Relationship Between Parent-Child Engagement in Reading and Grade Two Pupils’ Reading Achievement in Kasarani Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Poor reading performance among pupils has been reported to be a wide spread problem globally, regionally and locally. Parent‟s engagement in reading with their children at home has been found to influence the acquisition of reading skills among children yet children‟s reading requires a collaborative effort from the parents, children themselves and their teachers. This support would positively influence children‟s reading in several ways including; reading achievement, language comprehension and expressive language skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parent-child engagement in reading and grade two pupils reading performance. Holdaway‟s theory of literacy development was used in the study. The study involved grade two pupils in public primary schools in Kasarani Sub-County and their parents. This study employed a correlation research study design. The study targeted a total population of 2,220 grade two pupils in 25 public primary schools in Kasarani Sub-County. The sample size comprised of 112 grade two pupils who were selected systematically from four public primary schools within Kasarani Sub-County. A similar number of parents or guardians of these pupils were selected as respondents leading to a total of 224 respondents. Questionnaires and document analysis were used to collect data. The levels of correlation coefficient were ascertained at a significance level of 0.05. From the Pearson Correlation test statistics, the findings revealed that the relationship between parent-child engagement and pupils‟ reading achievement was significant (P=0.003). A correlation coefficient of 0.431 was established between parents‟ reading behavior and grade two pupils‟ reading performance depicting a high and significant positive relationship between the two at a significance level of 5%. The study concluded that there is a significant relationship between parent-child engagement in reading and grade two pupils‟ reading performance) was accepted. There was no statistical difference between parents‟ educational level and reading performance among their children. The study recommended that head teachers and teachers should put more emphasis on learners to acquire reading skills. Parents should read to or listen to their children read as often as possible, preferably every day. Curriculum for educating parents on the importance of being involved and how to be involved in their children‟s reading is necessary. County Directors of Education should mobilize head teachers, to work with other teachers and community members to establish grade, school or community libraries.