| dc.description.abstract | Reading ability is essential for success in school as reading skills are utilized in all areas of academic subjects. Lack of mastery of reading ability is often blamed on inadequate resources, teachers, infrastructure and administrative skills. It has been noted that poor skills in reading result from a condition called dyslexia. The study investigated the influence of selected behaviour modification practices on reinforcement of reading ability among learners with dyslexia in public primary schools in Changamwe Sub-County, Mombasa. The objectives of this present study were, first, to examine the influence of prompting behaviour modification practices on reinforcement of reading abilities among learners with Dyslexia, second, to determine the influence of shaping behavior modification practices on reinforcement of reading abilities among learners with Dyslexia, third, to determine the influence of coaching behaviour modification practice on reinforcement of reading abilities among learners with Dyslexia, lastly, to examine the influence of modeling behaviour modification practice on reinforcement of reading abilities among learners with Dyslexia in public primary schools in Changamwe SubCounty. The study was informed by Skinner’s theory of reinforcement. Solomon four research design was used to find out how behaviour modification practices affected the reading ability of the learners with dyslexia. The study adopted the quantitative research approach to collect and analyze data from the learners. From the target population of 708 learners and 387 teachers, a sample size of 229 learners and 54 English language teachers were selected for the study. To obtain a sample for the study, purposive, iteration and saturation and random sampling methods were used in selection of schools, learners, teachers and school allocation to the groups respectively. A pilot study was conducted on 24 learners and 6 teachers selected from two public primary schools within Changamwe Sub-County to ascertain validity and reliability of the instruments. Data was collected using teachers and learner questionnaires which had both open and closed-ended questions to collect data on selected behaviour modification skills used with dyslexia condition.
Content, internal and external validities of instruments were ascertained by two experts from Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology. Internal consistency technique was used to establish reliability of the instruments by use of Cronbach’s alpha and a reliability coefficient of above 0.6 was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyze quantitative data. Inferential statistics used included ttest, ANOVA, simple and multiple regression analysis. Validity of research instruments was ensured of expert judgment by University supervisors. SPSS statistical Package version 22 assisted in data analysis. Study results revealed significant positive relationship between variables prompting(r=0.188, n=204, p<.05), shaping(r=0174, n=204, <.05), coaching(r=0.435, n=204, p<.05) and modeling(r=0.144, n=204, p<.05) and reinforced reading ability. The study recommended that teachers should use these behavior modification practices to improve the reading ability of the learners with dyslexia condition. The study recommended teachers to offer social emotional support to the learners with dyslexia. The study also recommended that Education stakeholders classify dyslexia as one of the learning disabilities in Kenyan schools and provide for appropriate learning environment and testing resources in schools. | en_US |