Pre-service teachers' apathy to extensive reading: Imperatives for best practices in Nigerian universities

This article presents the result of two case studies undertaken to look in-depth at the contributory factors to the first-year university pre-service teachers' apathy towards extensive reading. The investigation involved two case studies in the Faculties of Education at the University of Lagos and Lagos State University. With a stratified randomized sampling technique, a survey was conducted on 240 teacher trainees selected from different departmental grouping in the two Nigerian Universities. A questionnaire and focused interview schedule were used as research instruments. Data were gathered with the research instruments and were duly analyzed using percentages, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of the study as attested by the statistical analysis carried out showed that the pre-service teachers' apathy to extensive reading is as a result of a complex interplay of several factors, among which are: general lackadaisical attitude to academic work, distractions in the form of surfing the Internet, watching films and videos, economic considerations, emphasis on passing examination, lack of intrinsic motivation, the get-rich-quick syndrome, tight academic schedules, lack of defined priority on the part of students, out-dated libraries and difficulty in evaluating meaning