EFFECTS OF LEARNERS’ GENERATED QUESTIONS ON READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT OF MALE AND FEMALE PUPILS IN RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of learners- generated questions on male and female pupils’ reading comprehension achievement in rural primary schools in Anambra state. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The design used in the study was quasi-experimental design involves non-randomized control group pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group with an experimental group receiving treatment. The study was conducted in primary schools in Anambra State. The population of the study comprised all the 37,190 primary five pupils (19202 males and 17988 females) in the 1068 public primary schools in Anambra state for 2020/2021 academic session. The sample size for the study consisted of 200 (88 males and 112 females) of primary five pupils drawn from four intact classes.  101 pupils for experimental group (42 male and 59 females) and 99 pupils for control group (46 male and 53females). Purposive sampling technique was used to draw 40 public primary schools while simple Random sampling was used to draw four intact from the forty public primary schools in the area of the study; two schools each from Awka south L.G.A and two from Anaocha L.G.A. The researcher used Reading Comprehension Achievement Test (RCAT) instrument for collection of data in this study. Three experts validated the instrument, the RCAT, lesson plan with the title of the study, purpose, scope, research questions and hypotheses before distribution. Two from Early Childhood and Primary Education, and one from Measurement and Evaluation, all in Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka.  The validators examined the items, language and ascertained the extent to which the languages were clear and items suitable for responses. In establishing the reliability of the instrument, the researcher conducted a pilot study with 25 primary school pupils in Enugu State. The obtained scores were used to estimate the reliability co-efficient of the instrument using Kuder Richardson (k-R-20) and will be yielding a reliability index of 0.91”. The experiment lasted for 6 weeks. The extraneous variables which could have affected the result of the study were effectively controlled. The data were   analyzed using mean and standard deviation as well as ANCOVA. The Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research question while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at (0.05) level of significance. The extraneous variables were controlled by the ANCOVA from the dependent variables. The study revealed that female pupils in rural areas performed better than their male counterparts in reading comprehension using the learners’ generated questions. Part of the recommendations was that primary school curriculum planners should bring in learning experiences that would ensure that male and female pupils are exposed to different activities mostly in English language to ensure that male pupils compete favourably with female pupils.