ABSTRACT
The new curriculum for teaching English was published 8 years ago. It aimed to improve the performance in English at KCSE and with that improvement generally raise the passes in the other subjects. Research has shown that this goal has not been
achieved as a result of the students not using the reading skills they have been taught.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of effective reading on school performance. The study determined the nature of reading skills taught in secondary schools in Kenya, the usefulness of reading skills, the impact of reading skills on
exams and problems with teaching reading skills.
Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedule. Questionnaire was
designed to find out from the students the coverage of reading skills and their attitude
towards reading skills. Interview schedule was designed to establish subject teacher's
perception of the place of reading skills in secondary schools. The study was carried
out among form two, three and four students of Alwala secondary school, Kisumu
district. Forms 2-4 were selected because they should have received instruction on
reading skills and assessment results were available to rate them. Subject teachers
were targeted because of their role as cmTiculum implementers. Extreme case
sampling technique was used to select the study sample of 26 students. Random
sampling was used to select 5 teachers. Descriptive statistics, percentages, were
summarized in tables for presentation and interpretation.
The study was based on the concept of instructional programme evaluation. It focused on the efficiency of the system and the quality of the present experience. Both were founrl wanting nnrl focus