ASSESSING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS: THECASE OF KOMBOLCHA SECONDARY SCHOOL, GRADE 10 IN FOCUS

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess students’ reading comprehension problems. The study was carried out in Kombolcha Secondary School with special reference to grade10 students. Descriptive research design was employed to address the problem. To conduct the study, three English teachers were chosen along with 60 students who were selected through random sampling technique. In order to achieve the objectives, the study employed three data gathering tools: questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. Questionnaire was employed to identify students’ reading comprehension problems. Interview was used to find out the causes of students’ reading comprehension problems and identify problems that affect students’ reading comprehension. Furthermore, classroom observation was employed to identify what the English language teachers were doing when they teach reading comprehension. Data collected using close ended Questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively. Whereas interview and classroom observation were analyzed qualitatively. The study identified the major reading comprehension problems students encounter. These are problems of identifying main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary from context, inferring meaning, inference, scanning, skimming, technique and strategies. In addition, factors that were affecting students’ reading comprehension were divided into students’ related factors like lack of knowledge of strategic use, lack of background knowledge, shortage of vocabulary and lack of regular practice, and teachers’ related factors such as teachers’ ways of teaching. Therefore, since reading comprehension is a skill that could be improved through sufficient practicing, Kombolcha Secondary School students should have been given chance of learning and practicing technique of reading comprehension to effectively use them to comprehend a text