A Comparative Study of Textbook Readability and Students’ Comprehension Levels in Senior Secondary School Biology

Abstract

The study compared the textbook readability and students’ comprehension level of Senior Secondary School Biology in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study population consisted of all the Senior Secondary School 1-3 in Ekiti State. A sample of 108 (36 Senior Secondary one, 36 Senior Secondary two and 36 Senior Secondary three) students were randomly selected from six secondary schools using stratified random sampling technique. Two instruments were used for the study. These are: cloze procedures and Flesch reading ease formula. Findings showed that all the textbooks are quite difficult and far above the reading comprehension level of the students. It was suggested that text materials to be presented to these students should be written with reduced syllable and short sentence length that can be read with ease by the students.