CORRELATION BETWEEN READING COMPREHENSION PRACTICES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF CLASS THREE PUPILS IN WESTLANDS SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Researchers on reading have come up with different views on reading. According to Widdowson (1979) reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting incomprehension. Reading is therefore seen as the combination of textual information with the information the reader brings to the text resulting to the comprehension of the text. Anderson (2000) notes out that reading is a mental process, not getting from print but engaging the reader‘s mind to decode meaning. Reading requires thinking, it is not just speaking the words and symbols but rather thinking and speaking. Vocabulary instructions play a major role in improving comprehension, Laflamme (1997) points out that comprehension is impossible if the meaning of words is not known. It is important to teach children to find the meaning of words in dictionaries and by use of contextual clue skills. A large vocabulary is critical not only for reading but also for academic performance and for related background knowledge. It is argued that poor performance in academics is due to the poor mastery of the subject skills. Dalton, Glussman, Guthrie, and Rees (1996) noted that pupils taken through reading comprehension skills over a period of time were successful in their academics in comparison to those trained in the study skills in the relevant subjects over the same period of time. The poor performance could be attributed to a lack of language skills rather than a lack of mastery of different subjects.