Abstract:
The study explored the teaching strategies for reading comprehension and their effect on students‘ academic performance at Cascade Technical Academy (pseudonym). Cascade Technical Academy represents a technical institute in Ghana. The study assessed teaching strategies that English teachers use to teach reading comprehension, perceived factors that influence the choice of teaching strategies, the perceived efficacy of the teaching strategies, and the effects of teaching strategies on students‘ academic performance in reading comprehension. The study was underpinned by the constructivist theory. A mixed-methods approach, questionnaires and observation checklists were used for data collection. The study relied on simple random sampling to select 80 Form Three students and five teachers of English were purposefully selected. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used for the quantitative analysis, while the qualitative data were grouped into themes. The study found from teachers‘ experiences that students had an average reading level, teaching strategies, duration, and the number of times teachers have reading activities to teach reading comprehension were average. Again, the study established that inadequate textbooks, time allocation, and absenteeism were some challenges teachers encountered in teaching English comprehension. Finally, it was observed that difficulty in pronunciation and the use of idiomatic expressions were sources of worry for students. Most students believe that reading comprehension directly impacts a student‘s academic performance, which influences other subjects of study. The study recommends that teachers help develop students‘ reading skills and comprehension of text on a daily basis to help improve students‘ performance.
