Reading achievements of pupils with preschool bakground and those without at a primary school in Lusaka District of Zambia.
Date
2020-06-20
Authors
Mumba, Morgan
Mkandawire, Sitwe Benson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Malcolm Moffat Press
Abstract
This article sought to investigate the variance, if any, in reading achievements of primary school pupils with pre-school background
and those without by comparing their technical reading abilities in Grade two at one primary school with multiple classes in Lusaka. The essence for the comparison was to highlight the importance of pre-school or early childhood education to the general well-being of children’s technical reading achievements of print letters in early grade classes. It is common practice in Zambia that some pupils enter formal primary school with pre-school background while others do not and, therefore, this comparison would shed more light on the importance of early childhood education in Zambia in the area of technical reading of print letters. This was a concurrent mixed method research design. Quantitative and qualitative modes of inquiry were used to collect and analyse data. A technical reading test of print letters and words was administered to Grade two pupils with and those without pre-school background. Face to face interviews were conducted with early grades in-service teachers, head teacher and parents to the pupils. The sample size consisted of one primary school, one headteacher, twelve primary school teachers, fourty (40) Grade two pupils and 36 parents or guadians to the pupils. The fourty pupils that took part in the study consisted of twenty pupils with pre-school background and the remaining 20 comprised those without pre-school background. Quantitative data from the test was analsed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), whereas the findings from interviews were analysed thematically by grouping related data together into themes. Findings revealed that, on reading test, pupils without pre-school background performed slightly better in reading than those with pre-school background on all the variables assessed. Furthermore,
teachers noted that there were several factors that affected reading achievements which included pupil pre-school/nursery education background, parental educational background, parental socioeconomical status, home environment, pupil interest and commitment towards learning, and teacher-pupil ratio.The study recommended that parents should encourage their children to go to school to avoid absentism.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Reading(Elementary) , Reading--Research--Zambia , Reading--Zambia
Citation
Mumba, M. & Mkandawire, S. B. (2020). Reading achievements of pupils with preschool background and those without at a primary school in Lusaka district of Zambia. Malcolm Moffat. Multidisciplinary Journal of Research and Education, 1(1), pp 53 – 80. ISSN: 2706-6029