Availability of Print Resources as a Factor Affecting Reading Culture of Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria
Abstract
Studies have shown that Nigerians have a poor reading culture which could be as a result of several factors including unavailability of print resources. Literature has revealed that the quality of reading by secondary school students in Edo State was regrettably on the decline and that inadequate use of print resources was a major factor. The descriptive survey design of correlational type was adopted for the study. Stratified multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in selecting participants for this study. Fifty percent was used to select nine local governments, 10 % to select public and private secondary schools from the already selected nine local governments, making a total of 65 schools. From each of the selected 65 schools, a sampling fraction of 11 % was used to select a total of 895 students for the study. A questionnaire was used for students while an interview checklist was used for school principals in justification of the students’ responses. Regression analysis (at 0.05 level of significance) was used to analyse the data. Findings revealed that secondary school students in Edo State have print resources readily available, while secondary school students had a poor reading culture with the weighted average of 3.06. The effect of print resources (β = 0.141; p < 0.05) in predicting students’ reading culture was significant. Conclusively, the study showed that secondary school students in Edo State have a poor reading culture irrespective of the availability of print resources.
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APPENDIX 1
STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE ON PRINT RESOURCE AVAILABILITY AND READING CULTURE (SQAPRRC)
Dear respondent,
This is a research questionnaire on print resources availability and reading culture of Secondary School Students. You are requested to complete this questionnaire for the purpose of this academic exercise only. Your contribution to this study will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
C.O. UKPEBOR
Please, indicate your response to the following statements by placing a tick {√} in the boxes { } representing your response to the statements, and writing out your responses in the space provided.
SECTION A – BACKGROUND INFORMATION
School … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ….
Gender: Male { } Female { }
Age: 13–15 { } 16–18 { } 19–21 { }
Class: SS1 { } SS2 { } SS3 { }
Local Government Area … … … … … … … … … … … … …
SECTION B: AVAILABILITY OF PRINT RESOURCES
How available are print resources in your school?
The questions on availability of print resources are rated on a four point scale of Very Readily Available, Readily Available, Occasionally Available and Never Available.
| Print resources availability | Very Readily Available (4) | Readily Available (3) | Occasionally Available (2) | Never Available (1) | No Response (0) |
| f. Textbooks | |||||
| g. Fiction/Non-fiction (storybooks) | |||||
| h. Newspapers | |||||
| i. Magazines | |||||
| j. Reference sources (Dictionary) |
Types of print resources read by students
Please kindly tick any of: Very Often, Often, Occasionally and Never.
| NO. | Types of print materials | Very Often (4) | Often (3) | Occasionally (2) | Never (1) |
| 1 | Textbooks | ||||
| 2 | Fiction/non-fiction (storybook) | ||||
| 3 | Newspapers | ||||
| 4 | Dictionaries | ||||
| 5 | Magazines |
Where do you have access to print resources?
Please tick either yes or no to the following places of access.
| Place of accessing print resources | Response (Tick) Yes No | ||
| 1 | Friends’/Relatives’ homes | ||
| 2 | School library | ||
| 3 | Home | ||
| 4 | Classroom | ||
| 5 | Public libraries | ||
| 6 | Others | ||
SECTION C: READING CULTURE
Reading Cultural Behaviour
Please, rate each of the following statements using the format: SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, D – Disagree, SD – Strongly Disagree
| Statement | SA (4) | A (3) | D (2) | SD (1) |
| 1. I do not read for personal gain | ||||
| 2. I do not read because of examinations | ||||
| 3. Reading is stressful | ||||
| 4. We are not taught how to read always in school | ||||
| 5. I hardly search for books to read always | ||||
| 6. I have a weak attitude towards reading | ||||
| 7. Reading is not of so much value in my school | ||||
| 8. Library’s location is not encouraging to read | ||||
| 9. Buying of books to read whenever I am interested is a difficult task | ||||
| 10. I have tried to love reading since my primary school days | ||||
| 11. I only read my school subjects | ||||
| 12. I don’t motivate other students to read by reading always | ||||
| 13. We don’t have a dedicated time for reading at school | ||||
| 14. Difficult materials discourage me from reading | ||||
| 15. We have a negative attitude towards reading in school | ||||
| 16. We don’t do group reading in school and/or at home | ||||
| 17. We are not rewarded to read all the time by our school teachers | ||||
| 18. Reading is not of high importance in our school for exams and mental development | ||||
| 19. Reading is not seen as a rule in my school | ||||
| 20. We don’t share a common belief in our reading patterns in school |
Thank you.
Kindly return this copy to the research assistant.
APPENDIX 2
KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
Print resource availability and reading culture of students
Principal Guide Interview
Name: ____________________ Day: ___________________
School: ___________________ Time: __________________
Position: __________________
The focus of this interview will be to better understand the provision of print resources and the reading culture of secondary school students in your school and measures taken to improve reading culture. Input from this evaluation which is geared towards the completion of a PhD will be shared with the ministry of education, libraries and other stakeholders in education in order to make improvements in program implementation.
My purpose in talking with you today is to learn more about the responses from the questionnaire administered to your students, as well as your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with the reading culture campaign in Nigeria. The average time will be ten minutes.
Anything you tell me will not be personally attributed to you in any reports that result from this evaluation. All of the reports will be written so that no individual comment can be attributed to a particular person.
Your participation in this interview is completely voluntary. Are you willing to be interviewed?
Do you have any questions before we begin?
Do you have a school library?
Do students have access to print resources in your school?
What type of print materials do they have access to?
How often do you acquire print resources for your library?
What kind of print resources are the students reading in your school?
Is there any reading programme going on in your school for students?
Is there a functional reading club in your school?
What is your thought about the reading culture of your students?
What kind of observed attitude do students display when ask to read?
What are the perceived problems to a good reading culture in your school?
Thank you for your time!
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Parents’ Awareness and Involvement in Dealing with Cyberbullying
- A Study on Measuring the Relationship Between the Library and Quality of Life of Local Residents
- Capturing Citizens’ Information Needs through Analysis of Public Library Circulation Data
- Relationship between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Sharing: A Study of University Librarians
- Availability of Print Resources as a Factor Affecting Reading Culture of Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria
- Subject-Based Reading Behaviour Differences of Young Adults under Emerging Digital Paradigm
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Parents’ Awareness and Involvement in Dealing with Cyberbullying
- A Study on Measuring the Relationship Between the Library and Quality of Life of Local Residents
- Capturing Citizens’ Information Needs through Analysis of Public Library Circulation Data
- Relationship between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Sharing: A Study of University Librarians
- Availability of Print Resources as a Factor Affecting Reading Culture of Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria
- Subject-Based Reading Behaviour Differences of Young Adults under Emerging Digital Paradigm
