BRIDGING LITERACY GAPS: A WHATSAPP-BASED INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE READING SKILLS IN A RURAL GOVERNMENT SCHOOL

This paper describes an early action research study undertaken in a government secondary school in Andhra Pradesh with regard to enhancing the reading skills of Class 9 pupils through the use of social media, WhatsApp in particular. The study was undertaken to address the chronic problem of poor reading proficiency among students newly admitted to the school, who, due to a lack of prior English instruction, were exposed to very basic instructional English, and therefore, their reading skills were rudimentary. For this purpose, WhatsApp was used for four weeks, with stories, short videos, audios, and captions as provided materials. Data was gathered through student and teacher questionnaires, interviews, and recording the level of participation in the reading activities through the system. Findings showed that 70% of students claimed that their engagement in the reading activities was far greater than what they had had before, as well as that they had significantly better reading skills than previously, while 60% claimed that their fluency and comprehension levels considerably improved. Teachers witnessed greater enthusiasm among learners for reading in general and for the instructional materials than before. Despite the obstacles, such as a lack of technology provision, a lack of training for teachers, and other infrastructural issues, the study found that social networking sites, in particular WhatsApp, have the potential to be practical and affordable educational tools designed to equip students with fluent reading skills in low-income contexts. The research suggests possible changes in language reading policy and instruction to improve poor performance in reading. Keywords: Reading Skills, Comprehension, Technology, WhatsApp and Questionnaires