Abstract
The study investigated the determinants of students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools in Nsukka education zone of Enugu State. The purpose of the study, six research questions were posed and five null hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population for the study comprised 5878 (2949 male and 2929 female) JSS 3 students in public secondary schools in Nsukka education zone. Sample size of 312 JSS 3 students in public schools in Nsukka education zone was used in this study. The sample was drawn using multi-stage sampling technique. Questionnaire on Determinants of Students’ Reading Culture (QDSRC) was used to collect data for this study. The instrument (QDSRC) was face validated by two experts from Department of Arts Education and another from Science Education (Measurement & Evaluation) all in Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. An overall reliability index of 0.90 was obtained using Cronbach alpha method. The data obtained for the study were analyzed using means analysis to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that junior students in Nukka Education Zone portray bad reading habits and can be said to have a bad reading culture. Also, curriculum, social media, home background and location to a high extent influence students’ reading culture in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone whereas gender is not a significant factor on students’ reading culture. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that State and Local Governments should establish libraries in every local government and young readers’ club should be introduced in schools to promote and encourage reading among students.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Reading is the springboard of any literacy programme. It is one of the oldest habits of human civilization. It is recognized as an art capable of transforming man’s life and his entire society. Reading has been the passion of the greatest personalities of all times. An illiterate society is no doubt a limited society (Ngugi & Mberia, 2014). This is because reading serves as a tool for the access and enhancement of intellectual properties of people from generation to generation so as to ensure continuous human and societal transformations and developments. According to Rubin (2002), reading is a total integrative process that starts with the reader it and includes the affective, psychomotor, and cognitive domains. Okebukola (2004) affirms that, through reading, humans have the tools to transmit knowledge to each succeeding generation; it allows one to listen to the wisdom and people of the ages. This is emphasized by many different religious traditions. The Apostle Paul admonished Timothy in the holy Bible saying, “study to show yourself approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15). Islam also holds acquisition of knowledge (literacy, reading, etc.) in high esteem. The holy Qur’an revealed that the first communication (injunction) between Allah and Prophet Muhammad was knowledge-based, – Iqraa, meaning “read” or “recite” (Qur’an 96: 1-5). This implies that reading is not just for school, it is for life. Reading in all its variety is vital to being better informed, have a better understanding of us as well as others. It makes man to be a thoughtful and constructive contributor to a democratic and cohesive society. Oyedepo (2008) asserts that every committed reader is a potential leader. This suggests that a person who is committed to reading will not only become a leader, but a successful adult leader who is able to surmount the challenges and problems encountered in life. In other words, reading is synonymous with leadership because leaders are readers.
Reading is a very important issue which is not only about enjoyment but a necessity; the basic tool of education (Makotsi, 2005). Reading makes way for a better understanding of one’s own experiences and it can be an exciting voyage to self-discovery (Eyre, 2005). The importance of reading is a prerequisite for the appreciation of reading culture as vital tool for the enhancement of human intellectual abilities. More so, the act of reading serves as agent of human transformations by changing and enhancing the destiny of people for better or worse through their access to the intellectual properties of others that were written down. The flow of ideas cannot be stopped hence, one needs to read and research to build on good ideas and expose the destructive ones. Reading according to Holte (1998) adds quality to life and provides access to culture and cultural heritage. The nation as a political entity is not exempted from enjoying the benefit that emanate from reading populace. Reading enhances the application of recorded knowledge into use where the citizens can readily be mobilized for attainment of political, educational, social and economic goals of the nation (Mefor, 2011). Reading is of immense value for the success of every society as it imparts knowledge; hence, the ability to read should be highly valued because it is a precondition for social and economic advancement.
Reading empowers students to improve on their bulk of vocabulary hence; there is positive improvement on the written and spoken language of students that read voraciously because every unknown word or term is looked up in a dictionary (Divya, 2007). Reading is one of the language skills and it has other skills that are skimming scanning, intensive reading and extensive reading. Reading research shows that good readers read extensively, have a flexible reading style and rely on different skills. Raising students’ awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement students develop both the ability and habit of reading which improves their reading culture for excellence in all academic works.
The purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to literature written in different languages. It is assumed that students learn to read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar, and sentence, structure. Therefore, language has to be read for it to be learnt. The reading and understanding of different languages help in the general academic performance of students in all subjects. Therefore, the Contemporary Nigerian students depend on reading literature to improve on their command of English language or any other language and the habit of reading good literature helps them to decipher new words and phrases which may be encountered in everyday conversation. Furthermore, there is positive Improvement on the general academic performance of a student that makes out time to read interdisciplinary information materials. This is why reading professional information resources as daily routine and sticking to it improves one on his chosen career. The ability of a student to achieve the general objectives or purposes of formal education which is anchored on self development in order to achieve national development is highly interwoven with meaningful reading.
Emphatically, it may be difficult for students to attain meaningful development and growth if they do not make reading a part of their lives and culture because cultivating reading culture is an important developmental strategy to individuals and nations. Reading culture is a tradition of people who place high premium on reading such that they become active, engaged and avid readers (UNESCO, 2009). Consequently, students must have reading as their tradition and value system before they can be adjudged to have reading culture. Reading culture underscores the need to build in students’ enjoyment of their reading outside classroom in a way that can enhance their pleasure and help develop their critical eye so that they become enthusiastic and successful readers. Therefore, when students habitually and regularly read books and other information materials that are not necessarily required for them to advance in their profession or field of study, such students are said to have good reading culture.
Furthermore, reading culture entails inculcating reading and studying as part of societal value system and as basis for growth and development. It is the type that sees continuous and dedicated reading of information resources by pupils, children, students and adults for knowledge acquisitions, which will be practically applied for personal and national development. Reading culture is acquired as a result of quality formal and non- formal instruction in a number of languages, phonological awareness, vocabulary, text comprehension and active engagement with text (Ihuoma, 2012). Meanwhile, in the context of this study, reading culture implies the acts of consciously and consistently making reading a part of one’s life activity with the sole aim of being well grounded in general knowledge. However, reading habit is an uncontrollable passion for everyday reading until one gets accustomed to it as a pattern of living and value system; hence Reading habit leads to reading culture therefore they are not used interchangeably in this study.
The issue of declining reading culture in Nigeria and among junior secondary school students in particular has continued to pose a major challenge not only to the Government but also to parents, teachers and the society at large. The consequences, as observed have permeated the entire strata of the country therefore, making the quality of graduates from the nation’s schools to fall below standard. This implies surprisingly that students are also the victims of poor reading culture. According to Onifade (2012), there has been a growing concern that reading culture among Nigerians especially junior secondary school students has waned significantly, and that many students never borrow or read a book from their library throughout their stay in school. The absence of a widespread culture of reading in the case of Nigeria acts as an effective barrier to our development and international competitiveness. The economic, social and political health of our nation today depends on building literate citizens that are able to read widely and apply it practically for development. The poor state of reading culture among junior secondary school students may have adverse effect on the educational sector; therefore the situation deserves attention and improvement in order to enhance students’ contribution to development in the society. Unfortunately, observation has shown that some students who have poor reading culture may find it more challenging to complete class assignments (Ihuoma, 2012). More so, the poor performance of students in examinations may also be attributed to poor reading culture because some students begin active reading few days or hours before the examination day. This calls for attention since students have a lot of subjects to study and a lot of lengthy topics in the curriculum to read.
Curriculum is defined as the series of learning experiences offered by an educational institution to learners or a set of courses constituting an area of specialization According to Merriam (2013), curriculum is seen as the experiences learners have under the auspices of the school. The term curriculum is no longer viewed as a list of school subjects but as incorporating all learning experiences children have in school. There is no doubt that subject matter or content forms part of these experiences. Other activities organized for children in school are also considered as part of the curriculum (Igbokwe & Eze, 2009). However, these learning experiences children have in school may affect their reading culture. Some school curriculum is so wide that students have little or no time to make inquiries or go to library to read (Borisade, 2013). For instance, students in Junior Secondary Schools offer up to fifteen (15) subjects in a session and these subjects are loaded with lengthy topics. According to Aliva (2013), opined that overloading curriculum makes students over-burdened with school works and home tasks given by respective teachers. Overloaded curriculum especially that of junior secondary school was borne out of the fact that the intellectual subjects should be studied in order to broaden the knowledge of the students and make them relevant and knowledgeable in almost all areas. This idea loadable as it is no doubt increases the load on a student mind and his overall development is adversely affected especially his reading culture. Grame (2010) avowed that constant changes in the national curriculum are overloading schools and promoting a tick list approach to teaching and learning. That is, acute overload will only force schools or teachers to rush through subjects and drill students to pass examination not minding whether or not real learning has taken place. This situation will not allow students to read as expected of them. In support of this, Ilogho (2011) opined that school curriculum has failed to move students from the point of learning to read to the point in which they love to read. Rosenblatt as cited in Ilogho (2011) noted that students need to learn how to look at, to savor, the structure of image, idea, feeling, attitudes, during the process of evoking from the text. This emotional reaction induces students to read and contribute in developing their intrinsic motivation (Cole, 2002). If reading materials are motivating to learners, it increases their interest to reading texts instead of using social media.
The emergence of the internet has created an extraordinary change in the reading culture. It has made its existence, fully or partially, in the reading behavior of the people. Presently, reading is no longer confined to print reading. The scope of reading sources has changed drastically in the Internet revolution to include web sites, web pages, e-books, e-journals, e-papers, e-mail, discussion boards, chat rooms, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, and other multimedia documents (Ngugi & Mberia, 2014). Now the potential reader can access and browse the online information from the whole web while using his/her terminal at home. The internet is the communications platform on which digital media content can be delivered to a wide variety of devices, including desktop computers, wireless laptops, smart phones, and other mobile devices. Over the past few decades, the growth of digital media, the rise of the Internet, and the proliferation of mobile devices have combined to burst open the very meaning of mass media (Bolter & Grusin, 2000). The hypertext and hypermedia technologies allow the e-readers to go from one page to another by selecting links in various directions popularly known as surfing. Surfing of internet is defined by Polly (1992) as browsing the internet while going from one page to another. The internet surfing enables students to navigate a world full of interconnected information, discover new sites, read up-to-date information, and download things of interest. Surfing the internet has become a daily routine of the new generation.
Due to technological development, reading habits are changing. In our society today, while technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air (Hindu, 2004). Students now lack the love of reading educative materials. Instead they spend more hours on social media such as twitter, Facebook, 2go, Whatsapp among others. Frequent use of these social media seems to be a source of distractions to students in reading their necessary materials. Browsing the net, chatting with friends, passing non-stop SMSs, watching photos, pornography, playing music among others seem to be the order of the day, thereby making reading a book or any other piece of written material in a quiet or peaceful corner of a library or home become an archaic idea for most school children and adults (Hindu, 2004). However, usage of social media depends on students’ home background. This is because; students from poor home background might not have access to social as those from rich home background.
Home background is determined by the resources students have in their families. These resources influence what students possess to enable them acquire good reading culture. This implies that if students are provided with requisite learning materials and conducive learning environment in the school or at home, students reading culture would be enhanced and facilitated. Contributing to this view, Fiala and Sherietah (2008) posit that a number of factors at home are important as the process of becoming literate begins long before a child enters a formal educational system. The factors include parents’ emphasizing and showing interest in the reading culture of their children and wards. Stressing further, the authors assert that parents’ education, occupation, and parents socio-economic status and the number of books at home influence the students’ reading abilities and pattern to a large extent. If parents provide reading materials for students at home, the child will be motivated to read. If on the other hand the home and its environment do not provide a child with the opportunity to use materials that are familiar with English language, the child’s reading abilities in attaining a positive reading culture could be retarded irrespective of gender.
Gender issue in relation to reading culture has been an area of interest to researchers and educators. Lee (2002) asserted that gender is an ascribed attribute that differentiates feminine from masculine. Egbe (2011) looks at gender as a psychological term describing behaviour and attribute expected of individuals on the basis of being born either male or female. According to Offorma (2004), gender is a social construct and not biologically determined but a concept equivalent to race or class. This definition suggests that gender is socially or culturally constructed characteristics and role, which are associated with males and females in society. It is different from sex which is a biological distinction in appearance (morphology) and function (physiology) as well as reproductive contributions of men and women. Ihuoma, (2012) noted that male students are more favorable towards the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and likely to find that ICTs help in increasing their reading culture. Gender inequality is seen as the imbalance found between a male and female as a result of their roles, behavioural expectations, abilities and educational achievement in educational practices in schools. This gender imbalance however, may likely contribute to the way students read their materials in school.
Research has shown that the female sex is seen as the weaker and quieter sex and as such reads more than the male sex. This view is so because reading is associated with quietness. The male sex on the other hand is seen as active. This view is supported by others who see the male sex as active even in reading. It is therefore, not uncommon in research to either uphold or debunk the claim that female students have interest in reading more than the males. In a study on sex differences in the reading habit of senior secondary school students, Oladunjoye (2006) found that there was no significant difference in the reading habit of male and female students. But Ross, Beath, and Goodhue (1996) reported that gender difference on electronic mail discussion favoured male while females have been shown to score higher than males in a research conducted by Oxford (1990) on reading habits of male and female students. This study will therefore, try to find out if gender really determines the reading culture of students or if school location could influence students’ reading culture.
Location is a particular position, situation or geographical area. By school location therefore, it means urban-rural school settings and this classification has influenced educational development (Abidogun, 2006). Location of schools according to Howie (2009) is a major influence in reading performance of students internationally. Justifying the above assertion, Iyoke (2008) opines that students in urban areas tend to have more opportunities to read than their counterparts in the rural areas. It could be true because a students might be backed up with well equipped library which is mainly found in urban and developed areas than rural areas. In a similar way, Abidogun (2006) portrayed rural areas as having greater challenges concerning educational development than the urban centres, due to the peculiar socio-economic and institutional structures of the rural areas. Some of the challenges, according to Anyaegbu (2003), are lack of zeal and interest by teachers due to poor and delayed salaries and poor conditions of work. Based on these, Abidogun, (2006) reports that many teachers therefore reject posting into the rural areas while those that do, treat their presence in such area as part time assignment. This situation creates differences in students’ reading culture and achievement since the students are not really motivated to read as supposed. Ezeugwu (2011) opined that difference in school location; differences in method of teaching; differences in number and qualities of the teacher; differences in study habits adopted by the students, to mention but a few give rise to the differences in reading culture and achievements of students in various subject areas. However, noisy school location could be a deterrent to reading and concentration.
From the discussion above, it can be deduced that the importance of reading cannot be overemphasized and this is because reading culture plays a very crucial role in enabling a person to achieve practical efficiency. It is therefore, a necessity to investigate the determinants of students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools in order to ensure that the students acquired the literacy skills needed in the modern society.
Statement of the Problem
Reading is a pre-requisite for learning and for overall academic exploration and performance. It is the basic foundation of literacy and also assists in the promotion of comprehension and critical thinking skills. Consequently, the development of good reading culture among students empowers human resources; enhance the acquisition of general knowledge and broadmindedness; in order to champion the much expected sustainable developments in the education and other sectors of the economy. The success or failure of students in any given subject also depends on their ability or inability to read. A positive reading culture has been perceived as a hall-mark per excellence.
Despite the importance of reading and positive reading culture, majority of junior secondary school students are not able to engage in meaningful reading activities both at school and at home because of some factors that influence their reading culture. Some of the determinants of students’ reading culture as revealed in the literature include; curriculum materials, social media, home family background, gender and school location. These determinants of students reading culture make the students to read less and concentrate on reading prescribed textbooks just for mere passing of examinations, this situation has created poor language coordination and expression, and poor academic performance. Thus, hamper students’ creativity in various aspects of life. However, literacy should be looked at as learning to read and write but in the context of this study emphasis is put on reading culture. It is important therefore, to investigate if poor reading culture among junior secondary school students that leads to their poor performance could be attributed to such factors like curriculum, home background, social media, gender and location.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to ascertain the determinants of students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. Specifically, the study intends to:
- Establish students’ reading cultures in junior secondary schools in Nsukka education zone.
- Determine the extent to which curriculum component influence students reading culture in junior secondary schools.
- Determine the extent to which social media influences students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools.
- Determine the extent to which students’ home background influences their reading culture in junior secondary schools.
- Determine the influence of gender on students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools.
- Determine the influence of school location on students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools.
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study may be of both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, this study will contribute to existing knowledge for other researchers to utilize. Two theories such as Piaget’s constructivist learning theory and Bandura’s social learning theory guided this study. The relevance of this theory to this work is on the premise that the theorist stipulates that when students construct new meaning and understanding from a synthesis of both their prior experiences and new information through exploration, inquiry and social interaction and as well construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world. This therefore, implies that taking cognizance of the theory as a major thrust in teaching and learning will enhance and facilitate students’ reading culture.
Practically, the findings of this study would be beneficial to the following people: the students, teachers, parents, and curriculum planners and future researchers. The finding of this study may be of paramount importance to students at the junior secondary school level. This is informed by the fact that they may be aware of the extent to which some factors influence their reading culture which will provide a lime light to them and as such avail them the opportunities of reading better as they explore further in attaining higher education.
The result of this study is believed to be of immense benefit to the teachers when made available through publications such as journals, academic articles, workshops and seminars because it will expose them to various determinants of reading culture that may mar or improve students’ reading culture which would in turn improve their academic performance. Through this empirical based study, teachers will be aware of the factors impeding the teaching and learning of students at junior secondary schools. This is because the findings of this study may enable teachers to pay keen interest in identifying the various variables associated with student’s poor reading culture and as such be in position to assist the student in ameliorating the reoccurring of the factors associated with student’s poor reading culture.
Moreover, the findings of this study may be of benefit to the parents when made available through parents’ Teachers Association (PTA), seminars and workshops. The study may expose to the parents the need to always appreciate, encourage and support their children in reading by creating enabling environment conducive for reading and learning and the provision of enough reading materials. This may go a long way to activating the reading culture of the students to a great extent.
The findings of this study when made available through media such as television, radio programmes, news papers and magazines among others will be of immense benefit to the curriculum planners. The findings will enable the curriculum planners to advise textbook publishers to print reading materials that will attract the attention of the students. This will help to motivate learners to increase their reading culture.
Finally, the findings from this study will contribute to the literature that is most effective in optimizing students’ learning and reading culture. This is informed by the fact that this study would serve as a source of information and bank of knowledge for other researchers who may wish to embark on research from a related perspective in this field. It is obvious that this work will provide them direction and guideline in exploring their study. In essence, it will add body to knowledge.
Scope of the Study
The geographical scope of this study covered all the junior secondary schools in Nsukka Educational Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. Although the investigation has general implications for all the schools in Nigeria, only the Nsukka Education Zone will be studied. This zone is made up of three (3) local government areas namely: Nsukka, Uzouwani and Igbo-Etiti LGAs. The rationale for the scope of the study was informed by the fact that students in most of the schools are found to exhibit poor reading in English language and as such, the researcher finds it interesting as the scope will be manageable in coverage to investigate the stated problem. The content scope was limited to the following determinants of student’s reading culture in junior secondary schools, they include; curriculum materials, social media, home background, gender and school location. The justification for the content scope is to enable the researcher elicits all needed information for the successful completion of the study.
Research Questions
The following research questions were posed to guide the conduct of the study;
- What are the students’ reading habits that form their cultures in junior secondary schools in Nsukka education zone?
- To what extent does curriculum influence students reading culture in junior secondary schools?
- To what extent do social media influence students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools?
- To what extent do students’ home background influence their reading culture in junior secondary schools?
- What is the influence of gender on students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools?
- What is the influence of school location on students’ reading culture in junior secondary schools?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance. This was based on research objectives 2-6 in order to make a significant generalization to the study and their relationships and differences.
H01: There is no significant relationship in students reading culture and their use of curriculum components
H02: There is no significant relationship in students’ reading culture and their use of social media
H03: There is no significant relationship in students reading culture and their home background influence.
H04: There is no significant difference in the reading culture of students by their gender.
H05: There is no significant difference in the reading culture of students from rural schools and those from urban schools.
