Basic Education and Reading Readiness Skills: An Appraisal of Early Childhood Kindergarten in Imo State, South-East of Nigeria

Abstract

Reading is a basic tool of education and also a crucial aspect in the Nigerian language curriculum. As a receptive skill, it involves the ability to meaningfully interpret or decode written or graphic symbols of a language. It is not merely about how to pronounce words; it is significant that the children understand the meaning of the words they read in order to unfold the hidden treasure of knowledge and also participate in the words’ universal culture and civilization. It becomes imperative to kindle reading culture among the children who are faced with several competing leisure time activities. The early childhood or the kindergarten, being the best time to imbibe reading culture and early literacy skills in children, is also the time to get them reading ready. This research, therefore, was mainly initiated to investigate how reading readiness could enhance children’s early literacy and factors that affect reading readiness among the kindergarten in Imo State. The sample of the study was drawn from the population of nursery/ primary school teachers in the three educational zones using stratified sampling technique. The main objective of the study being to ascertain the essence of reading readiness in building early childhood literacy skill; thus, a qualitative research method was employed. The findings indicated that the majority of the kindergarten teachers are unqualified and inexperienced to impart reading culture into the children. Other factors are overcrowded classrooms and poor environment that prohibit one-to-one teacher/pupil relationship in the reading class. It was suggested that the government should always organize all-inclusive workshops to train the teachers on the steps in teaching reading. Also, parents should always be provided with regular information on the reading progress of their children for them to make their own input in the reading skill of their children. All the above will help to build a solid reading skill which will promote basic functional education in Imo State.