EFFECTS OF SEMANTIC MAPPING INSTRUCTION ON READING COMPREHENSION OF PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KEFFI LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF NASARAWA STATE

Abstract

Reading comprehension is a vital aspect of the examination conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) for final year students in secondary schools in Nigeria. Reports from the bodies revealed that many students performed poorly in the aspect of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension contributes to a reader’s overall language development because the more an individual reads, the more words they acquire and are able to communicate using most appropriate words. The semantic mapping strategy is a visual learning tool that helps readers organize and connect ideas using maps. The study investigated the effect of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension of senior secondary school students in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa state, Nigeria. All the senior secondary schools students 2 (SS II) in Keffi Local Government Area made up the population of the study while 100 (one hundred) students, 50 (fifty) each from two schools, out of the seven senior secondary schools in the Local Government Area, made up the sample for the study. The two schools used as sample were randomly selected as the experimental and the control groups. While the experimental group was exposed to the treatment, the control group was treated to an alternative method. The quasi experimental research design was adopted in this study since scheduling and implementation of experimental treatment conditions or randomization and grouping of subjects were not possible. The data for the study were collected using the English Reading Comprehension Achievement Test (ERCAT) which was based on one reading passage. The comprehension passage was adapted from WAEC/SSCE (2023) because it is a standardized examinations. The instrument consisted of three sections which were required to answer the three research questions of the study. The same instrument was used and administered as pre-test and post-test. The achievement test required students to use semantic mapping to answer literal, inferential and critical comprehension questions. The statistical tools used to analyze data included t-test and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings showed better performance of students’ achievement in the posttest than that of the pretest. Following the intervention, the Experimental group, which was taught using the Semantic Mapping Strategy, saw its average score move up to 9.94, while the Control group, which continued with conventional methods, experienced only a modest increase to 0.80. It also revealed that the students’ performance in reading comprehension after instruction in semantic mapping is improved. Following the findings, these recommendations among others were made by the researcher: that teachers of English Language should use semantic mapping during reading sessions. The researcher is of the view that a student’s success in reading comprehension will adversely bring about success in other subjects thereby causing an all-round academic success. Furthermore, deliberate efforts backed with the necessary action by the government at all levels need to be made to provide teaching and learning materials especially on reading comprehension and strategies to teach it.