GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

This study investigated reading difficulties and learning environments of senior secondary school students in River State, Nigeria. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design with an ex-post facto approach to examine reading difficulties among senior secondary school students in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study was carried out in Rivers State, The population of the study comprised 200,990 senior secondary school students, while the target population consisted of 128,477 SS1 and SS2 students in public secondary schools across Rivers State, as obtained from the Rivers State Senior Secondary Schools Board (RSSSSB, 2024). A sample size of 399 students, comprising 199 males and 200 females. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select respondents. Data for the study were collected using a structured questionnaire entitled “Recognizing Signs of Reading Difficulties Questionaire (RSRDQ).” The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by three experts: one in Educational Foundations, one in Measurement and Evaluation, and one in Statistics. These experts assessed the relevance, clarity, and appropriateness of the items in relation to ensure internal consistency and reliability. The reliability coefficients for the individual clusters ranged between 0.72 and 0.86, confirming that the instrument was suitable for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while independent t-test statistics were employed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.  The study concluded that reading difficulties among senior secondary school students are multidimensional and are influenced by both environmental and individual factors. One of the recommendations Made was that teachers should adopt more effective, student-centered, and interactive instructional strategies to improve reading engagement and comprehension.