FACTOR AFFECTING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
FACTOR
AFFECTING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Primary School as the first level of Nigerian
education occupies the starting point and background for other levels of
education. Besides, it is through it, that an individual pupil is introduced,
acquainted and acquires the rudimentary knowledge, skills and attitude towards
acquiring education up to the secondary school and even tertiary institutions.
Primary education as referred to in the National Policy on Education (NPE), is
the education given in institutions for children aged 6-1 1 plus (FRN, 2012).
It is the first stage and compulsory education. Primary education is preceded
by preschool or nursery education and followed by secondary education. The
primary education is the first six years of the nine years of basic education
using the Universal Basic Education (UBE) standard. This stage of education is
often addressed as elementary education. In most countries of the world, primary
education is compulsory for children to receive although it is permissible for
parents to provide it.
The place of primary education is very paramount
because it is the foundation of adults’ contribution to developmental
processes. In other words, basic education makes a child a better adult.
Primary education is to the educational system; and the nation at large, what
the mind is to the body.
According to Quadri (2001) the Section 4, page 12 of
the National Policy on Education (2004) described primary education as the
“education given in an institution for children aged normally between 6 years
to 11 years plus.” The primary education level is the key to the success or
failure of the whole educational edifice because the rest of the educational
system is built upon it. Primary education according to the National Policy on
Education (NPE, 2004) is likened to the key which opens to success or failure
of the whole educational system. Akande (2010) reiterated Njoku (2000) regarded
primary education as very vitaland fundamental to all types of education any
person can receive in life.
Primary education is the foundation of formal
education. It is an essential component in the echelon of educational system of
every nation. In order to qualify for other levels of education one must first
pass through primary schools, as such it is an institution upon which all other
levels of education and educational achievements are built. It prepares the
mind and trains the child for higher and tougher academic pursuits. It provides
young learners with the fundamentals of reading, writing, skill acquisition,
information and attitudes necessary for proper adjustment into the society.
Unfortunately, though not all recipients of primary education get to other
levels.
In the teaching of pupils in Primary school, English
language occupies the role of both language of instruction and as one the core
and compulsory subjects that the students must undergo. The importance of
language to man is great. Language is one of man’s most remarkable attributes.
It is an absolute precondition for nearly all our social life, and it is the
medium in which most organized thought and communication proceed.Highlighting
the importance of language to man, Adetugbo (1980) states that “all human
societies and institutions are made possible only by man’s possession of
language”.
Odusina (1989) in his view observes that “without
language, there would be mental isolation and thought stagnation in interaction
either”. Closely related to this, Obanya (1981) said that language is seen as
“man’s most important gift, the vehicle for communication and a good instrument
for thought and creativity”. For Pickering and Hoeper (1990) language is, “the
means by which the writer controls and
influences the reader”. Language is so important in teaching and learning
process such that the Nigerian government appreciates it as a means for
promoting social interaction and national cohesion (FRN, 2004).
English language is a language of communication in
Nigerian society. It is a language of medium instructions, as a Lingual Franca,
useful in all facets of lives in Nigeria. English as a second language is
useful between the encoder and decoders. It is a language meant for a medium of
communication by instructors (teachers) in the school. English is a compulsory
subject to be taken to qualify students to enter the universities, and to pass
WASSCE NECO, NABTEB and other public examinations. English carries our major
instruments of communication in various ministries, parastatals, universities,
business centre, cyber café, embassies, airports, seaports, and in our major
highways. The original owners of English language were the natives of Britains
or United Kingdom which comprises of Wales in Queen Elizabeth, domain, Scotland
among the Scottish, North Ireland and among the English people of England.
English language gradually became an international language through the act of
colonization of British in an attempt to explore the whole worlds (Oribabor,
2014).
The English language is an essential pre-requisite
for propelling educational wheel of Nigeria. Joseph and Joshua (2010) added
that the government having recognized the importance of English language for
enhancing educational attainment as well as for improving communicative competence
and ability of citizens has made it a core and compulsory subject for all in
Nigerian schools. The English language continues to be a medium of instruction
for all subjects from primary level to tertiary level in so many countries
including Nigeria. It is a medium of instruction, a compulsory and core subject
that must be offered and passed at all levels of education in Nigeria’s
educational system.
It is therefore obvious that without a thorough
mastery of the language, it is not possible to have a sufficient firm grasp of
what the learner has to learn. The knowledge of English language helps in
understanding other school subjects since it is used to teach all other
subjects except local languages. Good foundation of the language paves way to
success in life. The knowledge of the content of school’s subject is
transferred to the students at all levels of education via the English language
medium. In spite of these, the English language achievement of the Nigerian
school students has been on a steady decline over the years. An online article
published on 6 January 2010 by News desk showed that the falling standard of
education as exemplified by the falling performance of students at various
examinations is alarming. This is leaving many stakeholders in the sector to
wonder about the future of education in the country as well as the place of
Nigeria in the 21st century when competitors among countries will not be
defined based on endowment of natural resources alone but more importantly on
the competitiveness of their human capital (David, 2012).
Formal education in Nigeria today is a product of
English Language. Without English, there is the possibility that there may not
be anything more than elementary formal education in Nigeria. English language
is a major school subject in Nigerian Educational system. It is not only the
medium of instructions at all levels of education in Nigeria but also a
pre-requisite to entering into post-primary and secondary institutions;
Muhammed (2005) Despite the importance of English Language, the primary school
pupils uses and performance in English Language has not been encouraging.
Many scholars and specialists in the English
language field have had to ask questions pertaining to the low level of
proficiency and performance of primary school pupils in the various aspects of
English Language and in English Language examinations sometimes, they blame it
on the individual background, mother tongue interference, comprehension
problem, social factor, individual differences, etc. For instance, Eze (2004)
in his opinion stated that “the poor performance of students in English
Language examinations can be attributed to their inability to interpret written
language and also answer comprehension questions in their own words” Obayan (2003)
also agreed with the above where he said that students can do well in English
Language examination if only they can be able to answer the questions in their
own words and avoid needless lifting which results to vague answers.
Various researchers especially in English Language
have teaching an learning of English language is determined by a number of
variables such as family, schools, society and motivation factors, (Aremu &
Joken 2003; Aremu Oluwole 2001). Gillian and Gillian (2002) observed that social
factors such as parents’ educational attainments have been found to be more
important than economic factors in explaining children’s educational outcomes.
The teaching and learning of pupils in English
Language has been found to be strongly associated with factors such as the
home, literacy environment, teachers’ teaching styles and investments in
resources that promote learning such as quality child care, educational
materials and excursion to education resources (Shonkoff & Philips, 2000).
Other factors include spa renting which in turn affect their children’s
development and educational achievement. High level of illiteracy, poverty and
low social status coupled with high rate of paternal and maternal deprivation,
lack of money to purchase necessary textbooks, working materials and school
fees for their children. These ugly situations have made some young school
pupils to drop out of school and to engage in subsistence life by becoming
house- helps or engaging in other menial jobs to support their academic
pursuit.
The fact that primary school occupies the foundation
of education in our educational sector and it carries out great roles in
teaching . and knowledge acquisition of the pupils, therefore this study is
intended to investigate the factors affecting the teaching and learning of
English is Primary School in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Statement
of the Problem
As the primary school undoubtedly forms the crux of
education in Nigeria SO the English language is the core and compulsory subject
that must be learnt by all the primary school pupils. In the course of teaching
the subject there tendencies are that the teacher confront some difficulties
since the subject is neither the pupils’ nor the teachers’ first language.
This problem could probably be part of the reasons why the researchers carried
out various researches on variables related to English Language.
For instance, researchers such as Chapman and
Pascarella (1983) studied the relationship between institutional types, class
size, academic attainment and social integration in eleven institutions. They
discovered that students who attend residential schools perform better
academically than those who do not. Also, Ywnne and Sayibo (1998) emphasized
that students level of performance in English Language depends largely on socio
economic background and that high school student’s level of performance are
linked to their gender and socioeconomic background among other factors.
Botts, Reuben and Dannenberg (2000) agreed that differences
in students’ socio-economic background are responsible for much of the
difference in students’ performance in English Language. Akande (2007) studied
socio-economic factors influencing students’ performance in Nigeria using some
explanations from local survey. Ipaye (1996) discovered that poverty imposed a
lot of challenges on parents making them unable to cater for the academic needs
of their children which eventually has terrible effects on the students’
performance in public examinations.
Though the low performance of the Primary school
pupils in English Language may be as correlation of social factors such as home
background, gender,
age, parents’ social status, ethnicity, school ownership, religion among others
but the extent to which these factors affect their performance in English
language is not certain. This study therefore examines the factors affecting
the teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School in Ilorin West
Local Government, Kwara State.
Purpose
of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to examine the
factors affecting the teaching and learning of English Language in Primary
School in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State. Specifically, the study
will find out whether:
a. Attitude of teacher affects teaching and
learning of English Language in Primary
School.
b.
Government attitude affect teaching
and learning of English Language in Primary School
c.
Availability of instructional
materials affect teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School
d.
Methodology of teaching affect
teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School
e.
Infrastructural facilities affects
affect teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School
Research
Questions
Based on the problem and purpose highlighted above,
the flowing research questions have been drawn to guide the conduct of this
research:
a. Is there any influence of Attitude of
teacher affects teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School?
b.
Is there any influence of Government
attitude affect teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School?
c.
Is there any influence of
Availability of instructional materials affect teaching and learning of English
Language in Primary School?
d.
Is there any influence of methodology
of teaching affect teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School?
e.
Is there any influence of
infrastructural facilities affects affect teaching and learning of English
Language in Primary School?+
Research
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses will be tested in this
study:
f.
There is no significant influence,
attitude of teacher1 as factor affecting teaching and learning of English
Language in Primary School
g.
There is no significant influence
Government attitude as a factor affecting teaching and’ learning of English
Language in Primary School.
h. There is no significant influence of availability of instructional materials as a
factor affecting .teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School.
i.
There is no significant influence
methodology of teaching as a factor affecting teaching and learning of English
Language in Primary School.
Scope
of the Study
This study intends to examine the factors affecting
the teaching and learning of English Language in Primary School in Ilorin West
Local Government, Kwara State. The respondents for the study would all primary
school teachers from both the private and public schools under Ilorin West
Local Government area of Kwara State.. Purposive sampling techniques would be
employed to select primary school teachers from twenty private and ten public
schools under Ilorin West Local Government areas. Researcher designed
questionnaire would be prepared to elicit information for the study. The
statistical tools of Chi square will the research hypotheses in the study.
Operational
Definition of Terms
Parental
ethnic groups: Hausa, lgbo and Yoruba
Parental
education: NCE/OND, FIND/First Degree, Master Degree, Ph.D.
Parental
literacy: Parent that can read with at least SSCE
certificate are literate and Parent that cannot read with at least SSCE
certificate are literate
Significance
of the Study
The findings of this study would be of immense
benefits to students, teachers, parents, guidance and counselors, school
administrators and policy makers. This might be facilitated by making the study
available in places where the public could gain access to it, (e.g. the
library, internet, media houses) and so on.
The findings of the study might provide tangible
information to the primary school teachers in order to forge the family—school
linkages through communicating effectively with pupils’ parents about school
strategy of enhancing the pupils’ knowledge of English language.
The finding of this study might help the school
administrators to involve and encourage parents to provide resource person on
learning of English Language at home that can teach students the more thereby
improving the students’ academic performance.
Pointedly, school counselors (if available) in the
school would be better informed on factors determining students academic
performance in school and strategies to improve the students’ attitude towards
learning English Language as a subject in the primary schools.
Finally, the outcome might also, assist the
government at all levels to understand background factors that cannot be under
estimated in pupils’ learning acquisition is English Language and prepare a
plane grand for governmental intervention through equipping the school libraries,
building more classrooms, attractive salaries for the teachers and others.
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