find out the teachers’ attitudes towards reading comprehension component. 2. Find out the rate of teachers’ planning and preparation for reading comprehension lessons. 3. Find out how a reading comprehension lesson proceeded in grade twelve classes observed in the selected schools in Kalomo District. 4. Find out the appropriancy of the materials used for teaching reading comprehension to the pupils. The study followed a descriptive research design. Interviews, observations and focus group discussions helped to derive the respondents’ opinion on the performance and reasons behind the performance in reading comprehens…
author: Chazangwe, Victor
language: en
keywords: Reading(Secondary), Reading Comprehension
date published: 2011-12-07
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:06:47Z
provider: University of Zimbabwe
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zimbabwe