ANALYSIS OF TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ FACTORS IMPEDING READING COMPREHENSION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA, NIGERIA

The study analysed perceptions of students’ and teachers’ factors impeding reading comprehension of public secondary school students in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. With a focus on identification and analysis of these inhibitive factors, the study. answered four research questions and adopted a survey design using Stratified Fisher’s formula to select a sample of three hundred and eighty-six penultimate secondary school students (SSII) in Government-funded (public) secondary schools (colleges) across the six Area Councils of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which is administratively divided. Responses were sought through a researcher-designed four Likert scale structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using the mean scores. The study found that lazy reading attitude, inadequate vocabulary knowledge, poor motivation, and lack of diversity in instructional strategy are major inhibitors to students’ reading comprehension. The study, therefore, recommends, amongst others, adequate provision of reading materials, decongestion of classroom population, and use of diversified instructional strategies by teachers to make learning exciting and enhance students’ reading comprehension.