The influence of lingustic understanding on literacy development among secondary school students in Tororo district:
| dc.contributor.author | Nyadoi, Racheal | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-09-08T12:00:10Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-09-08T12:00:10Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2026 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This study examined the influence of linguistic understanding on literacy development among secondary school students in Tororo District, with specific reference to Tororo Mixed Secondary School. Despite English being a core subject, many students continue to show low literacy competence characterized by poor reading comprehension, weak vocabulary, grammatical inaccuracies and poor written expression. The general objective was to examine how linguistic understanding influences literacy development. The specific objectives were to examine the relationship between phonological awareness and reading comprehension; determine the influence of morphological awareness on vocabulary and writing accuracy; assess the effect of syntactic knowledge on sentence construction and writing coherence; analyze the relationship between semantic understanding and reading comprehension; and establish the influence of pragmatic competence on interpretation and production of written texts. The study adopted a cross-sectional correlational research design with a quantitative approach. The population was students offering English at O-Level and A-Level at Tororo Mixed S.S. A sample of 120 students was selected using Yamane's (1967) formula through simple random sampling. Data were collected using a structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and regression analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed moderate levels of both linguistic understanding and literacy development. There was a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between linguistic understanding and literacy development (r = 0.742, p < 0.05). Linguistic understanding explained 55.1%of the variation in literacy development. Among the linguistic components, semantic understanding scored highest while syntactic knowledge scored lowest, indicating students understand word meanings but struggle with grammatical organization and coherence. The study concludes that linguistic understanding is a strong determinant of literacy development. It recommends strengthening teaching of phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic competencies, integrating grammar in meaningful contexts, and providing adequate reading materials and teacher training to improve literacy outcomes. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://bdears.busitema.ac.ug/handle/123456789/9401 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | Busitema University | |
| dc.title | The influence of lingustic understanding on literacy development among secondary school students in Tororo district: | |
| dc.title.alternative | Case study of Tororo mixed secondary secondary. | |
| dc.type | Thesis |