Daniel N. SifunaIsabella M. KamereKaranja, Francis2022-03-232022-03-232021http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/23322A Research Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Education in Educational Foundations Of Kenyatta University August, 2021The study investigated the influence of reading difficulties on academic performance. The role of school and home environments on the influence of reading difficulties was yet to be investigated in the context of primary schools. The study addressed this research gap by testing for the mediating and moderating effects of school and home environments on the influence of reading difficulties. The objectives of the study were to examine the influence of reading skills difficulties on academic performance, moderating effect of home environment and mediating role of school environment on the influence of reading difficulties of standard 7 pupils within public primary schools in Bungoma County. A descriptive survey research design facilitated the collection of data. Data was collected by use of questionnaires from 179 pupils, 10 focused group discussion, interview schedules from 21 teachers, interview schedules from 11 head teachers and observation schedules. The Sample for the study was from public primary schools within Bungoma County. Purposive sampling technique was used to select Bungoma South Sub-County. A pilot study was carried out on the instruments to find out reliability and validity in a school around Bungoma County. Data from questionnaires was compiled, edited, coded and analysed by use of SPSS programme. From the findings, pupils agreed that reading comprehension difficulties had a negative influence on academic performance and that they had to be good readers in order to perform well. Reading instruction did not have an influence on academic performance. Possession of good language skills had positive influence on academic performance. Cognitive skills included, thinking, logic and understanding influenced academic performance. Pupils with reading difficulty did not read less than others and were neither frustrated nor demotivated. Home environment contributed to academic performance. Inadequate reading materials, frequent absenteeism and high number of pupils in classrooms influenced reading difficulty. Based on the research findings the researcher made the following recommendations: The government should consider ways of building more infrastructures such as library and extra classes to accommodate the large number of pupils in primary schools especially with the advent of the CBC.The government should deploy more teachers in public primary schools to alleviate reading difficulty. Parents should be sensitized on the need to collaborate with schools in order to assist their children to read without difficulty. Schools should come up with measures of helping and motivating pupils with reading difficulties. Due to the high number of pupils in classes teachers need to consider individual attention in order to assuage the problem of reading difficulty among pupils. Suggestions for further research were that a similar study should be carried out in other sub-counties to find out the situation in other areas of the country. Also, the study could be extended to private primary, secondary schools and tertiary institutions. Moreover, studies on other aspects that influence reading difficulty such as mother tongue influence need to be investigatedenReading Difficultieson Academic PerfomancePublic Primary SchoolsBungoma CountyKenyaThesis