Environmental Variables and Students’ Academic Performance in English Language

Environmental Variables and Students’ Academic Performance in the English Language in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education constitutes a formidable instrument for social mobilization in society. It places a very high premium on the education of the young ones as the gateway to cultural, social, political, economic, and technological emancipation.

According to Nigeria’s philosophy of education, education is viewed as a means of building a free, just, and egalitarian society, a land full of opportunities for all citizens who can generate a great and dynamic economy and grow into a strong and self-reliant nation. As a way of achieving these objectives, the federal government and various state governments have allocated a substantial portion of their budgets every year to education. Also, many state governments had at one time or the other embarked on the free education program.

The Federal Government in 1976 launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE). Although some of these programs have suffered several setbacks due to political changes, it is still an indication of government interest in the education of her citizens.

Some State governments like Akwa Ibom State go beyond, give direct financial assistance to students in form of scholarships and bursaries, paying WASSE or NECO Examination fees.

Despite these concerted efforts by some of the governments at different levels, there is, therefore, a public outcry over the falling standard of education, particularly as observed in students’ poor academic performance in external examinations which continue to be poor. A pertinent question to ask is whether the standard of our education is falling. There is, therefore, the need to answer these vital questions by subjecting our education system to some sort of evaluation. One way of doing this is to look into the condition under which our children learn including their various homes. The need to bring up children in an environment that is rich, stimulating, and motivating has attracted the attention of many contemporary researchers. It has been a fact that three factors affect the child’s learning. These factors are the child himself, the teacher, and the environment.

Environment as defined by Bello (2004) is the aggregate of all the external conditions and influences that affect the life and development of an individual. An environment is not just a void space or a vacuum without other elements. Cooper (1977) postulated that environment means the total set of circumstances, that surrounds an individual. In cooper’s presentation, he classified the environment as physical and social. The physical environment consists of such elements as air, water, landforms, climate, etc while social aspects of the environment are ethics, economics, aesthetics, and others which crow together to affect the behavior of individuals.

In another special classification, cooper further classified the environment into the home environment which is the environment into which the child is born and bred, and the external environment which is the environment which the child must go into or have contact with for him to be an all-round individual.

An environment has a vital role to play in the life of individuals. When children are brought up in a particular environment, they are to be molded or shaped according to the factors operating in the particular environment. Environmental psychologists such as John Hatson believed that given an appropriate environment a child could be made into anything.

The quality of the school, as well as that of the teacher, is an important variable in students’ academic performance. It is observed that some schools stand out distinctive in terms of the quality teaching-learning facilities, such schools have qualified teachers, well equipped standard laboratories, libraries, furnished classrooms, instructional aids among others. Students who passed through schools without the necessary learning resources may be negatively affected in terms of their academic performance. Parental rearing style is another major variable because home environmental factors like parental discipline, education, occupation among others determine the quality of learning a child acquires. Eecles (1992) argues that since the primary environment of the student is the home, it stands to reason that the impact exerted by the parents or the home far outweighs and exceeds that from other factors. This supports the revelation by several researchers about the tremendous impact of home environmental variables on school success. (Dempsey 2005; Reddings 2006). Maccoby (1980) stated that parents’ child-rearing style certainly influences their children’s behaviors and values. This affects students’ academic performance in English.

School location is another variable that may influence students’ academic performance in the English language. Just like any business enterprise which is affected by its location, academic performance is found to be influenced by school location. According to Nwoye(1984), Locations that are disastrous to learning include industrial towns with high population pressure; areas of the town with traffic congestions, and isolated areas that are relatively conducive to serious academic pursuits. Situations are observed where students battle with noise pollution due to the school’s nearness to busy daily markets.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Many people are becoming worried by the poor performances of our children in their certificate examinations like WASSCE, NECO, NABTEB as well as in Joint Matriculation Examinations for entry into tertiary institutions. For example, WAEC announced and described 2015, May/June results as being generally poor. This situation gives a cause for concern. It is known that environmental variables can affect learners’ learning either positively or negatively. It is also true that one’s academic achievement can be influenced by variables such as teachers’ quality, parenting style, school location, among others.

Some students are sometimes observed roaming the streets when they are supposed to be in classes receiving lectures. In some remotely located schools some teachers to the school and go out at will because they feel the location of the school may not easily attract any school inspector to the school. Some schools without qualified teachers are observed not being able to expose their students to the expected curriculum. These lapses may affect the quality of learning by students. It is against this background that the problem of this study is to determine environmental variables and students’ academic performance in the English Language in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is to investigate environmental variables and students’ performance in the English language in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically, the objective of the study is to examine the influence of i. School quality on students’ academic performance in the English Language. ii. Parental rearing style and the academic performance of students in the English language

iii. School location and the student’s academic performance in the English language.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in the sense that it is the first step to the amelioration of students’ academic performance. If nothing is done to halt the increasingly poor performance of our senior secondary school students, the realization of the educational goal will be an illusion. To policymakers and planners of education, this research study will furnish a sound basis for curriculum developers that address individual differences in students concerning environmental variables. To counselors, it will yield a good basis for students counseling on education and placement, and vocational choice. The teachers will be guided to understand and appreciate the plight of students and adapt teaching methods to accommodate them. It will liberate, inspire and tune parents to be aware of their influence on the language performance of the children.

To the students, self-concept will be elevated and academic excellence enhanced. It is envisaged that this research study will serve as a repository of information for future researchers who may wish to research further into the same topic or even closely related issues.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To guide the study, the following research questions were posed.

1. How does the quality of schools influence students’ academic performance in the English language?

2. How does parental rearing style influence students’ academic performance in the English language?

3. To what extent does school location influence the academic performance of students in the English language?

1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

To guide the study, the following hypotheses were formulated:

1. There is no significant influence of school quality on students’ academic performance in the English language.

2. There is no significant influence of parenting rearing style on students’ academic performance in the English language.

3. There is no significant influence of school location on students’ academic performance in the English language.

1.7 ASSUMPTION OF THE STUDY

The following basic assumptions were made regarding the study:1. Environmental variables and students’ academic performance can be measured using appropriate research instruments.

2. Parental rearing style of students differs among students.

1.8 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The sample was confined to the 2015/2016 SS2 senior secondary students in all the public secondary schools in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. This study was set to examine the environmental variables and students’ academic performance in the English language in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.

The study was therefore delimited to the investigation of the quality of the school; parental rearing style and school location.

1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The main limitation in the study was the difficulty in getting the respondents’ attention to complete the questionnaire in time and to take the achievement test, because of the time frame. This problem was minimized with the assistance of the class teachers.

1.10 DEFINITION OF TERMS

To enhance proper understanding of this work, some terms were defined in the context of this research as follows:

Environmental variables: Are used in the study to refer to the students’ homes as they were brought up by parents, the quality of schools attended by students in terms of teacher quality, facilities, and also the location of schools.

Academic Performance: This is measured in the study through scores obtained by the students in the researcher constructed English Language Achievement Test (EAT).

Parental Rearing Style: This is used to measure parents’ attitude in bringing up their children. The level of control of students’ behavior is parents.