Analysis of Reading Habits of Secondary School Students: Implications for Physics Teaching and Learning in Ogun State Nigeria

Abstract

Due to persistent poor performance of secondary school students in Physics, the study investigated reading habits exhibited by Senior Secondary School year two (SSS2) students. Three research questions and one hypothesis guided the survey study. A sample of 400 students selected from a population of 3,800 was involved in the research. A reading habit inventory developed by the researcher was used for data collection which was validated by experts and the coefficient of internal consistency established to be 0.82. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The findings from the results revealed that:students had very poor Physics reading habits since majority of them feel asleep whenever they want to read Physics, read up only when instructed, dodge difficult concepts and give little time to Physics; boys had better reading habit than girls but the difference was not significant; factors that influence students' reading habits include disturbance from peers and outside the classroom, difficulty in understanding many concepts in Physics among others.The study recommended that the school authorities and Parents Teachers Association should organize group counseling for students on good reading habits which could help to improve their performance in Physics