International Journal of Educational Research and Reviews

ISSN 2329-9843

International Journal of Educational Research and Reviews ISSN 2329-9843 Vol. 3 (6), pp. 348-355, August, 2015. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of the efficiency of language and vocabulary methods in teaching comprehension in primary schools: Implication for teachers and curriculum planners

*Olaka H. Charles, Emmanuel F. Roddrck and H. R. Amaechi

Curriculum section, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 30 June, 2015

Abstract

This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of the language development and the vocabulary methods in teaching reading comprehension in Primary Schools. The population for the study comprised all the Primary Schools in Kaduna State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select two schools out of the three hundred and eighty-four (384) schools in Kaduna metropolis and thirty (30) pupils from each of the schools selected. The data for the study were analyzed using the mean scores and T-test. The findings showed that all the null hypothesis were accepted, indicating that there were no significant differences in the gain scores of pupils taught reading comprehension using the language development method and those taught the vocabulary method. The result, however, further revealed that the gain scores of pupils taught, using language development method were higher than those of the pupils taught using the vocabulary method in all the three different tests (i.e cloze, word recognition and retelling test).Based on these findings, teachers are encouraged to adopt a thematic integrated approach (i.e combining the salient features of the language development method and the vocabulary method.

Key words: Language development, vocabulary method, word recognition, reading comprehension.