Demographic determinants of teachers’ use of scaffolding strategies in reading instruction for pupils with reading disabilities in Ibadan, Oyo State

Abstract

Teachers possess personal attributes also known as demographic variables that make them capable of providing scaffolded instruction in reading for pupils with reading disabilities. This study investigated the influence of four demographic variables namely: teachers’ gender, educational qualification, years of teaching experience and marital status on teachers’ use of scaffolding strategies in teaching reading to pupils with reading disabilities. The sample comprised purposively selected two hundred and eight (208) primary school teachers who teach pupils with reading disabilities in Ibadan, Oyo State. A questionnaire tagged Scaffolding Reading Instruction Questionnaire (SRIQ), validated with Kuder Richardson 20 (reliability index = 0.80), was administered to the respondents. Four hypotheses were generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data gathered were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation, t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics. The results showed no significant difference in the perception of teachers’ use of four scaffolding strategies in reading instruction of male and female respondents (Crit-t = 1.96, Cal.t = .530, df = 205). It also revealed that there were significant differences in the perception of teachers on their use of scaffolding strategies in reading instruction for pupils with reading disabilities based on the educational qualifications of teachers (F(_4,202) = 4.284, P < .05, η² = .078). Also, there were significant differences in the perception of teachers on their use of scaffolding strategies in reading instruction for pupils with reading disabilities based on the teachers years of teaching experience (F(_3,203) = 4.374, P < .05, η2 = .061). More so, there was no significant difference in teachers’ perception of the four ways of scaffolding reading instruction based on single and married respondents (Crit-t = 1.96, Cal.t = 1.403, df = 205). Based on the findings, the study made some recommendations which include that teachers of pupils with reading disabilities should seek to promote their intrinsic motivation; stakeholders in the education sector should seek to boost teachers’ extrinsic motivation through the provision of more incentives and opportunities. These measures will yield positive results in sustaining the performance of teachers of pupils with reading disabilities in the use of read aloud, shared reading, guided reading and independent reading scaffolding strategies.

Keywords: Reading disabilities, Scaffolded instruction, Gender, Educational qualification, Years of teaching experience, Marital status