CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review
Reading is the ability to understand words contained in a document and make use of the knowledge for personal growth and development (Dadzie, 2008). This implies making meaning out of recorded information either printed or non-printed in the life of an individual. People read for different reasons and purposes, some of which include for pleasure, leisure, relaxation, information and for knowledge.Public Library.
Reading is the identification of the symbols and the association of appropriate meaning with them. It requires identification and comprehension. Comprehension skills help the learner to understand the meaning of words in isolation and in context (Palani, 2012).
He believes reading is a process of thinking, evaluating, judging, imagining, reasoning and problem solving. Reading is an essential tool for knowledge transfer and the habit of reading is an academic activity that increases skills in reading strategies. To know about the world and its environment, a child helps himself through reading books, newspapers and other magazines. Once the child has been taught to read and has developed the love for books, he can explore for himself the wealth of human experiences and knowledge through reading. Children, who miss the opportunity of getting in touch with books in their early stages of life, find it hard to acquire good reading habits in their later years (Deavers, 2000). Reading is an intellectual action which is possible only if a man forms a habit of reading and practices these from childhood. Reading habits, therefore, play a very crucial role in enabling a person to achieve practical efficiency. “Laws die but books never.” Indeed, books are the most suitable medium through which knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation (Issa et
al, 2012).
Singh (2011) examined academic achievement and study habits of higher secondary students. The study was conducted on hundred (100) higher secondary students randomly from two higher secondary schools. The result indicates that girls and boys differ significantly in their study habits and academic achievement. Bhan and Gupta (2010) on the other hand examined study habits and academic achievement among the students belonging to scheduled caste and non-scheduled caste group. The results revealed that sex has no significant impact on the study habits and academic achievement of students. Higginbotham (1999), examined the reading interests of middle school-sixth, seventh, and eighth grade-students in a metropolitan, public school located in a southeastern state Atlanta, Georgia. The result of this study showed differences in interest by gender, which are congruent with many society’s stereotypes, and females reported a stronger interest in Romance, Friendship, Animal Stories, Adventure, and Historical Fiction, while the males reported stronger preferences for the categories of Sports and Science. Also, the male respondents had a stronger preference for non-fiction than did the
female respondents. Public Library.
Gallo (2007) said “books, yield their best to you, if you read them at the age at which each particular masterpiece can ideally be chewed and digested”. There is little knowledge about the everyday reading practices of tertiary education students and how these practices affect their academic achievement. Everyday reading consists of individuals’ reading activities for a variety of purposes, such as for
relaxation or information (Issa. et al, 2012). They believes that from middle childhood through adulthood, reading becomes a major component of studying, and much information learned through studying is initially acquired through reading. Thus everyday reading activities in which students engage may, considerably influence their studying skills and subsequent academic performance. There
is a general sense in which one appreciates the link between good habits of reading and the academic
performance of students generally, (Issa et al, 2012). Guthrie, Benneth & McGough, (2007) believe that “reading” is the act of getting meaning from printed or written words, which is the basis for learning and one of the most important skills in