Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
2021
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Teacher librarians are individuals with recognized teaching qualification as well as qualification in library science. Teacher librarians are often concerned about how much learners are able to grasp and retain meaning from the materials they read as well as their reading comprehension achievements. The term reading comprehension describes a complex process in which learners are involved in some mental processes like creating meanings and organizing texts. This study aimed to improve the reading comprehension achievements of pupils in public primary schools through the use of reflective instructional technique. Two teacher librarians served as research assistants in the study. The study employed the quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. Thirty-three pupils each were assigned to the experimental and control groups respectively. The sample comprised pupils in primary four and five classes. The instrument used for data collection was the reading comprehension achievement test. The data generated were subjected to analysis of covariance. Results of the analyses showed that the reflective instructional technique led to improvement in the reading comprehension achievements of pupils in public primary schools in that the experimental group had a significant increase in reading comprehension achievement scores at the posttest. There was no significant influence of pupils' gender on their reading comprehension achievement scores after benefitting from the intervention, F (1, 65)=.259, p=.613. Results further show that there was no significant interaction effect of the instructional technique and gender on the pupils’ reading comprehension achievement scores, F (1, 65)=.228, p=.634. One of the study implications is that teacher librarians can collaboratively work with other teachers to improve pupils’ reading comprehension achievement in primary schools. The teacher librarians can also influence pupils’ learning outcomes by working directly with pupils and promoting reading.