Impact of poor reading on the writings of junior high school students, the case of selected schools in the Abuakwa North Municipality

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the impact of poor reading on the writings of Junior High School Students in the Abuakwa North Municipality. Descriptive survey design was employed for the study. The study sample was made up of 72 teachers, 48 students and 16 head and assistant headteachers. Questionnaire, interview and observation were used to solicit information from the respondents. Validity and reliability of the instrument was ensured by making the instrument available to the supervisor for scrutiny. The instruments covered three main aspects: habits that poor reading students exhibit, effects of poor reading on students writing and ways reading helps students in their writing performance. The data collected was analyzed using Statistics Products and Service Solutions (SPSS 16). Means and standard deviation were used for all the items on the survey. The study revealed that students ignore punctuation marks when writing. The evidence obtained from the study showed that students found it difficult to put thought in words. The study further revealed that students were not able to invent ideas to put them into statements and paragraphs. Grammatical errors were also identified in the writing of students. The study recommends that, students should be encouraged by teachers to read extensively in order to improve on their writing skills. It was also recommended that teachers should use varieties of contemporary teaching methods to help students improve on both reading and writing skills.