INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF DEAF STUDENTS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

Everline Nyokabi Maina, Edwards Joash Kochung, Omondi Oketch

Abstract


The academic achievement of deaf students in English in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination has continuously been below average, with a mean of below 6.0 out of the possible mean of 12 for the past five years. Reading comprehension contributes to 32.5% of the total marks in the KCSE English examination. Existing studies attribute the low academic achievement to inadequate knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar. This study, therefore, focused on establishing the influence of knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar on deaf students’ academic achievement in reading comprehension. Using descriptive survey and correlational research designs, data were gathered from four secondary schools for the deaf in Kenya. The study established that knowledge of English grammar influenced the academic achievement of deaf students in reading comprehension (r=0.821, p<0.05). Knowledge of English vocabulary was also found to influence the academic achievement of deaf students in reading comprehension, in that 71(89.9%) of the students scored 0 in the vocabulary questions. 40(50.6%) of the students underlined more than 70.0% of the words in passages, as difficult influencing overall comprehension of the passage. The study recommends explicit teaching of story grammar and vocabulary for effective reading comprehension.

Keywords


knowledge of English vocabulary, knowledge of English grammar, academic achievement, English reading comprehension, deaf students

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v12i5.6788

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