Language Skills and Communication of Children with Reading Disabilities in Selected Inclusive Primary Schools In Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract The ability to communicate is one determiner of a student’s success or failure. The acquisition of language skills promote and cement the skills like listening, speaking and writing. The ability to read is crucial for information retrieval. In the written examination oriented education system in Kenya, the child who fails to read and comprehend the written word has distorted communication and the general performance will be poor as a result of poor communication. This study aimed at determining the level of language skills and communication of children with reading disabilities in the inclusive primary schools under study. The following were the study objectives used to get the findings; 1.-to determine the demographic characteristics of respondents in terms of age, gender, educational qualifications, number of years teaching experience and position held in school. 2.-to determine the level of language skills of children with reading disabilities. 3.- determine the level of communication skills of children with reading disabilities and 4.-to establish if there is a significant relationship between the level of language skills and the level of communication skills of children with reading disabilities. The study was guided by Vyotsky’s social constructivist theory which views learning as both socially based and integrated. The beneficiaries of this study are the learners, teachers, parents, inclusive primary school administrators, educational policy makers, the ministry of education and any other interested parties and future researchers. The study employed the descriptive survey design. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for data collection. A tarciet population of 115 respondents purposively sampled from 20 schools randomly selected in Bungoma County was used in the study. Demographic characteristics of refpondents were tabulated in frequency and distribution tables. The level of language skills and level of communication skills was tabulated using mean. The correlation coefficient was arrived at using the regression analysis. The research finding indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between the variable correlated. The researcher -therefore concluded that the level of language skills has a positive influence on the level of communication skills of children with reading disabilities. The researcher recommends that further research should be done to improve on this study.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preliminaries

Declaration A

Declaration B ii

Approval Sheet iii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgement v

Abstract vi

Table of Contents vii

Chapter Page

One THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Background of the Study 1

Statement of the Problem 4

Purpose of the Study 4

Research Objectives 5

Research Questions 6

Null Hypothesis 6

Scope 6

Significance of the Study 7

Operational Definitions of Key Terms 8

VII

Two REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Concepts, Ideas, Opinions from Authors/Experts 9

Theoretical Perspectives 11

Related Studies 12

Gaps Identified in the Study 18

Three METHODOLOGY

Research Design 20

Research Population 20

Sample Size 20

Sampling Procedure 23

Research Instruments 23

Validity and Reliability of the Instrument 23

Data Gathering Procedures 24

Data Analysis 25

Ethical Considerations 26

Limitations of the Study 26

Four DATA PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS 27

Five FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 37

Suggestions for Further Study 40

References 41

Appendices

Appendix I A Transmittal Letter 49

Appendix lB Transmittal Letter for Respondents 50

Appendix II Clearance from Ethics Committee 51

Appendix III Informed Consent 52

Appendix IV A Demographic Characteristics

of the Respondents 53

Appendix IV B Questionnaire to Determine the level of Language

Skills of Children with Reading Disabilities 54

Appendix IV C Questionnaire to Determine the level of Communication

of Children with Reading Disabilities 55

Appendix V Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient Calculation 56

Researcher1s Curriculum Vitae 57