Abstract:
The principal intent of this study was to explore students’ reading comprehension problems at
Jenboro Secondary and Preparatory School in Gummer Woreda, Guraghe Zone. To this end, a
descriptive survey research was employed to achieve this research goal. Special reference was
given for preparatory grades. Sample sizes of hundred students were taken for the study. A 68-item survey questionnaire were designed and administered to secure relevant data from the
students. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive statistics
(frequency and percentage). All the collected data were analyzed and discussed to arrive at
conclusions. Findings indicated that students in the school under the study seem to have had
serious reading comprehension problems. Accordingly, lack of word-attack skills, inability to
guess from context, inadequate knowledge of the English language vocabulary and teachers
ineffective methods of teaching reading were the most common and frequent students’ reading
comprehension problems. Inadequate training in reading skill, failure to read frequently and
extensively, lack of interest in reading, language difficulty in a text and excessive use of
dictionary were the next frequent problems and shortage of the English language reading books
and supplementary materials, inadequate library service, and bad home living environment were
ear marked problems coming third. Thus, the result of the study generally suggests that the
sources of the problem mostly come from the teachers and students. The teachers’ practice of
teaching reading did not appear to provide students with helpful learning atmosphere in order to
practice reading and to develop their own reading comprehension. The students also lack
frequent reading habit and interest. Consequently, teaching and learning reading seemed to
suffer from different problems created at various sources. Based on these findings, to alleviate
the problems it was recommended that students need word-attack skills, we need to provide
students a text with adequate clues towards a meaning of a target word, students should be
convinced that guessing from context is a meaningful and interactive learning process, and
teachers should appropriately employ the process of teaching reading and so on.
