Study of Reading Readiness Skills Among Kindergarten Children in Lagos State

Reading readiness in the kindergarten years determines the trajectory of later literacy development, and assessing current skill levels among Lagos State kindergarten children provides evidence for pre-literacy curriculum improvement in South West Nigeria. This study assessed reading readiness skills among kindergarten children aged 5 to 6 years in selected government and private primary schools in Alimosho and Surulere Local Government Areas, Lagos State. A descriptive survey was conducted with 300 children assessed using the Phonological Awareness Test adapted for Nigerian English and Yoruba contexts. Skills assessed included phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, print concepts, oral vocabulary, and rhyme recognition. Results showed that 58 percent of children demonstrated below-standard phonemic awareness skills. Private school children performed significantly higher across all five sub-tests than public school counterparts. Exposure to storybook reading at home was the strongest predictor of reading readiness performance. Children who had attended nursery school for at least one year before kindergarten showed 34 percent higher readiness scores than first-time school attenders. Teacher awareness of phonological awareness as a pre-literacy domain was low, with only 29 percent of sampled teachers able to accurately define phonemic awareness. The study concludes that reading readiness preparation in Lagos State kindergartens is inconsistent and requires systemic support. Recommendations include a standardised pre-literacy curriculum, phonological awareness training for kindergarten teachers, and free access to storybooks through school lending libraries.

Keywords: reading readiness, kindergarten, Lagos State, phonological awareness, pre-literacy