Teachers’ and Students’ Attitudes towards Reading and Writing: Do They Correlate to Students’ Achievement in English?

This survey tested the null hypothesis that teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards reading and writing do not simultaneously predict students’ achievement in the English language. The researcher utilized a sample of 38 teachers and 492 senior secondary school students from 12 schools in Benue State, Nigeria, for the study. The researcher developed and utilized the English Language Students’ Attitude Scale (ELSAS), English Language Teachers’ Attitude Scale (ELTAS), and Reading and Writing Achievement Test (RWAT) for data collection. An estimate of internal consistency was obtained through Cronbach’s Alpha and Kuder Richardson’s reliability methods and found to be 0.76 for ELSAS, 0.68 for ELTAS, and 0.81 for RWAT. Data analysis was by multiple regression statistics. The findings revealed that both English language teachers and students have a positive attitude towards reading and writing (F3, 492 = 0.160, p<0.05) implying that teachers and students’ attitudes towards reading and writing jointly predicted students’ achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools. To conclude, learning would be facilitated if both teachers and students hold positive attitudes towards reading and writing, and this, in turn, could impact the students’ achievement in the English language. It was recommended that teachers should plan reading and writing instruction that can help students develop positive attitudes to these skills and parents should help in the development of these skills at home.


INTRODUCTION
English is an international language that plays a crucial role in making people acquire knowledge, information, and skills in communication (Ghazali et al., 2009). Constituted governments and organisations accord English as high esteem. In Nigeria, there is a high demand for the citizens to learn the English language both for formal and non-formal purposes. For students attending secondary schools, the onus is on them to become proficient in reading and writing. Students should know the purpose of reading, the context, the meaning of the text, and should receive information from it (Akmal et al., 2020). Staiger (1973) presents the UNESCO definition of reading in his article and wrote that that reading has been defined as an interaction by which meaning encoded in visual stimuli by an author becomes meaning in the mind of the reader (Staiger, 1973). Reading, therefore, involves interpreting and demonstrating a good understanding of what is read and extracting information appropriate to the context of what is being read. Writing on the other hand is a form of human communication by means of a set of visible marks that are related, by convention, to some particular structural level of language (Oslon, n.d.).
Writing is the result of the author putting together his thoughts, feelings, or ideas in correct words and sentences targeted at conveying meaning to the reader. Due to their integrative nature, reading can be called an input skill while writing can be called an output skill. Reading and writing are believed to draw from the same knowledge base (Rosa, 2018). Rosa (2018) argues that students who write well-read well. Some studies (Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000) have attempted to examine the reading-writing relations across different ability levels. Fitzgerald and Shanahan (2000) interpret this connection in three ways namely (a) rhetorical relations, the object of which is to see reading and writing as communication activities, (b) procedural connections, which is based on the idea that both reading and writing are functional activities that can be combined to accomplish external goals, and (c) shared knowledge, which suggests that reading and writing are constellations of cognitive processes. This means that reading and writing are closely connected that they depend on identical or similar knowledge representations, cognitive processes, as well as contexts and contextual constraints (Seitz, 2010;Suk, 2017). Reading and writing should be seen as very similar skills such that their developments should parallel each other closely. This type of pedagogical combination may be useful in making learning comprehension more efficient (Unal & Iseri, 2012). Those skills are the main determinants of individuals' educational lives and many elements in today's world.
Attitude is an important factor in many aspects of human life. A learner characteristic such as attitude plays a key role in students' achievement in a subject (Ellah et al., 2019). Attitude refers to an individual's inclinations, prejudices, ideas, fears, and convictions concerning any topic (Ghazali et al., 2009). Good (1973) defines attitude as the predisposition or tendency to react specifically towards an object, situation, or value, usually accompanied by feelings and emotions; attitudes cannot be directly observed but must be inferred from overt behaviour, both verbal and nonverbal. Attitude has an evaluative aspect and its influence on an individual affects his/her disposition and tendency to react positively or negatively towards something. Students' attitude is one of the main factors that determine their success in English language learning (Sánchez & Gavilánez, 2017). (2018) indicates that many students have negative attitudes towards the English language generally, and reading and writing in particular. Attitude to a teaching subject could play a part in why some students pass or fail such a subject. Some studies have examined the role of attitude in second language acquisition maintaining that negative attitudes can be changed (Seitz, 2010;Yamashita, 2013). Factors like better teaching strategies, classroom, and social environment can help reduce negative attitudes (Mede, 2010). Students with positive attitudes show the tendency to demonstrate the push to learn without being forced to do so. They can employ such strategies as asking questions, volunteering information, and answering questions in order to accomplish set goals. Fortunately, attitude towards a teaching subject does not remain static but can be changed through the learning process. Additionally, when effective teaching is supported by appropriate materials and teaching techniques, new and positive attitudes towards the subject may be formed (Nootens et al., 2019).

The West African Examinations Council
Some studies (Lee et al., 2015) have identified motivation as another factor which influences the development of reading skill. The higher motivation the learners gain, the bigger success they achieve in mastering vocabulary (Setiawan & Wiedarti, 2020). Motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) is key for enjoying reading. According to Bandura's (1986) social-cognitive theory of self-efficacy, "what people think, believe, and feel affects how they behave" (p. 25). The concept of self-efficacy, which deals with how individuals feel and think about themselves, and how they can self-motivate illustrate the phenomenon of attitude to reading. Students' attitude to reading could be a major factor in their poor performance in reading in Nigeria. A World Bank report based on OECD (2018) reports that students of secondary education in Nigeria have low reading ability compared with their counterparts in Indonesia (51.7), Philippines (52.6), Thailand (65.1), Singapore (74.0), and Hong Kong (75.5). Lee et al. (2015) found that this condition is common among students of junior high, senior high, and vocational schools or even university students. This problem should be addressed by all stakeholders, especially teachers and students. By having a good attitude towards reading and writing, teachers may influence students' reading and writing skills. Since attitude has a correlation to reading, students who develop a love for reading should show a positive attitude towards reading. Furthermore, students with a strong foundation in reading can influence their writing. This is in light of the finding that reading and writing have a significant correlation (Pamuji, 2015).
Reading comprehension is one of the necessary skills required by the students to prove that the teaching of reading is successful. It can be defined as the construction of meaning of a written text through a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the reader and the message in a particular text (Sánchez & Gavilánez, 2017). Reading comprehension has three categories namely literal, interpretive, and critical (Oyetunde, 2009). Literal level reading involves reading the lines or understanding what the author stated, such as recalling information and finding the main points. The elements involved in this category are the main idea, detail, vocabulary, referent, inference, and text organization. Reading at the interpretive level involves detecting information implied in a passage to interpret. In this level, students must translate, rephrase, and infer relationships among explicitly stated information. Furthermore, reading at the critical level refers to the act of reading beyond the lines which occur when the reader evaluates, integrates, as well as uses information and ideas in life experiences to make decisions.
While the reading process usually entails understanding textbook assignments (Phatchara & Pothitha, 2014), reading comprehension skills may also affect one's interpretation of examination instructions, homework questions, and such common tasks as completion of job application forms or questionnaires. It is common to come across students who face challenges with their reading comprehension because they are unable to accurately understand written texts. That is, they cannot interpret what they read and make the connection between prior knowledge and the information at hand. This is a common phenomenon among secondary school students in Nigeria as reported by The West African Examinations Council (2018Council ( , 2019. Attitude towards reading has been found to influence the development of reading skills and academic success (Nootens et al., 2019). Whereas Pagal et al. (2017) argue that reading attitude does not greatly affect the reading practices of the learner, other scholars see it differently. Patrick et al. (2007) and Taylor (2014) separately maintain that attitude may affect the level of ability attained by a student through its influence, and poor attitude may lead to the absence of reading when other options are available (Nippold et al., 2005). On the other hand, learners' positive attitudes towards reading in and out of school results in a greater likelihood to engage in reading (Martinez et al., 2008) and learners who are motivated to read will definitely spend more time in reading (Taylor, 2014).
Research that examines both the attitudes of students and teachers towards reading and writing and at the same time determines whether such attitudes impact students' achievement has been very rare. Some studies have focused mainly on students' attitudes to reading and its relationship with reading performance (Tunde-Awe, 2014), differences in pupils' attitudes towards reading (Nootens et al., 2019), and gender gaps in reading comprehension (Pagal et al., 2017). A change in attitude towards reading is a common phenomenon observed in children especially as they transit from elementary to higher levels of education (Davis & Neitzel, 2010;Nootens et al., 2019). Some studies (Baştuğ, 2015;Bulut, 2017;Jabali, 2018) have investigated how a negative attitude to writing could have an impact on writing achievement. Jabali (2018) maintains that most students tend to show negative attitudes towards writing. Bulut (2017) probed into the effect of primary school fourth-grade students' writing attitudes and writing self-efficacy beliefs on their summary writing achievement and found that writing attitude and writing self-efficacy beliefs are highly correlated to each other. Bulut (2017) further reported that writing attitude and writing self-efficacy beliefs directly and significantly affect summary writing. In another study on writing and affective factors on writing achievement, Baştuğ (2015) found that writing disposition and attitude significantly and positively affect writing achievement. He further reported that writer's block has the greatest effect on writing achievement, followed by writing disposition and writing attitude. In a similar study, Jabali (2018) examined the attitudes of Palestinian EFL students towards writing in general and found that students had positive attitudes toward writing.
Peoples' attitude towards a teaching subject needs to be studied from time to time. This is because attitude is not a permanent phenomenon. The uniqueness of the present study is that it investigated the attitude of both teachers and students towards reading and writing. In carrying out the present study, the following questions were posed and answered: 1. What is the attitude of secondary school teachers towards reading comprehension in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State? 2. What is the attitude of secondary school students towards reading comprehension in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State? 3. What is the attitude of secondary school teachers towards writing in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State? 4. What is the attitude of secondary school students towards writing in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State?
The hypothesis of this research is formulated as the following, with the null hypothesis formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance: Ho1. Teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing, do not jointly significantly predict students' achievement in the English language at the senior secondary school level.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Over the years, students' poor achievement in English language examination has been the concern of education stakeholders. Komolafe and Yara (2010) observe that the poor achievement of students in English language examinations could be connected to their inability to write good essays. The West African Examinations Council (2019) lists poor knowledge of the rules of grammar, inability to construct good sentences, lack of teachers' exposure to modern methods of teaching, inadequate preparation, inability to write coherently, and technical deficiency as common factors. The report specifically mentions that continuous writing is the area that poses the greatest challenge to senior school students. The students at this level show a poor understanding and usage of the English language. Furthermore, their handwriting is illegible, and they make rampant spelling mistakes, wrong use of tenses, wrong use of concord, as well as the use of words as direct translations from vernaculars. Experience has shown that when students do not do well in a particular skill of language, it tends to affect other skills of the language. This is particularly true of literacy skills such as reading and writing where empirical evidence exists that reading influences writing, that writing influences reading, and that they interactively influence one another (Bas, 2012;Chappell, 2011). Teachers may assume that if the students are positive about reading, they are positive about writing, and vice versa (Graham et al., 2012).
The most prominent factor which directly influences reading and writing skill is the attitude of learners towards these skills (Unal & Iseri, 2012). It has been mentioned that attitude has a determining impact on school achievement (Bandura, 1986). This has given rise to the idea that suitable educational environments should be provided in order to improve attitudes in the education process. This view is also supported by Kush et al. (2005), that students' attitudes towards reading are the leading factors that directly affect their reading comprehension and productive skill such as writing. Students must firstly start reading by having positive attitudes towards comprehension and composition content in the English language (Jeffries & Mikulecky, 2014). It is further reported that students who enjoy reading the most perform significantly better than students who enjoy reading the least (OECD, 2010). Martinez et al. (2008) investigated the influence of reading attitude on reading achievement of fourth-grade students. They found that both reading ability and attitude significantly predict reading achievement. Kever (2018) examined the reading proficiency and attitude of Senior Secondary School Two (SS 2) students as they relate to students' achievement in essay writing. His study reported a high relationship between students' attitudes towards reading and achievement in essay writing. A similar study with students of the same academic level was carried out by Tunde-Awe (2014). Although Tunde-Awe (2014) reported that a majority of the participants demonstrated a negative attitude towards reading, a high positive relationship was found between students' reading attitude and their reading comprehension performance.
The teacher is a key factor in students' reading and writing achievement in a second language situation (Taylor, 2014). When teachers cultivate the habit of reading and writing, it instils in the students' belief about the value and significance of reading and writing. Trykacz (2019) argues that attitudes towards extensive reading in Foreign Language (FL) classrooms might actually be a factor contributing to students' (positive or negative) attitudes towards reading in a foreign language. Taylor (2014) describes a teacher who reads as a students' "reading model, mentor, and motivator, supporting and nurturing the reading habit" (p.2). It can be stressed that such a teacher can provide platforms for students to practically utilize vocabulary acquired and connect the skill of reading to writing. Some studies (McCoss-Yergian, 2010;Pappalardo, 2010;Trykacz, 2019) examined the relationship between teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and students' achievement. Pappalardo (2010) investigated how teachers' behaviour and attitude affect students' writing in rural Pennsylvania high school and found that students' writing apprehension increased over the sampled population with no differential effects found among the 25 classes studied. Trykacz (2019) studied the Swedish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' attitude towards extensive reading practices and found that the teachers have a positive attitude towards applying extensive reading practices in the classroom and perceive them as beneficial for foreign language learning.
The review above indicates that much research has focused solely on students' attitude towards reading and writing, while little research examined the extent and degree of relationship between students' and teachers' attitudes towards reading and writing and students' achievement. Studying learners' attitudes towards reading and writing is not enough. A study which extends the scope by determining the attitude of both teachers and students towards reading and writing is considered more comprehensive. Unfortunately, no study known to the author has investigated this problem in Benue State, Nigeria. Having identified this gap, the researcher was motivated to investigate whether or not attitudes by teachers and students towards reading and writing correlate with students' achievement in the English language at the secondary school level of education.

METHODS
Since the purpose of the research was to predict and seek explanations for the relationships among the variables, the study utilized a correlational research design. In a correlational design, the researcher can systematically obtain a description of the existing phenomena and ascertain the extent to which variations in one variable are associated with variations in another (Koul, 2013). This design was suitable because using it could make the study arrive at both the magnitude and direction of the relationship between variables (Emaikwu, 2011).
Teachers teaching English at the senior secondary school level and students at that level formed the two sets of participants in the study. A total of 38 teachers and 492 students were purposively selected from 12 secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Gboko Local Government with a high concentration of schools and students of mixed ability was an ideal location, particularly because the problem of a poor attitude towards reading and writing was very prevalent in this area. The purpose of the study was explained to the participants and approval for the study to take place in the selected schools was obtained from the school authorities prior to data collection.
The researcher developed and utilized three sets of instruments for data collection. These were 'English Language Students' Attitude Scale' (ELSAS), 'English Language Teachers' Attitude Scale' (ELTAS), and 'Reading and Writing Achievement Test' (RWAT). The attitude scales were developed by the researcher while the WRAT was adopted from past West African School Certificate Examinations questions. ELSAS and ELTAS were devised on a four-point scale based on Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD) response categories respectively. Both instruments were face-validated by three experts, one from the Educational Foundations Department and two from the Curriculum and Teaching Department of Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria. One expert was in the area of Measurement and Evaluation while the other two were experts in the English Language. Construct validation was done for the attitude scales using factor analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23. Based on the extraction method of principal component analysis and rotation method of Varimax with Kaiser Normalization, items with a factor loading of 0.35 and above on single factor were identified to form part of the final form of the instruments while others were rejected. An estimate of internal consistency was obtained through Cronbach's Alpha and found to be 0.76 for ELSAS, 0.81 for RWAT, and 0.68 for ELTAS. The ELSAS, RWAT, and ELTAS were personally administered to the students by the researcher to ensure a high rate of return of the instruments.
Data analysis was carried out using multiple regression statistics. Regression analysis is useful for describing relationships among variables (Ralwings et al., 1998). Results from the analysis were both descriptive and inferential and therefore could answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance.

RESULTS
This section contains the result of the study in response to each of the research questions.

Attitude of Secondary School Teachers towards Reading Comprehension
The answer to the first research question on the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards reading comprehension in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State is presented in Table 1.  Table 1 shows the mean attitude rating of 38 English language teachers towards reading comprehension in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. The mean attitude rating of teachers towards reading comprehension was 2.80 with a standard deviation of 0.32. This high mean and low standard deviation show that English language teachers have high positive attitudes towards reading comprehension.

Attitude of Secondary School Students towards Reading Comprehension
The answer to the second research question on the attitude of secondary school students towards reading in Gboko Local Government Area is presented in Table 2.  Table 2 shows the mean attitude rating of 492 English language students towards reading in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. The attitude of students towards reading was 3.33 with a standard deviation of 0.98. This high mean and low standard deviation show that students have high positive attitudes towards reading comprehension.

Attitude of Secondary School Teachers to Writing
The answer to the third research question on the attitude of secondary school teachers towards writing in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State is presented in Table 3.  Table 3 shows the regression analysis of teachers' attitude towards writing and students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area. The table reveals the linear regression model obtained by 38 English language teachers. The analysis shows that teachers' attitude towards writing was a predictor of students' academic achievement with positive regression weight (β = 0.183). Accordingly, the measure of teachers' attitude towards writing had 18.3% (or 0.183) predictive power for students' academic achievement in the English language. The coefficient of determination R 2 was 0.466. This implied that only 46.6% of the variation in the students' academic achievement in the English language could be attributed to their teachers' attitude towards writing. The linear regression model implied that predicted students' academic achievement in the English language was 25.251 of teachers' attitude towards writing if the other variables were held constant.

Attitude of Secondary School Students towards Writing
The answer to the fourth research question on the attitude of secondary school students towards writing in Gboko Local Government Area is presented in Table 4.  Table 4 illustrates the regression analysis of students' attitude towards writing and students' achievement in the English language in Gboko Local Government Area. The table reveals the linear regression model obtained by 492 senior secondary school students. The analysis shows that students' attitude towards writing was a predictor of academic achievement with a positive regression weight (β = 0.482). Accordingly, the measure of students' attitude towards writing had 48.2% (or 0.482) predictive power for their academic achievement in the English language. The coefficient of determination R 2 is 0.339. This implies that only 33.9% of the variation in students' academic achievement in the English language could be attributed to their attitude towards writing. The linear regression model implied that predicted students' academic achievement in the English language was 22.98 of their attitudes towards writing if the other variables were held constant.  Table 5 shows the regression model associated with teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing jointly in predicting the students' achievement in the English language. It shows that the probability associated with the calculated value of F (0.160) was 0.023. Since the probability value of 0.023 was less than the 0.05 level of significance, the null hypothesis was rejected. This shows that teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing jointly predict students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.

DISCUSSION
The main focus of this study was to investigate the extent and degree of relationship between teachers' and students' attitude towards reading and writing and students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. The findings of the study showed that English language students have a higher positive attitude towards reading comprehension and writing compared to their teachers. In addition, the findings of the study also revealed that a moderate percentage of variation in students' achievement in the English language could be attributed to their attitude and that of their teachers towards reading and writing.
On the relationship between students' achievement in the English language and their teachers' attitude towards reading and writing, the findings showed a positive correlation between students' achievement in the English language and their teachers' attitude towards reading and writing. The results revealed that 46.6% of the variation in students' achievement in the English language can be attributed to their teachers' attitude towards reading and writing. This means that students' academic achievement in the English language is influenced by their teachers' attitude towards reading and writing at the Senior Secondary School level. Table 3 showed that teachers' attitude towards writing was a predictor of academic achievement with a positive regression weight. Accordingly, the measure of teachers' attitude towards writing had 18.3% predictive power for students' academic achievement in the English language. This finding is similar to previous studies (Kever, 2018;Nootens et al., 2019), which contained proof that students and teachers had positive attitudes towards reading and writing. Baştuğ (2015) and Jabali (2018) also found evidence that writing disposition and attitude significantly affects writing achievement. The finding, however, was different from the study findings reported by Tunde-Awe (2014) that the majority of the students sampled had negative attitudes towards reading.
Furthermore, the findings revealed that the relationship between students' achievement in the English language and their attitude towards reading and writing was a positive correlation coefficient. Table 4 revealed that 33.9% of the variation in students' achievement in the English language could be attributed to their attitude towards reading and writing. This means that students' academic achievement in the English language was influenced by their attitude towards reading and writing at the Senior Secondary School level. Again, the finding agrees with that of Baştuğ (2015) who found that writing disposition and attitude significantly and positively affect writing achievement.
Reading and writing are inseparable skills for language teaching. Reading and writing skills cannot be separated from one another just as listening and speaking skills. Table 4 further revealed that students' attitude towards writing is a predictor of academic achievement with a positive regression weight. Accordingly, the measure of students' attitude towards reading and writing has 48.2% predictive power for their academic achievement in the English language.
The test of hypothesis revealed that teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing jointly significantly predict students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. This result is also supported by Kush et al. (2005) who claimed that students' attitude towards reading was a leading factor that directly affected their reading comprehension and productive skill capability such as writing. The finding also agrees with those of Martinez et al. (2008), Pamuji (2015), and Kever (2018) who found a positive and significant correlation between reading and writing. Students who developed a good attitude towards reading have the tendency to do well in writing, as the skills developed through reading could positively influence their skills in writing. This result implies that students who develop a positive attitude towards reading and writing would likely have higher achievement in the English language if their attitude is sustained in the study of these two components of the English language. No effort should be spared by teachers to ensure that appropriate instructional materials are used to make students develop positive attitudes towards reading and writing.
The findings revealed that attitude is a significant determinant of students' achievement in reading and writing comprehension. Therefore, low achievement in reading and writing comprehension is a weakness that needs to be overcome by secondary school students before they study at the tertiary level of education. Students at this level of education need to develop the habit of reading to be able to effectively cope with the challenging task of writing. The present study contains evidence that supports the importance of a good attitude towards reading and writing to enhance English language achievement.

CONCLUSION
This paper concludes that teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing jointly significantly predicted the students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools. Students who develop a positive attitude towards reading and writing would likely have higher achievement in the English language if their attitude is sustained in the study of these two components of the English language. Learning would be facilitated if both teachers and students hold positive attitudes towards reading and writing, and this, in turn, could impact the students' achievement in the English language. In spite of the fact that the goals of the current study have been achieved, the study is not without some limitations. The method of collecting data was a Likert-type scale. The responses were purely the opinion of the respondents. Like all opinion research, it is subjective in nature. Another major limitation was that only a few schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State were sampled. Schools in rural areas of Gboko Local Government Area were not part of the study. The opinion of respondents in urban Gboko alone could not be a true representation of the entire Benue State which is made up of twenty-three Local Government Areas. The current study did not examine whether a significant difference existed in the attitude of male and female students and whether the nature of reading materials or the socio-economic status of parents was a contributing factor in students' positive attitude towards reading and writing. It is, therefore, suggested that future research should extend its coverage to other Local Government Areas and examine if a significant difference exists between male and female students in terms of attitude towards reading and writing. Future research can replicate this study using pupils in primary schools or students in higher institutions of learning.
The findings of this study have several implications. The study has shown that students' and teachers' attitudes towards reading and writing were one of the major factors in the students' achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. Teachers should, therefore, not spare any effort in encouraging students to maintain positive attitudes towards reading and writing. Teachers should serve as models to students by imbibing the habit of reading and writing. During reading lessons, students should actively participate in the art of reading and the teacher should give room for class discussion of themes, characters, and figures of speech. After such reading exercises, follow-up reading and writing activities should be given to the students to help them consolidate on what they have learned.
Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that teachers and researchers should carry out periodic research on teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing from time to time. Since teachers and students in different parts of the world may show different attitudes to these literacy skills, research on attitudes is needed from time to time. Schools should regularly organise reading and writing competitions and award prizes to winners. This will serve as a motivation for reading and writing among secondary school students.