The project work was conducted to investigating into the causes and effects of poor performance of SHS Boys in English Language. A case study in Tuna Senior High School. Which sort to find remedy to curb this challenge that Senior High School Students faces.
The research instruments used were observation, questionnaires and interviews. The researchers also used pre-intervention, intervention and post intervention design to help curtail the students’ poor performance in English Language when it comes to essay writing.
The study generally revealed that the dominant use of mother tongue, inadequate qualified English language teachers, inadequate infrastructural facilities and instructional media (materials), teacher’s attitude toward innovation and use of instructional media and inappropriate use of teaching methods were some of the causes of poor performance of male students in English Language.
Worry and fear, inability to get fair and objective grades, less fluent and unable to communicate with others, low esteem and no confidence to express themselves and it leaving a negative mark on parents for other parents to mock at were also some of the effects of poor performance in English Language. Some strategies were also designed to curb the poor performance of students in English Language which include employing the services of a qualified trained teacher, the use of teaching and learning materials by teachers, way of motivation by teachers, also teachers should teach students correct pronunciation and use of language laboratory to improve the students’ poor performances in English Language.
Finally, the importance of the strategies designed were not also left out since it promotes student-teacher interaction for effective learning, the use of teaching and learning materials makes learning of English Language pleasant since they offer a reality of experience, another important of the strategies designed was the activating of positive attitudes on the students and last but not least was the motivation offered by teachers to their students.
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Purpose of the study
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Delimitation of the study
1.7 Limitation of the study
1.8 Organization of the study
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Causes of poor performance in English language
2.2 Effects of poor performance in English language
2.3 Strategies designed to curb the poor performance in English language
2.4. Importance of the strategies designed
2.5 Summary of Findings
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population
3.3 Sample for the study
3.4 Sampling Procedure
3.5 Research Instruments
3.5.1 Questionnaire
3.5.2 Observation
3.5.3 Interview
3.5.4 Validity and Reliability of the Instruments
3.6 Data Collection Procedure
3.6.1 Pre-intervention Procedure
3.6.2 Intervention Design and Implementation
3.6.3 Post- intervention Procedure
3.7 Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Data Analysis Procedures
4.2 Results and Findings
4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.3 Paragraphing
4.2.4 Conclusion
4.2.5 Good Expression
4.2.6 Use of Terminologies
4.2.7 Frequent Class Tests and Assignments
4.2.8 Prompt and Regular Marking of Assignment and Examination Scripts.
4.3 Key Findings
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Recommendations
References
ABSTRACT
The project work was conducted to investigating into the causes and effects of poor performance of SHS Boys in English Language. A case study in Tuna Senior High School. Which sort to find remedy to curb this challenge that Senior High School Students faces.
The research instruments used were observation, questionnaires and interviews. The researchers also used pre-intervention, intervention and post intervention design to help curtail the students’ poor performance in English Language when it comes to essay writing.
The study generally revealed that the dominant use of mother tongue, inadequate qualified English language teachers, inadequate infrastructural facilities and instructional media (materials), teacher’ attitude toward innovation and use of instructional media and inappropriate use of teaching methods were some of the causes of poor performance of male students in English Language.
Worry and fear, inability to get fair and objective grades, less fluent and unable to communicate with others, low esteem and no confidence to express themselves and it leaving a negative mark on parents for other parents to mock at were also some of the effects of poor performance in English Language.
Some strategies were also designed to curb the poor performance of students in English Language which include employing the services of a qualified trained teachers, the use of teaching and learning materials by teachers, way of motivation by teachers, also teachers should teach students correct pronunciation and use of language laboratory to improve the students’ poor performances in English Language.
Finally, the importance of the strategies designed were not also left out since it promotes student-teacher interaction for effective learning, the use of teaching and learning materials makes learning of English Language pleasant since they offer a reality of experience, another important of the strategies designed was the activating of positive attitudes on the students and last but not least was the motivation offered by teachers to their students.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We express our profound thanks to God Almighty for his guidance and protection coupled with the wisdom bestowed upon us. A special thanks goes to Madam Patricia Nyamekye for her guidance, supervision and her relentless effort in bringing this project work to a successful end. We say God richly bless you (Kↄↄrawiizi t3i fↄnga). We also held a couple of amazing discussions with our colleagues to them we say bravo.
This project work collaborates the collection and co-operative efforts of many individuals and writers and it will be impossible to recognize all of them, however, we will like to acknowledge all the sources from which information were tapped.
It will be amounted to gross ingratitude if we do not mention the contributions of our respective families, especially our parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donwaazum Lempogo, Mr. and Mrs. Kassim, Mr. and Mrs. Yaw-Kan, Mr. and Mrs. Bawa and Mr. and Mrs. Rev. Daniel Kodjo.
We are also grateful to the students, teachers and parents of the school for their marvelous contribution to the success of this research.
DEDICATION
This research work is dedicated to Mark K, Yussif (Tsatsu), Yaw-Kan, Moses and Silvanus for their superb contributions and support financially to the success of the work; we say janjang (thank you).
We also dedicated this wonderful work to our caring and loving wives Maa Sarah Ajara, Madam Salima, Sister Jacqueline, Madam Theresa and Sister Diana respectively.
We again dedicated this work to our lovely children Mackay Jnr., Naadila and those yet to be born for the joy they brought to us anytime we met to discuss issues on this project work, we pray that God should extend His Grace upon them.
Not forgetting late Rev. Daniel Kodjo for his immense spiritual help that may his soul rest in perfect peace.
This work is also dedicated to Maa Wiizi, Dada James L, and Mama Agnes, Dabani, Bro Charles, Bro Emmanuel, Sis Hawa, Sis Banaya, Sis Cynthia, Bro Cletus, Bro JJ, Bro Peterson and all the Yaw-Kan’s family and close relatives.
We further dedicated this work to Kassim and Bawa’s families and the departed souls for their radiating humanly love and support that may Almighty God bless them in diverse ways wherever they are.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Introduction
The chapter is made up of the background to the study, the statement of the problem, purpose of the study and research questions. In addition, the significance of the study, delimitation of the study as well as limitation of the study is found in this chapter.
1.1 Background to the study
Language is a very essential tool for enhancing co-existence in every human society; communication among humans from all walks of life results from the existence of language. Many people both young and old therefore try to learn languages of other people to enable them communicate effectively with such people.
Another essential use of language in every society is for the purpose of education. In most cases, learners are largely taught the use of their country’s official language among other prominent local languages to enhance effective official communication as well as teaching and learning. In Ghana for example, all subjects in the regular school curriculum are taught by means of language which is either written or spoken. After a particular concept has been taught, a brief evaluation of students understanding is done through oral interaction between teachers and their students. The greater portion of evaluation procedure is executed through writing. English language has four main aspects in its study thus, listening, speaking, writing and reading. Out of these, many educational stakeholders including literate parents in Ghana pay much attention to reading and speaking at the expense of writing. This is because they believe in learners’ ability to speak and read than to spend time writing it.
In spite of the selection and choices both learners and parents make about language there is still a high percentage of poor performance of English language in its assessment, especially on the part of boys. Interestingly, English language is widely used across the universe because of the enormous values it poses to the users.
Firstly, as a lingua-franca, it is generally ascribed as a language across curriculum. In this vein, it is used to teach all other subjects on the curriculum.
Secondly, English is used as an official language in most countries including Ghana. In most Ghanaian schools or institutions especially, it is used as a means of communication among members. To stress this, any departure from its use in these institutions is regarded as a vernacular and sanction able.
Another, use of English language can be viewed from the business perspective. For example, in parliament of Ghana, English is used to carry out parliamentary proceedings. Also, English is used in most financial institutions for transaction purposes. Both local and international traders use English for trading.
Nevertheless, English language is used in the field of Health and Allied Sciences, physicians, nurses, medical doctors, pharmacist and the sort all diagnose diseases, prescribe and dispense drugs and other medicinal substances using the language, English.
Last but not least, the English Language is used by religious leaders to communicate their teachings and sermons effectively. Correspondingly, people who are able to use the language eloquently attach some degree of prestige to themselves in the society they are found.
Aside these general importance of English language, mastery of the aspects of the language equally poses a great deal of significance. The following are reasons to substantiate this assertion:
Firstly, with respect to the writing aspect, it is a skill that when proficiently acquired, improves the effectiveness of a person’s usage of words in both written and oral speeches. Excellent writing structures improve learning in such a way that the individual becomes aware of the choice of words that are appropriate for a particular write-up. In essence, the rules of grammar in respect to the mechanics of writing are properly followed.
In addition to the above, one’s excellent writing is sure to earn respect. Poor writing will, on the contrary, be difficult to comprehend. Hence, a bad impression is created about the person concerned. It is true that most renowned literature authors have emerged from the grounds of their creative writing abilities. Thus, their foregrounding styles stem from their rich writing acumen. However, others have been dumped and muted because of their poor work.
Furthermore, a person is known and regarded as an educated literate only when he or she can read, write and speak effectively the English language. The mere mention of the writing aspect is indicative of the fact that we cannot do without writing. In that, writing is as well a fulcrum of a complete literate because one better communicates his or her ideas in the widest form through the podium of writing otherwise the Encyclopedias and Thesauri would not exist for our use.
In the same vein, the act of reading is so much a rich adventure to undertake because, like in writing, the accomplishment of the tasks of comprehensions, summaries, essays, journals, graphics and so on and forth, in their written forms, is inherent in reading. This is to point at the fact that, the acquisition of listening, speaking or fluency and writing and or accuracy skills are achieved by virtue of reading. Even in the realms of criticism, a very good critique is based on the act of reading to determine that in itself, it is adventure of active interaction with the signs and symbols of language and of letters and alphabet that constitute the entirety of the codes of the English language.
1.2 Statement of the problem
The problem under study is: investigating into the causes and effects of poor performance of SHS boys in English language: a case study of Tuna Senior High School. During the researcher’s off-campus teaching practice, they experienced that, students of the school perform poorly in the English language in the process of teaching. This therefore prompted the researchers to carry out the study.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The study is intended to examine the causes and effects of the poor performance of students of Tuna Senior High School in English Language. It is also to look at the various strategies that will be employed to curb the menace.
1.4 Research questions
The following questions served as a guide to the researchers in the process of conducting the research.
1. What are the causes of student’s poor performance of English Language?
2. What are the effects of the poor performance of English Language on the student?
3. What strategies will the researchers design to curb the challenge?
4. What are the importance of the strategies employed to the students?
1.5 Significance of the study
The essence of the study lies on the fact that the SHS one students will be able to perform well in English Language due to the effective implementation of the strategies designed by the researchers. Teachers as well as other stakeholders in education will acquire other English teaching pedagogies to enhance their lessons delivery and assessment. The students will be able to read and write appropriately in order to pass their examination and also teachers and parents at the end will be glad to see their boys doing well in English Language both in reading and writing.
1.6 Delimitation of the study
This research is restricted to Tuna Senior High School only and not all the other Schools in the district. It is further narrowed to the boys in the school but not the entire students of the School. The study is also confined to the reading and writing aspects of English language only and not the other aspects such as grammar, literature and listening.
1.7 Limitation of the study
In the course of the study, the researchers encountered a few challenges in the light of finance, time, parents and students unwilling nature to respond to questions by the researchers and absenteeism on the part of the students.
Financially, the researchers faced a lot of fiscal problems as they could not travel frequently to distant places for the information for the study due to the high cost of transportation.
Another constraint faced by the researchers was the limited time allotted for the completion of the research.
Also, the target people and the students did not provide the researchers with ample information for the study due to their belief system.
Finally, most of the students were not regular at school through the intervention process and that also challenged the researchers.
1.8 Organization of the study
This study comprises five chapters namely: chapter one, two, three, four and five. Chapter one is opened by the introduction which embodies the following; background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitation of the study, limitation of the study and organization of the study. Chapter two captures the review of related literature. Chapter three deals with the methodology which explains how the study was conducted. Chapter four deals with data analysis and discussion of the research findings.
Finally, the summary, conclusions and recommendations of this study make up the chapter five.
CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
This chapter deals with opinions made by other experts on the topic under study. The related literature was reviewed under the following; it comprises causes of poor performance of boys in English language, the effects of the poor performance, strategies to be designed to curb it, and lastly, the importance of these strategies.
2.1 Causes of poor performance in English language
There are several causes of poor performance in English language among Tuna Senior High School students especially the males. Though many of these causes might be something already known to the students and teachers, they still pose a threat to students and the schools in general when it comes to performance of the student.
First and foremost, in Ghanaian schools, there is a dominant use of the mother tongue known as the L1. Usman, (2012) was of the opinion that students are engulfed by a complex linguistic situation that compels them to use their indigenous language and they are expected to master and have command of the English language. Coupled with this, Daniel Holdzkom et al (1980), clearly stipulates that, writing requires the writer to call upon memory and put facts, organize thought and finally put them into a logical sequence, bringing to bear on the task all available sequence, all available knowledge of words, sentence structure, grammar and form in order to communicate effectively. In Ghana, the educational policy stresses the use of the very immediate language of the society in instruction at the lower level of primary education and combination of English and language of the community at the upper part of primary education. This is to say that the policy permits the use of the mother tongue at the primary level of education. This situation is unfortunate to say the least, and rather contributes immensely in poor learning of the English Language right from the primary school and it extends to the Senior High School. Fema, (2003) added that the major cause of errors in English used by students can be attributed to the interference of the mother tongue with the English language. Usually, in this situation, the students tend to use the native language in almost all of their interactions while the English is only used within the four walls of the classroom and ends there. The above situation vividly indicates that the dominance of mother tongue in Senior High School’s contributed to the poor performance of boys in English.
Secondly, a cause of the poor performance of boys in English that cannot be left out is of course the fact that in most Ghanaian Senior High Schools, there are inadequate qualified English language teachers to handle the subject properly. Farris (1985) suggested that teacher should relentlessly controls what the students write by scribbling relevant words to fill appropriate spaces given them composition writing process. In lieu of this situation, in some Senior High Schools, other subject teachers are compelled to teach the English Language which perhaps is unoccupied. Some of these teachers who even read it exhibit poor abilities in oral and written expression of it. Therefore, with this kind of situation these teachers can never teach effectively and hence poor performances from their products. Adedokum, (2011) was of the view that poorly trained English and untrained teachers (of English) were employed to teach and prepare students for the school certificate examinations in English language. This unfortunate situation also contributes to the poor performance in English language among the Senior High School students.
Furthermore, inadequate infrastructural facilities and instructional media (materials) are again regarded as a causative agent of the poor performance of students in English in the Senior High Schools. Roger, (1981) asserted that instructional materials and facilities are important part of the process of learning as they provide practice and feedback in the learning task. Day and Bamford (2000,p. 14) cited Nation (n.d) as saying, “ Successful reading experiences can counter the feeling or failure; therefore, the most important thing is that teachers should prepare as many reading and learning materials as possible for their learners which learners will find easy to read. Teachers can use silent reading as a tool to improve their learner’s reading skills by preparing reading materials which learners will read and then report onto their teachers and fellow learners”. According to Rao (1999) it is true that one of the important components of reading is the ability of the teacher to select the reading materials which are appropriate for specific situations. In our present Schools, students are in most cases sitting on the floor and windows during lessons without appropriate reading and other learning materials and at the end of the lesson they acquire nothing. In some cases, they are living in dilapidated classrooms. In addition to that, even when there are enough classes, they are overcrowded and language laboratories are lacking. All these cannot allow for proper learning of English language and other subjects hence, the poor performance. Sa’ad, (2007) posited that teaching and learning take place effectively when classes are moderate. But the School classrooms are overcrowded with hundreds and this cannot allow for proper teaching and learning. In the other vein, the school is filled and dominated with out of date textbooks, dictionaries, workbooks and posters in the teaching of English. When modern media such as audio, video, tapes, language-laboratories, programmed texts, flash cards; computers, magazines and newspapers are rarely used. Mohammed, (1998) observed that the teaching is bedeviled with numerous problems such as inadequate period of teaching, method of teaching and lack of adequate and useful resources. Hence, it is clear now that because of the dominant number of boys in the school, the inadequate infrastructural facilities leading to large class sizes and inadequate as well as obsolete teaching resources or media lead to their poor performance in English language.
Also, a cause of poor performance of English language in the Senior High School is the teacher’s attitude toward innovation and use of instructional media (materials). Most Ghanaian Senior High School English language teachers fail to take into account the dynamic nature of English curriculum but they continued to bore students with definitions and drills in grammar, vocabulary and speech work. The traditional content/knowledge oriented teaching is still very much practiced by them. Abdullah, (2003) was of the view that, teachers mostly prefer to use the traditional ways of teaching which they have been familiar with or as they were taught, which do not necessarily aid proper learning. Ya ‘u, (1993) categorically said that successful achievement of stated objectives in teaching and learning is always associated with using the right technique. Therefore, it is apparent to us that poor attitude of teachers toward innovation and use of instructional media or materials in teaching English leads to poor performance among students.
Better still, the negative attitude of students toward the learning of English language is; students, particularly in the Senior High and the basic schools mostly show negative attitude toward learning of English language because they consider it foreign or not theirs. Mohammed, (2012) was of the view that most students put a kind of negative attitude in learning and use of English language as well as making teachers task a difficult one indeed. It is obvious that for any student to be proficient in English language mastering of the skills is cogent such as listening, writing, reading and speaking, are required through a hard work and dedication from the students. But what do we see when marking student’s scripts when exercises or an examination is given them. Therefore, the negative attitude of students toward learning of English language among the High School boys is also a cause of their poor performance.
More so, the inappropriate use of teaching methods or techniques also causes poor performances in English language among the Senior High students. It is very vivid that effective and successful teaching and learning take place when the teacher employs the right teaching method in his or her lesson delivery. Ya’u, (1993) and Sa’ad (2007) have all supported the idea that successful achievement of stated objectives in teaching and learning is always associated with using the right teaching method. Sometimes teachers of English language do not consider the learners’ age, the topic, the time and the background of the learners in choosing the method to be used in teaching and this affects the levels of learning of the students negatively. Before a teacher enters the class to teach s/he should have rehearsed on the best technique that will suit the students understanding at the level s/he is to teach. However, that is not the case and that tend to make the students perform poorly in English language. English language which is used as a medium of communication or teaching, one expects the students to excel marvelously in any examination written in English language but what do we see? We see and hear the students perform badly in exams conducted in English language. Therefore the inability of teachers to use proper and appropriate teaching methods contributes to the poor performance of English language among the Tuna Senior High students.
2.2 Effects of poor performance in English language
It is apparent that when one fails in a course people or the society tends to blame teachers neglecting the students and other perspectives that enhance adequate training or success in the student’s life and the glory of the school or institution. It is in this vein that the researchers came out with these effects of poor performance of students as cited by other researchers.
First of all, worry and fear is an effect of poor performance of students in general and especially in English language. Graham (1985: 100-101) reported that students who are denied explicit and sustained handwriting instruction can be harmed in a very direct way. In the early grades when children/students begin to put down their thoughts into writing, a child or student who has trouble with the mechanics of writing and reading would be distracted. Instead of focusing on ideas and quickly putting down two or three thoughts in his or her mind, he or she is held up and diverted by worries about how to form letters.
Secondly, Farris (1991, 1996) says that illegible handwriting can also affect students’ performance in getting fair and objective grades from teachers or in any examination. The quality of evaluated papers suggested that students with better handwriting receive or get higher grades than those with poor handwriting. Rosenblum (2003) stated that, a child’s ability to write in a manner that is both legible and efficient directly affects his or her school performance and academic advancement. Handley-More d.et al (2003) comments that, legible composition writing is a necessary tool for children to carry out academic activities and difficulties with composition writing can interfere with related writing process such as planning and generating ideas. One of the most serious effect of poor composition writing occurs when these detract the student’s ability to convey information and ideas. Several students have confirmed that when teachers are asked to grade papers of comparable quality, those students who have nice handwriting may attract more marks than those with poor handwriting and at the end it will affect the students’ performance.
Another effect of poor performance in English language on the students is that, it makes the students less fluent and unable to communicate with other people or foreigners whose main language is English language and hence do not bridge the gap between the local and the international world when English language is to be used in the dealings or communication. Grabe (1991) emphasized that a primary goal for English as Second Language (ESL)/ English as Foreign Language (EFL) reading theory and instruction was to understand what fluent L1 readers did, and moved ESL/EFL students in development direction. However, second language reading may be even more complex than first language reading. The obvious reason is that the language skills used by the second language learner for information processing are still in developmental stages and they are not firmly established in the learner’s minds, how then can they use it to effectively communicate? (Phillips, 1984).
Moreover, According to Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998, p. 15) reading is a complex developmental challenge that is intertwined with many other developmental accomplishments; attention, memory, language and motivation. The effect of poor performance of students in English language has a negative consequences on them, it makes the students to have low esteem and have no confidence to express themselves when they meet their colleagues from other renowned and well equipped grammar school which is known for its excellence in reading, writing, and speaking. A student who cannot read, speak or write using English language seems to be timid and has no confidence in anything he or she does. According to Hengari (2007), reading is the ability to make sense of written or printed symbols. It includes word recognition, comprehension and interpretation, appreciation and application of what is read. It is an interaction with language that has been coded into print. Reading performance, good or poor, reflects the knowledge and competencies available to the learner and how these are activated and coordinated during the reading process. A student who therefore cannot read also finds it difficult to write since the student has no confidence to express him or herself before the masses.
Finally, the effects of poor performance in English language of students especially the boys leave a negative mark on their parents for their folks or neighbors to mock at. How? If a student does not do well in English language in a neighborhood while colleagues in the same neighborhood do marvelously well especially in reading and writing, parents of the non- performing student always suffer mockery from the other side and if that continues, they tend to castigate the other neighbors for that plight of their child. According to Griffins and Hamilton (1984) in Auala et al. (2001,p. 132), if parents involve themselves more actively in their children’s development and learning, then evidence shows that children will achieve more and when it happens the other way round parents are hurt for the non-performance. This unfortunate situation is highly annoying and disturbing to such parents because they conclude that their child is a total failure and a disgrace to them as parents. This criticism can lead some parents with high blood pressure to their early demise when the mockery becomes so unbearable.
2.3 Strategies designed to curb the poor performance in English language
There are several strategies that have been designed to curb the menace that is the poor performance of students in English language.
Firstly, by employing the services of a qualified trained teacher; a teacher employed to teach English language must be a teacher who is well endowed in the subject or the course. An English language teacher should be seen as a figure not just a mere figure in the subject. Literature indicates clearly that, it is the teacher who sets the tone for learning activities (Allen & Vallette, 1997; Quist, 2000). Since to teach is to communicate, English teachers must have maximum communicative competence in the teaching and handling of the subject. Not only that, a teacher must be knowledgeable in the language itself so that s/he can make useful decisions regarding what should be done or not to be done. Researches demonstrate clearly that among the factors that lead to students’ poor performance are qualities of teachers and vice-versa (Harmer, 2013; Mosha, 2004).
Secondly, teachers should use teaching and learning materials in the teaching and learning of English language (Nyamubi, 2003). In his view, teaching and learning materials supply concrete basis for conceptual thinking. If the teacher designs better, clear and concrete teaching learning materials, the teaching and the acquisition of the learners becomes easier and well understanding. Teachers should therefore use the teaching and learning materials in any topic or skills s/he is to impart into the students that will prone their minds to the learning of English language. The use of word card, manikins, substitution table etcetera will improve the students’ likeness for English language and better results will be recorded at the end of their examination or whatever test the student is called on for.
Another, strategy to improve the student poor performance in English language of the Tuna Senior High School male students, is by way of motivation. English language teachers or teachers handling and teaching English language as a matter of fact should try to be motivating their student to serve as a boost for them to have the interest of the subject. In the process of motivating the students the teacher involved is to let the students know that English as a course or a subject is as easy as the Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies and any other course they are learning. Petty, (1998) argued that, if students do not want to learn, their learning efficiency will be slow such that they may learn virtually nothing, and if you know how to motivate students, you can highly increase their learning. If students are motivated extrinsicingly through praises, awards in the form books and other prizes for excellent performance at the end of each exams conducted by the teacher or the school, the students morale would be boosted to learn more to receiving more. Through this kind gesture or impetus provided to the student. It throws a challenge for them to show what s/he has learnt.
Last but not least, Udumah, (1987) shared a view that teachers should device ways through which they can help the students to improve their learning, speech and their listening skills. He categorically stated that: Firstly, students should be taught correct pronunciation in English language in order to minimize the effect the first language has on the second (English language). Secondly, he stated that instructional materials and facilities like language laboratory should be provided to aid in proper and effective teaching and learning of English language. If these strategies designed to curb the poor performance in English language of male students of Tuna Senior High School are strictly adhered to would go a long way to improve the good performance of the students thereby resulting to them achieving better and good results in English language.
2.4. Importance of the strategies designed
When the performance of students improves tremendously, tantamount to their attitude towards higher aspirations in life, the teachers and the schools are always proud of such product. With this and many more there has been a myriad of benefits of the strategies designed to improve the performance of students.
To start with, the teaching and learning process involves two active participants in the classroom-the teacher and the learner, and that language learning does not fall entirely on the teacher but other avenues as well. The students must also assume more responsibility for the learning the learning process (Quist, 2000). For example, Vuzo (2010) reported it is through interactions with each other that teachers and students work together to create intellectual and practical activities that shape both the form and content of the target subject. However, such situation is not common in the Tuna Senior High which leads to the passive learning of the students because of the type of method teachers there used in teaching. Cummings (2002) as quoted in Wang et al, (1994) said; “when I hear, I forget. When I see, I remember, and when I do I learn. Cummings noted that learning in which student are interactive produces far more effective participation in a class. Meaning that effectiveness of language learning and teaching in the classrooms would depend upon the educational repertoire teachers have acquired. This idea concurs with Quist (2000) in the successful teaching and quality of students learning is closely related to the teacher’s knowledge and understanding of the subject. It is only a professional trained teacher who would be able to execute these aforementioned skills. Hence, the need for the provision of a qualified trained teachers to help improve the performance of students in English language.
Again, teaching and learning materials are very important in the whole process of teaching and learning of any subject including English. They make learning more pleasant to the students because they offer a reality of experience, which stimulates self-activity and imagination on the part of the students. The teaching and learning materials makes the classroom lovely in the process of teaching and learning since the students are all kept busy in several creative activities making them have interest in the whole subject. They also supply concrete basis for conceptual thinking and hence, reduce meaningless word responses from students (Nyamubi, 2003). For instance, Kapoli, (2001) noted that authentic materials enable the students to explore the language used in day-to-day life and which is tailored to their needs and interests. UNESCO, (2000) reported that the provision of teaching and learning materials especially text and other literature books is an effective way of improving results. Hence, to improve the performance in English language of the Tuna Senior High male students, there must be the need for the provision and effective use of teaching and learning materials.
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