An exploration of the reading habits in English of form one students in three government secondary schools in Dar es salaam, Tanzania
Date of Award
6-2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (MEd)
First Supervisor/Advisor
Dr. Mweru Mwingi
Second Supervisor/Advisor
Zeenat Shariff
Department
Institute for Educational Development, East Africa
Abstract
Literature shows that reading is very important. Reading enables the readers to increase their vocabulary and improve other skills of the language The aim of this study was to explore the reading habits in English of Form One students in three Tanzanian Secondary Schools in Dar es Salaam. with respect to what the students read: why they read it: what supports their reading what challenges they meet; what the students' feelings on reading were. This study employed a mixed methods approach. Questionnaires were administered to 100 students of the secondary schools to collect quantitative data. For qualitative data, 29 of the students were interviewed in 3 groups representing the schools. In addition, 3 teachers of English, one from each school, were also interviewed and later. the teachers provided documents related to reading that were analysed. The results show that the students are taught reading in English, catered for in the syllabus. The students themselves say they do read a variety of the texts-novels-short stories, newspapers including others. They, however, lack many reading materials. The students feel reading is fun but rather difficult at times. But many of the students, though they read few materials and for little time, would still want to read in future, on completing secondary school education. To conclude, the students' reading habits are less than satisfactory, but the students want to improve their readership of English texts. The students should be supported through the provision of reading material and guidance on how to read and interpret the texts read. On the other hand, the teachers also should be supported through workshops and seminars that would address issues of teaching reading and inculcating Reading habits in the students
Recommended Citation
Charles Olonda Osore. (2008). An exploration of the reading habits in English of form one students in three government secondary schools in Dar es salaam, Tanzania (Unpublished Masters Thesis). Dar es salaam: Aga Khan University