THE IMPACT OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES ON THE LEARNERS OF FRENCH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIAN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of pre-reading activities on the achievement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) students of French in reading comprehension at the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Plateau State. Employing a quasi-experimental design, specifically a non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group approach, the study sampled 108 NCE II students from the French Department, who were divided into experimental (52) and control (56) groups. The Reading Comprehension Achievement Test (RCAT) was used to measure students’ comprehension skills, with data analyzed using mean scores and ANCOVA. Findings revealed that students exposed to pre-reading activities demonstrated significant improvements in identifying main ideas, supporting ideas, summarization and retelling, compared to their counterparts in the control group. The experimental group consistently outperformed the control group, with notable mean gains across all assessed comprehension skills. These findings aligned with existing literature, underscoring the effectiveness of pre-reading strategies in enhancing students' cognitive engagement and comprehension. The study concluded that structured pre-reading activities played a crucial role in improving reading comprehension and recommended their integration into reading instruction to enhance academic performance.