Reading and Academic Achievement Among Junior Secondary Schools in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State

The study examined the level of reading activities as they affect academic achievement of
junior secondars school students in Ikere Local Government. The objective of the were to
determine: What determines the duration by spent by students on English language, How
ascertain the purpose of reading by students, ldentity the type of information materials
mostly read by students, nldentify reading challenges to among learners?. The researcher
used a questionnaire to elicit responses from the sampled respondents. The data collected
were analysed through simple frequency and percentage. The results obtained from the
findings revealed that that students have a moderate level of reading in secondary schools as
they read at their leisure times and visit the library on daily basis. It was revealed that
students only read when they need to solve class assignments and during examination
period mostly for the purpose of passing. In determining what constitutes reading challenges
to learners in kere Local Government. it was revealed that difficult vocabularies make
learning difficult. complex sentences are problems to learning, complicated sentences
constitute challenges to comprehend, not being conscious of punctuation marks. lack
fluency when reading (i.e. not reading at the right speed or with expression).lack of
adequate background knowledge all constitutes reading challenges to learners in Ikere Local
Government. On the strategies that can be used to resolve reading challenges in Ikere Local
Government, it vas revealed that students should read text repeatedly in their free time, read
in group and on individual level to improve their reading habits and teachers need to
different reading strategies in different context to reduce reading difficulties.