Pictures in teaching reading fluency

A study was carried out to explored the effect of Pictures in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils in Sokoto metropolis, in Sokoto state (Nigeria). The purpose is to investigate whether or not Pictures in teaching reading fluency skills, influence the achievement level of the participants between genders and groups as against the conventional chalk and board method, in the study area. The study sampled 178 pupils randomly from eight primary schools. Mixed design research method was employed in the study, where attitude and aptitude of the subjects of the experimental group were measured before and after the treatment. Six research questions were asked, and four hypotheses generated which were statistically tested at 0.05 levels of significant. T-test, two ways analysis of variance (2 – way ANOVA) and Wilcoxon 2 sign test were employed to test the hypothesis accordingly. Guided reading passages with Pictures were used to teach the experimental group, while the control group was exposed to the same passages but taught traditionally with chalk board and teacher talk. It was found that there was significant difference between those exposed to Pictures compared to those exposed to chalk and teacher talk traditional method of teaching. It was also discovered that no significant difference exist between gender within the experimental group, as there was also no significant difference observed between gender and groups (experimental and control). On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that Pictures are effective tools in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils, particularly in the study area, and that Pictures are gender friendly. The study therefore recommends that primary school teachers should be encouraged to use Pictures in their teaching, ICT should as a matter of urgency be embedded in teacher training curriculum, and most importantly, the teacher training institutions, should have a Reading Instruction Research Centre to cater for the needs of the reading instructors as well as the needs of the pupils in terms of materials development.