Experimenting Side-Reading Questionning Strategy in Reawkening Nigerian Polytechnic Students’ Summary Writing Performance

Abstract

This study examined the influence of side-reading questioning strategy on polytechnic students’ summary writing performance in Kaduna polytechnic Kaduna State, Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to examine the: (i) general performance of polytechnic students’ performance in summary writing; (ii) effect of SRQ on polytechnic students’ performance in summary writing; (iii) influence of gender. A two-group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was adopted for this study. The population consisted of all National Diploma II in Kaduna Polytechnic. Two departments were sampled using multi-stage sampling technique. The sample was categorised into one experimental group and one control group. A total number of 100 polytechnic students (NDII) were sampled. English Reading Comprehension Performance Test (ERCPT) was used to collect data from the respondents. The test items were adapted from English language and Communication texts and validated by language experts. The reliability of the instrument was carried out through test re-test method in an interval of two weeks and a reliability index of 0.72 was obtained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The data were analysed using the percentage, mean, standard deviation, and analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that: (i) the general performance of polytechnic students in summary writing (both the experimental and control groups) was low before the treatment but high after the treatment; (ii) that side-reading questions significantly reawakening polytechnic students’ summary writing performance; (iv) that there is no significant effect of SRQ on polytechnic students’ summary writing performance on the bases of gender. The study concluded that SRQ add value to students’ summary writing performance. The implication is that this strategy have significant effect on polytechnic students summary performance. The study recommended that teachers should employ the use of SRQ strategy for teaching reading to enhance students’ comprehension and summary writing performance.