ABSTRACT
This study was designed to identify the instructional methods
that can be used to effect collaborative learning method on senior secondary
school students’ achievement in summary writing in Afikpo Education Zone. This
study became necessary because of poor performance of the students in summary
writing. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. A sample
of 90 teachers was drawn from 22 public schools in Afikpo Education Zone and
was used for the study. Quasi experimental research design was used for the
study. Three (3) sets of standardized items of the West African senior secondary
school certificate examination past question papers of three respective years
was adopted by the researcher which was not subjected to validation because the
items was developed by experts. These sets of standardized items were used in
collecting relevant data from the respondents. Mean and standard deviation were
used to answer the research questions and ANCOVA was used to test the
hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that there was a
statistical significant main effect for method F(1,64) = 11.667, P<.001; the
main effect of gender was not significant F(1,64) = 1.401, P>.241, and there
was non- significant interaction effect of method and gender F(1, 64) = 073,
P>.788. Based on the findings and implications, it was recommended that curriculum
planners should ensure that collaborative learning method be incorporated in
secondary school curriculum. It was suggested that further research can be
replicated using true experimental design.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Education as an important tool for national
development has become the concern of the government in Nigeria. It is believed
that schools should teach the children, Pupils and students to learn their
roles as leaders, group members and members of the public and so on.
(Jekayinfa, 2009) says that the teacher should adapt the lesson to the
environment of the children.
Summary
writing could be seen as a programme of study in schools which is used to
inculcate in the learners the knowledge and skills considered important in
human relationship in the public. Summary writing as part of English language
involve the experiences which deal with the problems of learning relationship
in the school and the larger environment. It also includes human relationships
with other culture. These experiences and their rightful application form the
benefits which control summary writing interactions of individuals.
The
general aim of curriculum planners for summary writing is to provide a forum
whereby learners will be taught to imbibe the benefits in the public. The
provisions and objectives set for the accomplishment of summary goals are
sufficiently worthwhile to achieve the set goals. The benefits emphasized in
the current curriculum of summary writing are those ones which are important to
get across to the school students. (Adesina & Adeyemi, 2009).Common Wealth
of Learning (2000), defined curriculum as a composite whole including the
learner, the teacher, teaching and learning methodologies, anticipated and
unanticipated experiences, outputs and outcomes possible within a learning
institution. With the benefits and feelings for survival, aimed at in the
national guide, it is hopeful that students at the end of the courses should be
able to develop the right type of skill and learn more about their environment
and others and the right type of skill to tackle summary writing as a school
subject.
The aims
and objectives of education that may help individual to develop physically and
socially, and be able to contribute to national development as stated by the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), include the following:
(a)The inculcation of the right of values for the survival of the
individual and the Nigerian public.
(b)The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and
competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and
to contribute to the development of his country.
These
characteristics of national objectives are fully reflected in the summary
writing objectives. Summary writing, apart from imparting knowledge and
providing information necessary in life, also aims at helping students to
acquire desirable skills and competences needed for the survival of the
individual in the public.
Nigerian
Research and development Council (2007) clearly spelt out the overall
objectives of summary writing at both basic Education and senior secondary
levels should enable pupils and students to achieve the following:
(a) Develop the ability to adapt to his
or her changing
environment.
(b) Become responsible and disciplined individuals capable and
willing to contribute to the development of the country.
(c) Develop a sense of comprehension towards other people.
(d) Inculcate the right types of knowledge.
(e) Develop a sense of solidarity and sharing based on a sense
of security in one’s own Identity.(p.6)
(f) Develop the capacity to be
recognized in one’s own country.
Summary
writing is a subject discipline through which individual learns about the
problem of survival. In order for summary writing to perform its function
properly, instructional strategies in the subject should be centered on methods
of seeking the truth which include those of problem detecting, Problem-solving,
learning by experimenting, discovering learning, and collaborative learning
(Adeyemi, 2003). Summary writing has the special focus of positively influencing,
modifying and changing student’s behaviour in the direction of acceptable
manners and practices of the public. A competent teacher of summary writing
must acquaint himself or herself with summary writing methodology and be well
groomed in the application of the various methods of teaching summary
writing.
A good
summary writing teacher has to convince him/herself that he is committed to,
interested in and enjoys teaching summary writing. It has become apparent that
the lecture method, which is currently the predominant teaching approach in
Nigerian secondary schools, is inappropriate and ineffective for achieving the
high objectives of the summary writing programme. “Education for
self-development”, which can be found in all reviewed national policies of
education manual up to date, however, modern educators believe that the
starting point of adequate skills development should be concentrated on
student’s ability to develop cognitive and affective concepts, skills and
opinions (Nmon,2011). It is expected that teachers in summary writing are
expected to be fully grounded in the skills that will make the subject to
actualize its objectives and also inculcate good skills and attitudes in the
learners which will make them become functional members of the public.
In spite
of the important place of Summary Writing in our educational system, students’
performance achievement in the subject has shown a fluctuating decline in
Senior Secondary Certificate Examination in Ebonyi State. For instance, the
Ebonyi State Examination Board, (2012), English Summary writing analysis of
Afikpo Local Government of Ebonyi State has indicated that as at 2009, the
percentage of males that passed was 18.31%, and in 2010 it increased to 24.53%,
and in 2011 it dropped to 18.31%. While the percentage of the females that
passed in 2009 was 21.53%, in 2010 it increased to 26.15%s and in 2011 it
dropped to 21.53%. In the following figures, it has been revealed that
the students’ performance achievement in summary writing is not stable due to
several factors, one of which is the type of teaching methodology being adopted
by the teachers, it has also shown that gender is a prevailing determinant of
the students’ performance achievement in the subject. However, there is a
general agreement that students’ achievement in summary writing could be traced
to inappropriate methods of teaching by teachers. Of great concern to the
researcher is that summary writing teachers mostly use the lecture method for
imparting information, under the lecture approach, the teacher according to,
Yusuf (2007) simply becomes only the expositor and drill master while the
learner remains the listener and a store house of facts that can be retrieved
when a student hears his name called by the teacher.
Factors
which have been identified as contributing to the persistent low interest and
poor level achievement in summary writing include the following:
·
Poor teaching methods adapted by teachers.
·
The prominent use of text and lecture instructional technique
strategies by summary writing teachers.
·
Learner variables such as gender and home background.
·
Lack of organized strategies for concept formation, teacher
characteristics and memory skills (Falade, 2001).
The method of teaching could be regarded as the vehicle through
which a message is delivered (Salawu, 1999). There exist several methods of
instruction which have permeated our educational system over the years, No
particular method could be said to be most appropriate. Classroom experience
shows that in most cases, two or more teaching methods are combined by teachers
in classroom practice.
Lecture
method is referred to as the traditional method or the conventional method it
allows a great deal of information to be passed to the learners and favours
handling of large classes. In spite of this advantage, (Okwuilagwe, 2002) says
that the lecture method does not stimulate student’s innovation, inquiry and
scientific attitudes; it encourages students to cram facts which are easily forgotten.
Also, most teachers prefer the lecture method because most of them are familiar
and trained with the method and they find it difficult to diversify to new
innovative methods. However, there is still the need to search and incorporate
modern instructional strategies or techniques which the advanced world has long
accepted into their classrooms. Nigeria, as a developing country is still
battling with incorporating the techniques that will facilitate learning, and
this is hindered by some circumstances like the change in education policies,
incessant strikes that disrupts schools activities and so on. Thus, this brings
about collaborative learning which the researcher suggested as an effective way
of teaching and learning process of summary writing.
The term
collaborative learning involves students working together in small groups
toward a common goal. (Amuradha, 2005). The students are responsible for one
another’s learning as well as their own. Thus, the success of one student helps
other student to be successful. Collaborative learning (CL), however, is a
personal philosophy not just a classroom technique. It suggests a way of
dealing with people which respects and highlights group member’s abilities and
contributions. Magar (2004) says it improves grade and greater initiative to
stay on tasks. The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon
consensus building through cooperation among group members, in contrast to
competition in which individuals compete against other group members
(McGroarty, 1993).This type of learning brings about equality amongst the
learners because they tend to help one another. Thus summary writing is all
about learner and his relationship with his environment, because the classroom
is a community and the learners will need to work effectively to achieve a
goal.
The
concept of collaborative learning, the grouping and pairing of students for the
purpose of achieving an academic goal has been widely researched and advocated
throughout the professional literature. The term collaborative learning is the
instructional method in which students at various performance levels, students
work together in small groups toward a common goal. For a subject like summary
writing that has to do with interaction and discussion, the type of method that
should be adopted should be the type that is learner-centered and oriented
because this will bring about free flow of information through discussion and
debates and by this, both the teacher and the learners will gain from the
lessons. Students learn best when they are actively involved in the process,
students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and
retain it longer than when the content is presented in other instructional
formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied
with their classes (Berk man, 1990: Tinto & Associates, 1992). The 21st century
teaching is about facilitation of learning, that learning has migrated from the
teacher as someone who imparts knowledge to someone who facilitates knowledge:
in this case the teacher here is a coach and acts as a moderator in the
classroom.
Proponents of collaborative learning claim that the active exchange of ideas
with small group not only increases interest among the participants but also
promotes critical thinking. According to Johnson and Johnson (1980), there is
pervasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve at higher levels of thought
and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals.
The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take
responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers
(Totten, Sills, Digby & Russ, 1991). Critical thinkers in the sense that
learners taught with the collaborative learning has the tendency of developing
thinking skills and communication skills which will help them in teaching and
learning of summary writing. The thinking skills will enable learners to
contribute to the lessons by fully participating in the lessons and the
communicative skills will improve learners’ ability of interacting with his/her
peers and the larger society in their environment.
In
collaborative learning, ideas, facts and knowledge is exchanged and brain
storming is done among the learners so as to achieve the common goal. The
researcher proposes that collaborative learning is a technique that has to do
with the learners and the teacher working together in order to solve
problems. It is expected that collaborative learning will bridge the
ethnic and cultural gaps in the students because learners will work
irrespective of their differences. Yusuf (2007) pointed out that efforts have
been made to redress the observed inadequacy by teaching the summary writing as
a discipline that brings the reality of everyday writing to students with the
desire to making them acquire the knowledge, competence and skills required to
be responsible and discipline members of their public. With the collaborative
learning method, learners will work together in the classroom as a team
considering the above, it is necessary that an experimental study be carried
out to ascertaining the actual effect of collaborative learning on students’
achievement in summary writing.
It is
likely that some variables like gender and location can also have an effect on
the effectiveness of teaching methods and learning outcomes. Gender refers to
the social attributes associated with being a male or females. It is a
determinant factor in the summary writing achievement of students. Daniel
(2012) described that many researchers have provided reports that there are no
longer distinguishing differences in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor
skill achievement of students in respect of gender. The study was used to find
out whether gender will influence the achievement of students in summary
writing if exposed to collaborative learning.
The location of a
school is yet another important variable that needs to be considered. There are
a lot of controversies in determining the influence or other-wise of location
in predicting the achievement of students in school. This could be as a result
of readiness to respond to certain institutions, persons and objects in a
consistent manner which has become one’s typical mode of response (Aggarwal,
2008). Several researchers have established the close relationship between a
positive attitude and high achievement. Students that are taught with the
conventional method which is teacher-centered are sometimes prone to have a
lackadaisical attitude towards learning because the learners most times
regurgitate facts for examination purpose. Therefore the study is targeted at
ascertaining if collaborative learning will lead to the development of more
positive behaviours in the students towards summary writing. Researchers have
concentrated much on the cognitive aspect of teaching in our secondary schools
because of the importance attached to success in public
examination.
Statement of the Problem
Summary writing
remains an important and a compulsory subject in both senior and junior
secondary school levels. Despite, its rich content as stated in the curriculum,
the subject still has set-back in achieving some of the objectives. The results
of students of English language summary writing as shown by the Ebonyi State
Secondary School Management Board (2012), reveals that the achievement of
students in summary writing has reduced drastically due to the nature of the
teaching methodology used by the teacher in teaching the subject. Basically,
learning should be learner- centered in which the learners will be actively
involved in the teaching and learning process. Based on the nature of the
subject, which has to do with inculcating good knowledge and appropriate skills
in relationship with individual in his environment, thus the subject needs to
be taught with innovative techniques that will bring learners to work together
despite their differences in culture or academic background in other to achieve
a common goal. The poor achievement may also be linked to students’ behaviours
towards the subject since a close relationship has been established between
behaviuor and achievement of total adaptation and understanding of their
immediate learning environment. In addition to this, is that gender is an
important variable and determinant of the academic achievement. Such a
technique that can bring learners working together with their peers and
teachers in formal or non- formal setting is collaborative learning. Hence the
problem of this study is: What are the effects of collaborative learning method
on students’ achievement in summary writing at the senior secondary school
level?
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to determine effect of collaborative learning
method on senior secondary school student’s achievement in summary writing in
Afikpo education Zone of Ebonyi State.
Specifically the study was used to:
·
Determine the effect of collaborative
learning on students’ achievement in summary writing in English language.
·
Determine the effect of location on
achievement of student’s taught summary writing using collaborative learning
method.
·
Determine the influence of gender on
performance of students taught summary writing using collaborative learning.
·
Determine the interaction effect of method and
gender on student’s achievement in summary writing.
Significance of the Study
The result of the study is expected to have both the theoretical and practical
significance. The theoretical significance is based on the Vygotsky’s theory of
zone proximal development and the Bandura’s Social learning theory while the
practical significance will be of benefit to the curriculum planners,
government, teachers and students.
The
Vygotsky’s theory notes that the discrepancy between the student actual
development level (that is, independent achievement) and his/her potential
level (achievement with the help from a competent partner or a knowledgeable
peer).The knowledgeable partner could be the teacher or the peer group, the
teacher in this case acts as a scaffold who gives support and guidance to the
student where it is necessary. This theory is synonymous with the
constructivist theory that believes in the students’ discovery of principles
themselves and by so doing it makes learning to be learner-centered and
promotes participation on the part of the learners and the teachers other than
being passive and regurgitate facts that leads to memorization of knowledge.
Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development will enable teachers of summary writing
to facilitate learning rather than imparting learning because of the nature of
the subject that has to do with problem solving and discovery.
The
social learning theory of Albert Bandura is based on the principles of
observation, imitation and modeling. This theory will enable learners to
emulate good behaviours and feelings amongst their peers, because the
collaborative learning will bring learners together to work for a common goal.
Since the main aim is to aspire for a goal, the stronger ones will help the
weaker ones, and by so doing they learn from one another in terms of character
and learning. The findings of the study will help in authenticating or
debunking the tenets of this theory.
The
findings of this result will be of benefit to the curriculum planners,
government, teachers and students. From the findings, curriculum planners will
benefit since they will be provided with information that may be used in
recommending effective innovations in teaching strategies. Also, the findings
will provide information that will be used to sensitize the government on the
need for workshops, seminars, and conferences on new teaching technique like the
collaborative learning as an effective strategy for teaching summary writing.
It will also enable them to re-train teachers by organizing symposia, workshops
and training on the use of collaborative methods. The use of conventional
method of teaching will be jettisoned as curriculum planners will find the need
to improve on it.
This
study will be significant to the teachers because they will find the study
useful as it will suggest a better method of summary writing teaching and
learning process as a sure way of achieving their set objectives with less
pains. It will sensitize teachers of summary writing to the adoption of better
teaching methods.
The students
will find the study, helpful because it will help them to work together as one
so as to achieve a common goal and also to solve their immediate problems. It
will also enhance good team work and working together in harmoniously with one
another irrespective of their cultural
differences.
Scope of the Study
The study was
restricted to the senior secondary school (SS2) students in Afikpo Education
Zone of Ebonyi State. The work was restricted only to the SS2 students in each
chosen school preparing to write summary in English language in WASSEC. The
content scope of this study covered comprehension passage, summary writing and
essay writing.
Research Questions
The following
research questions were raised to guide the study:
1. What
is the mean achievement scores of students taught summary writing with collaborative
learning and those taught with conventional method?
2. What
is the influence of gender on mean achievement scores of students in summary
writing?
3. What is
the interaction effect of method and gender on students mean achievement scores
in summary
writing?
4. What
is the opinion rating of male and female students taught summary writing using
collaborative method?
Hypotheses
The following null
hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and was tested at 0.05 level of
significance.
H01. There is no significant difference
in the mean achievement scores of students taught summary writing using
collaborative learning method and those taught using conventional method.
H02. There is no significant difference
in the mean achievement scores of urban and rural students taught summary
writing.
H03. There is no significant in the mean
achievement scores of male and female students taught summary writing. H04.
There is no significant interaction effect of gender on students’ achievement
in summary
writing.