INFLUENCE OF READING ACTIVITIES ON PERFORMANCE IN READING ENGLISH AMONG GRADE ONE PUPILS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Reading activities are becoming a focal point in teaching pupils a new language especially English. Based on the studies that have attempted to show the influence of reading activities on performance in reading, it remains inconclusive that reading activities have significant influence on performance of the learners in English as one of the subjects learnt in lower primary schools in Kenya. There are inadequate studies on the influence of reading activities on performance of learners in reading in English in Grade One. This study sought to investigate the influence of reading activities on performance of learners in reading English among Grade One pupils in public primary schools in Kayole Zone of Embakasi Sub-County, Nairobi County. The study employed descriptive research design. The target population was 180 teachers and 3600 Grade One pupils summing up to an overall target population of 3780 respondents in 20 schools. This study employed stratified, purposive and simple random sampling techniques to obtain a sample size of 241 respondents comprising of 36 teachers and 205 Grade One pupils. The researcher used questionnaires and performance tests to collect data. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and presented in form of percentages, frequencies and means for all objectives and correlations between the objectives. Qualitative data was analysed by categorizing it into themes and presented in form of themes and verbatim quotation where necessary. The study findings revealed that reading activities identified include sound reading, word reading, shape reading and colour reading. In addition, pupils perform better (mean of 3.52) in reading speed followed by interpretation of colour and shapes (mean of 3.51) and the least performance is in fluency (mean of 3.38). The study findings established that, sound reading activities and shape reading activities positively influenced performance of pupils in reading English. Also, word reading activities and colour activities did not significantly influence performance in reading English. The study concludes that not all reading activities significantly influence performance of the pupils. The study recommends that school administration and teachers should improve their strategies in improving delivery and performance of pupils in English. Article visualizations