An Evaluation of the Impact of Students’ Reading Attitude on Their Achievement in Pakistan

Abstract

Reading attitude has the potential to promote the achievement of students in English. Realizing the importance of reading attitude a survey regarding the impact of reading attitude on the achievement of students have been conducted. The data were collected from a sample of five hundred thirty five students and twenty six teachers, which was randomly selected from access population. A questionnaire was developed for the collection of data from teachers and students. Annual result of learners was used to evaluate and compare their achievement. Regression, mean and t-test were used to test the hypotheses and compare groups. The result revealed that students‟ reading attitude and their achievement were strongly correlated. The prediction regarding the achievement of students could be made from their attitude. The significant F- value revealed that model was fit for the prediction of dependent variable from independent variable. An improvement in students‟ reading attitude would significantly improve their achievement. However, no significant difference in the perceptions between teachers and students regarding the impact of students‟ reading attitude on their achievement was found. All the same, the students who often participated in reading activities, frequently attended libraries and read more than course books performed better than students who did not read more than course books and avoided going to library or participating in reading activities. In addition, urban area students performed better than rural area students. The male learners out did female learners. However, no significant difference between first year and second year students was found. The suggestions are given at the end of the paper.