Reading comprehension difficulties in English language for primary school pupils in Tanzania

Abstract

The study explored the reading comprehension of primary school pupils in Tanzania. The study used a mixed-methods research approach with a convergent research design. A convergent parallel design was used in the study, and data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and documentary reviews. The sample involved 262 respondents, 252 being pupils and 10 English subject teachers. Quantitative data was analysed by the use of frequencies, percentages, and tables, while qualitative data was analysed thematically. The results indicate that most pupils struggled with understanding the main ideas, summarising, and reading English books, leading to problems with reading comprehension. The results also suggest that most of the pupils needed more help from teachers or fellow pupils to comprehend English texts and used to read passages repeatedly to understand them. The key argument from this study is that to enhance pupils' reading comprehension, teachers need to use interactive learning strategies such as group reading. For this to take place in reality, teachers' training in the proper interactive strategies and distribution of reading materials remain important.