SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING READING HABITS OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NSUKKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the socioeconomic factors affecting reading habits of JSS students in Nsukka Local Government Area with the aim of finding out if socioeconomic factors have effect on the reading habits of JSS students. The study has a population of 12,200 students and a sample of 366 students, drawn with proportionate stratified random sampling.  Seven research questions were set to: determine the attitudes of JSS students to reading, explain the reading habits of JSS students, determine the access of students to reading material, investigate the effect cultural and home attitude on the reading habits of JSS students, determine the extent to which the use of electronic media affects their reading habits, explain the ways socioeconomic factors affects their reading habits and to identify strategies for improving the reading habits of JSS students using ex post facto research design. The study used questionnaire and focus group discussion as the instruments of data collection and use of frequency, charts and percentage as method of data analysis. Two hypotheses were tested with t- test statistics. The study found out that socioeconomic factors have influence on the reading habits of JSS students in the areas of provision of reading materials in the sense that the students of high socio economic class was found out to have more positive attitude to reading, and develop more reading habits possibly because they spent more time to read, have access to reading materials. It was also found that the attitude of parents to reading has a significant role on the reading habits of JSS students, and that electronic media especially watching television influences the reading habits of JSS students negatively particularly for students of higher socio-economic status. The study recommended that interesting books in both fictional and  informational forms should  be  provided and  made  accessible  to  the students, education authorities should make sure that each school is provided with a librarian and allotted library hour which should be adhered to. Adequate funds should be provided to keep classroom and school libraries current with quality literature and book clubs should be established in the nook and corners of Nigeria as in developed countries to ensure a dynamic readership nationwide.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Reading is a means of acquiring information. It is an important tool for people in every society because it enables access to information. In the world of learning, reading is such a powerful tool that enables human beings build upon their existing knowledge in the journey of widening their horizon in various fields, Robeck and Wallace (1990) gave credence to this by defining reading as a process of translating signs and symbols into meanings and  incorporating the new  information into  existing cognitive and affective structures. This means that through reading, information is obtained and added to the already existing knowledge to  enable one to make right decisions. In order to obtain information, meaning has to be derived from a passage. Reading involves both physical and mental activities, that is, the eyes and the brain work in coordination for the reader to get meaning out of a given reading material, unlike watching television. For this reason, it is usually alleged that reading is advantageous over electronic media such as television and video in personal development and societal advancement. Kaufman (2000) captures it by saying that watching television is a passive experience, the child simply sits and stares at the screen where there is little thought and little physical movement. Through reading, ideas that have been put in writing can be easily understood, thereby eliminating the labour of passing knowledge from person to person by word of mouth.

Reading  is  important  for  children  in order to  cope  with new  knowledge  in  a changing world and that of technological age this is because the ability to read is at the heart of self education and lifelong learning. A child’s ability to read is the centre of the educational process. Since reading is the major key to progress in learning, inability to read well which is related to poor reading attitudes, makes the child fall progressively further behind members of the class.

In other to acquire these benefits, children need to acquire habit of reading. Habits according to Collins(1994) in Collins Pocket Dictionary of current English is to acquire and imbibe.   It is a thing a person does often, especially something that is hard to stop

doing. Reading habits are regarded as the use of reading as a regular activity. It could be considered in terms of the amount of materials being read. It could also be the frequency of reading as well as the average time spent on reading. Harris and Hodges (1991) defines reading habit as the cultivation of an attitude and the possession of skills which make reading a pleasurable, regular and constant activity. They further said that reading is borne out of the realization of the enormous advantages that the individual and the society can gain when most of its members read a variety of materials for a variety of functions –to learn, to survive, for their entertainment and general upliftment. Inculcating reading habits in children involves alerting them to the value of reading and providing materials that will stir their curiosity sustain their interest and give them pleasurable experience.

Before children can develop the habit of reading, they must have acquired good reading skills, or the specific abilities which enable a reader to read the written form as a meaningful language, to  read anything  written with independence comprehension and fluency; to mentally interact  with the  message  (Sofisan,1999).   It is purely a  mental exercise where the reader manipulates his mental thought process to assign meaning to the visual symbols, and then synthesize them into existing body of knowledge. Good reading habits entail the development of reading skill and this skill can be developed when children are functional and at best voluntary readers.

Functional reading is the ability to read, write and calculate figures well enough to carry out activities that many people consider necessary to function in the society. Onwumelu (1991) defines functional reading as the ability to read, comprehend and use written materials that are important to one’s daily functioning and social well being. It lays emphasis only on the superficial reading and writing convention such as spelling, sentence construction, vocabulary, punctuation, crystallization and refinement of language. Consequently,  functional reading considers a person literate once he can pass the set examination at  a given level. Tella and Akande (2007) say functional reading is  like teaching a person to drive and then giving them only a few drops of petrol to practice with. The machine is perfect and driving skill has been acquired but it is not yet an automatic skill because there has not been enough practice.  Once the fuel run out, the driving skill

becomes useless and begins to deteriorate. Voluntary reading on the other hand involves providing a continuous supply of easily processed fuel so that now the driver can go places, can get to enjoy driving and can eventually realize the limitless possibilities it opens up.

Voluntary reading is the type of reading that is engaged in for the fun of it. This is the type of reading done without the intention of writing any form of examination, test or quiz. It is the type of reading which brings enjoyment because of the interest the reader has developed. The reading may be fiction or non-fiction. It may be from magazines, from an encyclopedia  or  from pamphlets.  Gould(1998) points out  the  words of Gardiner  that children who engage in voluntary reading portray a living picture of individual differences. A difficult book on electricity may be recreation for some boy who spends time working on electrical contrivances. A book of fairy tales may be recreation for some imaginative youngster. A factual book in social studies may be recreation for the child who has been privileged to travel a great deal. A guide book about birds or trees may be recreation for children who love the out of doors. The hopes, wants, interests, dreams ideas and ideals of the children are revealed through what they read. As the child reads, his horizons are widening; his spirit is deepening; he is becoming more aware of other people and places, his imagination is stirred and his emotional experiences are constantly enriched.

Voluntary reading is necessary for children in junior secondary school. This is because this is a transitional stage from primary to senior secondary where the children need to cultivate the habit of reading in order to achieve the aim according to Nigeria Policy on Education (2004) whereby the secondary education was setup which is to produce self- reliant  individuals capable of choice, critical and independent thought. The secondary education  is  divided  into  two  tiers;  three  years  of  junior  and  three  years  of  senior secondary school. The junior secondary school is for both academic and prevocational training, with the intention of broadening the children’s outlook and preparing them for different careers. This is an important stage in the lives of children because at this point parents and society at large begins to focus on the success of children in relation to their study

The children at this stage are also at the transitional stage. The stage from childhood to adolescence, where they begin to develop a sense of self –identity, look on themselves as individuals and not just one of the family and to have increased feelings of independence and tends to break away from parents and other authority to the influence of peer group. They will wish to make their decisions, initiate their own actions and demand more respect from other people. Speier (2007) says this is a stage of ‘industry versus inferiority’. During this stage, the child’s cognitive knowledge, physical abilities, and social relationships are expanded. Upon comparison of self with others, the child, ultimately measures how he or she  compares  with  peers.  If  the  child  feels  incompetent  and  inferior,  as  opposed to competent and adequate, his or her interaction with others will differ than if the child feels confident in how he or she compares with peers.  At this stage, they may start caring about what they look like and what they are wearing.

In describing Carlsen’s view, Sainsbury and Schagen (2004) said this is the stage where children read for entertainment and forget the labour of reading, a stage where they take reading as a mirror of their lives and thought, as this will help them to satisfy the yearning to understand their growing bodies and solve any problem that may arise due to comparison with their peer group. According to Fayose (2003) this group of children loves to read factual or plausible stories, that is, stories that are true to life. This may be because they could easily relate the stories as events that happened to them or in their environment. Children read  to  learn,  to  dream,  laugh,  enjoy  the  familiar  or  explore the  unknown. Through reading, the young reader can discover who he is and what his role should be.

Despite the values attached to voluntary reading, critics opine that it is sad that this act of reading is at low ebb among Nigerian children. In this regard Dike (1989) attributes low interest in reading to the certificate oriented policies of the country. This implies that many Nigerians read only when there is need to pass one form of examination or the other and when this is achieved reading is discarded. On the other hand, Fayose (1997) asserts that Nigerian children want to read but do not because of lack of suitable reading materials and  access to  reading  materials.  Access to  books is a  crucial  factor in developing a voluntary reader. By reading a variety of enjoyable and informative materials children gain

the practice they need to improve their skills, thereby making reading more enjoyable and inclining them to further reading.

One of the factors that affect reading is the cultural attitude to reading in Nigeria. The way of life in Nigeria society is dependent on oral tradition; most people prefer to tell the story than reading as a pleasurable activity. To buttress this, Uya (2004) asserts that this apathy to reading is also found in children. She says further that children prefer to watch videos, play computer games, web-surf, chit-chat on internet and play games to engage in reading.

Prominent among factors that affect reading habits is access to electronic media. Kaufman (2000) points out that though the new media saturated world may be wonderful in many ways, what suffer may be traditional educational practices. If children spend their time watching television and playing video games, they may not spend a great deal of time reading and writing.

When considering the factors that can affect reading, social economic factor is an important variable that should be analyzed, this  is because it  is a variable that could influence the other factors that affect the development of reading as a habit.   Social- economic class is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person’s work experience and individual or family economic and social position relative to others, based on income, education and occupation (Worthy 2001). These factors include the income level, level of education and the type of occupation of an individual, in regard to this study socio-economic factors are the level of education, type of occupation and the income of the parents or guardian of JSS students in Nsukka local government. The socio- economic background of children may possibly affect how they are raised. This may also affect  the  inculcation of reading  habits  in  the  children,  that  is,  how well  they were motivated to read and their exposure to reading materials.

The availability of reading materials may be associated with parents that are educated and as well as financially stable. This is because they have the resources both financially and educationally to provide diverse reading materials that will boost the pleasurable reading of their  children; unlike parents who  are  illiterate and  not  financially stable.

Children from impoverished homes may not have easy access to books, possibly because their parent cannot afford it, even if they have the taste. The children may have to hawk goods so that they can contribute financially to the homes before they could eat and go to school. This implies that children from impoverished families are more likely to have hindrances to developing reading habits than those who come from high class.

The home environment is an important predictor for successful reading development. Availability of reading and writing materials, seeing parents or other adults read at home, mama and papa or elder siblings reading to the child in a relaxed atmosphere, and other literacy- related activities provide an enriched and stimulating environment that promotes the development of reading readiness and reading skills (Omojuwa 1997).

Children from high socio economic class may possibly develop high reading skill because of the social interaction they have at home, while children from low socio-economic class are deprived of this opportunity and may have low level skill. According to Kumar, Kumar

& Rani (2004) reading is recreation for children who have had the privilege of becoming acquainted with books in the home. To them, books become a source of amusement, excitement, adventure, relaxation and information by the time they grow up. On the other hand, the child who  meets books for the first time when he goes to  school tends to associate reading with the school situation, especially if reading is not done in the home. This may lead to poor reading habits.

It takes a home environment with good and expressive speech, and a home where parents have the time to devote to their children. Where the struggle to “belong” socially and financially has not deprived the children the attention and care of the parents; to develop good reading skill in children. It is also an advantage when children are taught to speak and write English at home, the language of school and reading in Nigeria Children from high social economic background increase their advantage if they are sent to schools where there are good language teachers and where resources and equipment for teaching reading skills are adequately available.

Households that value literacy and push the children to read will have children that excel in this area. Kaufman (2000) puts it forward that basically, the students who read

best are those that spend their non-school hours reading and writing. But what if there are no  books in the  household? In a  household where reading  is  not  valued  but  instead electronic gadgets are made readily available, where children spend their time watching television video games and browsing internet services, then how would they develop love for reading? Leisure time that may be used to enjoy reading eludes some children because of television viewing, playing video and computer games, internet browsing, fiddling with phone and sending an unending SMS messages. They have time and privilege to develop reading  as  a  pleasurable activity  but  may  not  if  they  devote their  time  to  watching television and gleaning information from the world wide web. Children from high socio- economic class are believed to have more access to electronic media than children from low  social  economic  background.  The  high  class  children  do  not  have  to  hawk merchandise, go to farm work as sales clerk or involve in any other menial job.

Statement of the Problem

Research literature shows that reading for pleasure or voluntary reading benefits children in numerous ways. Through reading young people can build up conversational skills,  explore  the  world  around  them,  solve  problems  in  their  environment,  derive pleasure, be successful academically and broaden their horizon and stand out among peer. Conversely, if children do not read they will not have the benefits that come with reading. This is obvious in our society today where children only read to pass their exam or read only whenever any form of examination is coming up. This is also evident in what we hear on radio and television often that our society lacks reading culture. If this continues, it could lead to failure in personal and national development.

There is also the additional concern about the effect of electronic media on reading. However, there has not been much emphasis on the influence of difference in social economic background on reading, to know if this  has any effect on reading habits of JSS students, and if it does, to know what how. Given the current concerns about reading and the clear benefits that reading for pleasure can bring, it is vital that more emphasis is placed  on  reading  enjoyment  both  at  school  and  at  home.  The  foregoing  therefore

necessitates the need for this research work to enable parents, teachers, librarians and other literacy professionals to promote wider reading.

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this research work is to find out the social economic factors affecting reading habits of junior secondary students. The work specifically intends to:

1.  Determine the attitudes of JSS students to reading in public and private schools in

Nsukka LGA

2.    Explain the reading habits of JSS students in public and private schools in Nsukka

LGA

3.  Determine the access of students to reading material

4.  Investigate the influence of cultural and home attitude on the reading habits of JSS

students.

5.  Determine the extent to which the use of electronic media affects their reading habits.

6.  Identify the factors affecting their reading habits.

7.  Identify strategies for improving the reading habits of JSS students.

Research Questions

The following research questions research questions will guide the study

1.  What are the attitudes of JSS students in public and private schools in Nsukka LGA

to reading?

2.  What are the reading habits of JSS students in public and private schools in Nsukka

LGA?

3.  What access do the students have to reading materials?

4.  What cultural and home factors affect the reading habits of JSS students?

5.  To what extent does access to electronic media affect their reading habits?

6.  What factors affect the reading habits of JSS students?

7.  What are the strategies that can be employed to improve reading habits Hypotheses: The following null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance .

There is no significant influence of access to electronic media on reading habits. There is no significant influence of access to reading material on reading habits.

Significance of the Study

The  findings  of  this  study  will  be  beneficial  to  the  parents,  teachers,  students, librarians, school authorities, publishers, educational authorities and researchers.

The parents will be able to encourage their children to read voluntarily by becoming readers themselves that children can emulate, providing reading materials that will be of interest to their children, reading story books aloud, and creating a learning environment by setting up a mini reading corner with reading materials and giving books as gifts to the children .

The teachers are the next set of people children spend most of their time with after their parents. Teachers should see themselves as mentors who are ready to inspire students, since some students are reluctant readers, teachers have a role to play to change the attitudes.  Therefore, they should know the type  of books children should enjoy,  and request for them. They should introduce books to students by giving them a brief summary of the book.

The students will know the benefits of voluntary reading and this will encourage them to become voluntary readers.

The librarian will be able to guide the children in the area of their interest by bringing them in contact with the reading materials that satisfy their interests.  They will also be able to attract children who are reluctant readers, expose them to the joys and benefits of reading and help the children to develop habits of reading and love for books.

The school authorities will be motivated to buy books that will sustain the interests of the students and to also know the importance of having interesting books in their libraries in order to develop reading habits.

The publishers will also see reasons why they need to publish diverse and interesting fictional and informative books apart from textbooks. The educational authorities will be able to partner with the publishers to make diverse and interesting books available to the students. They will also realize that  its better to  donate books on different titles and

different stories than donating large number of books with the same title to schools. The findings of this work will also  help other researchers to find clues on other areas to research on, in order to develop reading habits.

It is also hope that the result of this work will change the view of some people that voluntary reading is a waste of time.

Scope of the Study

This study examined the reading habits of junior secondary school students. The study covers the reading habits of the students, how social-economic background affects their reading habits and to know what extent the usage of electronic media affect their reading habits. The reading habits covered attitudes to reading, reading habits of the children and the influence of home factors on the reading habits of the children. The study is limited to junior secondary school in Nsukka  Local Government of Enugu State.

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