The causes of reading difficulties in rural primary school pupils in bondamakara cluster. A case of mudzonga primary school in Mutoko district Shumba Milton, Gada Luckmore Zimbabwe Open University, Harare Regional Campus, 3rd floor, Zimpost Building Corner Nelson Mandela & Julius Nyerere, Harare Online published on 1 August, 2019. Abstract This study sought to identify the causes of reading difficulties affecting reading English among the rural Grade Six Learners in Bondamakara Cluster in Mutoko District. It followed a mixed research design approach. To obtain a representative sample of the population of primary schools, purposeful sampling was used, selecting two teachers and 70 learners from Mudzonga primary schools from the six schools in the cluster. Both qualitative and quantitative data was obtained from lesson observations and from reading tests, and findings revealed that, inadequate English reading materials, improper teaching methodology and insufficient English language development were causes of reading difficulties in Bondamakara cluster. Lack of English language development was a result of insufficient teacher-learner interactions during the English lessons. The results from the tests indicated that decoding, phonemic awareness, word recognition skills and comprehension might impede reading proficiency in Grade six and although a section of learners proved to have the abilities to read fluently they could not answer satisfactorily the questions based on the text read. The result revealed that 35.71% were unable to read the pseudo words beyond the frustration level, and only31.43% at the instructional level. The research recommends that schools should male resources available to buy supplementary reading materials for use by learners, and that teachers encourage learners to borrow books from libraries to practice reading independently. Teachers should study English through initiatives like English Language Proficiency Programmes. Top Keywords Reading, English Language, literacy, Teacher- Learner Interactions, Comprehension. Top |