THE EFFECT OF CLASS SIZE ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING/ LEARNING OF SUMMARY WRITING IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGER STATE
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate the
effect of large class size on the teaching/learning of summary writing in senor
secondary schools especially in Niger State. The large class size places a
major barrier to the effective teaching and learning of summary writing in
English language as a core subject in these senior secondary schools. The study
was also done to determine the effect of school location and gender on the
student’s performance in summary writing. Three research questions and three
hypotheses guided the studies. The instrument used for data collection
was test items drawn on comprehension and summary passages and face
validation of the instrument was done by three expert in Language
Education and Measurement and Evaluation from the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka. A split- half method for single administration of instruments was used
and the result of the test was analyzd using Crombanch Alpha to measure the
consistency and reliability of the test. The sample for the test consisted of
400 senior secondary school students drawn from the selected schools in Suleja
Education Zone which was the focus area for the study. Two hundred students
were drawn from urban school location and two hundred students from rural
school locations. The major findings of this study were that, the students
taught summary writing in small class setting performed better than those
taught in large class setting. Location was also a significant factor, the
findings revealed that students taught summary writing in urban school
locations had a better performance than the ones taught in rural school
locations. Gender as well played a major role, in that, the female students
scored higher in summary writing taught them than their male counterparts.
Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were made to senior
secondary school teachers in the state to engage students in frequent writing
exercise, not only in English Language subject but in other subjects as well so
as to help develop in them adequate writing skill. The text book writers and
the curriculum planners are expected to make writing exercise feature often in
the syllabus developed for senior secondary schools. The government should pay
attention to solve the problems militating against the effectiveness of school
programmes in general. The limitations of the study were outlined and suggestions
for further research were
proposed.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The
influx of the missionary to Nigeria in 1842, followed by the British
colonization later bequeathed to the nation English as a second language.
.Tomori ( Azikiwe 1995: 24) and Kangas (2000:4) state that, one higher reason
for the spread of English is legacy of colonialism and the history of European
expansion that went along with it, while the highest reason is the sustained economic
power. English is a language with great reach and influence, the language is
the most internationalized in the distribution of any language in the world.
Graddo (1997:3) affirms, “the only people who think that one can conduct all of
one’s affairs in this world through the medium of a single language are
speakers of English. The necessities of the language are surrounded with being
the machinery for cultivating the minds and training of staff for effective
communications with the colonial masters, thus, the English language was
officially institutionalized in 1861 in Lagos Nigeria by the British government
(Azikiwe 1995:24). With time, English language became a course of study
at all levels of learning, consequently, the number of Nigerians who enroll for
learning of the language can be said to be on the increase on daily basis,
either at the state or federal institutions of learning. Specifically, English
language has taken the place of a second language in Nigeria; it is the
nation’s lingua franca which has now solved the problem of communication
barriers throughout the country. Obanya (1982:3) states that “English language
fills a huge communication gap, it helps to facilitate contact between
Nigerians of diverse language backgrounds; it is also the language of the
country, the language of document and official communication. Bamgbose
(1995:13) emphasizes that “English language is socio-linguistically the
language of social and official transactions, the media, science and
technology, it is the language of legislature and judiciary respectively.
Educationally, English language plays a top role as a tool for transmitting
knowledge”. The National Policy on Education (2004:16) states
The medium of instruction in the Primary school shall be the
language of the environment for the first three (3) years. During this period,
English shall be taught as a subject; but from the fourth year, the language
shall progressively be used as a medium of instruction and the language of
immediate environment and shall be taught as a subject.
Evidently, the language has been accepted in education for teaching and
learning, and for subsequent services in Nigeria. Mgbodile (1996:106)
postulates that “English language is the key to the world’s pool of knowledge,
universal culture to average Nigerian.” The foregoing confirms that English
occupies a prominent and enviable position in Nigeria; it could be seen as the
life wire of the survival growth and unity of the nation.
However, the four language skills which comprise of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing, are to be properly taught, but this is not so
in Nigerian schools. The introduction of free schooling programme for all in
1976, which was called Universal Primary Education (UPE) led to population
explosion which extended to secondary schools in Nigeria. As the enrolment into
schools increases daily and beyond the capacity of the available resources,
merging of classrooms also began, which resulted into large class size. The
problems that beset the effective teaching and learning of English are many
such as inadequate infrastructure, lack of teaching materials, teachers’
incessant strike but large class places a higher constraint. Hayes (1997:4)
posits, “there can be no quantitative definition of what constitute a large
class, as perception of this will vary from context to context”. Edoabasi
(2007:19) describes, “large classes as over populated class-rooms or as some
times presented, streams of a segmented class, running from (a) to (m) for one
secondary school teacher”. The researcher further describes “large class as,
one that depicts national underdevelopment, inadequate educational
infrastructure and teachers for the teaming population in all of Nigerian school
life”. Tinto (1987:5) posits that large classes leads to a decline in intrinsic
motivation for studying and increases in attrition. The National policy on
Education (2004:14) suggests, “for effective teaching and learning, the teacher
versus learners ratio shall be 1:35”. In the same vein, All Nigeria Conference
of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS 2007:14) recommends a maximum of
forty (40) students per class for effective management and control. Allen
(1992:3) affirms that American class-size placement ratio is a ratio of 1.25
(i.e. one teacher to twenty-five students),”. The outlined policy of the
National Policy on Education (NPE) on class size is violated by the Nigerian
government itself, as classes are designated with students’ population ranging
between sixty (60) and one hundred and twenty (120). Effective
teaching/learning is only possible where the climate is conducive and not
otherwise.
In Niger
state, enrolment exceeds the available resources provided for secondary school
education and the result is that students perform poorly in summary writing
especially in external examination. The WAEC chief examiner’s report 2006, 2007
express a general dismay over the poor performance of students in summary
writing, he emphasizes that the poor performance of students in summary writing
has has been a problem, and it is unimaginable how a student who has spent six
years in secondary school will not be able to summarize a given text. The
society places much value on writing as a social tool and if not developed and
used, can form a permanent mental disorder because writing is believed to be a
bridge for transferring ideas. Azikiwe (1998:5) opines that a developing nation
like Nigeria needs a literate and enlightened populace rather than functional
illiterates; that is people who are only able to read with ordinary
comprehension, materials designed for unselected lay people. The process that
helps learners develop skill for summary writing can be connected to the
knowledge of essay writing and exercise in comprehension passages. Writing
involves the active participation of the teachers/students in composition/essay
writing as they work through the interactive and recursive stages of
pre-writing, writing and re-writing.Christine (1982:249) postulates, “You teach
students to write more effectively by encouraging them to make full use of the
many activities that comprise the act of writing not by focusing only on the
final written products and its strength and weaknesses”. An excerpt from
Literacy Education Online (LEO) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/summary subscribes that
writing an effective summary requires the following
·
Reading with the writer’s purpose in mind
·
Underlining with summarizing in mind
·
Write revise and edit to ensure the accuracy and correctness of
your summary”
Michael (1992:89) affirms that “Summarizing is a more
comprehensive form of taking notes which is the process of rewriting a passage
to make it shorter while still retaining its essential message”
Furthermore summary is the presentation of the substance of a
body of material in a condensed form or by reducing it to its main
point, an abstract or a short account of something that gives only the most
important information and not all the details. Summary writing is a peculiar
writing skill that requires being learnt and taught meticulously so as to
provide skillful workers for the labour world. Susan (2003:1) stresses that,
“the only way a busy administrator can deal with the flood of information is to
rely on effective summaries that can efficiently present the most important
information.” It is obvious that the Nigerian government is playing a leading
role in the decline observed in secondary education. The underfunding of the
educational sector in the country in general and the neglect of the maintenance
of the physical facilities, instructional and living conditions of teachers
have plagued effectiveness in teaching learning system. Classrooms, libraries
and laboratories are nothing to talk about, all-leading to decline in academic
standards. The experience in Nigeria secondary schools is that of classroom
congestion and low classroom utilization rates, all these put the effective
teaching and learning of summary writing at a very low pace.
One of
the considerable factors that underlines the poor performance of students in
summary writing is the school location. Teaching and learning is influenced by
school location. Andrew (2008:38) emphasizes, “we cannot rule out the
possibility that location profiles may actually constitute a better criterion
of school effectiveness than many measures that already have entered the field
of educational administration. Ekpunobi (1985) holds that there is a remarkable
difference in the performance of students from urban and the rural school locations.
Urban location is characterized with obvious modern development; teaching and
learning outcome in urban areas cannot be compared with teaching and learning
outcome in schools in rural locations. Rural locations are of rural setting
with less modern facilities, thus the discrepancies between rural and urban
areas can be widely measured. One other notable factor that influences the
learning of English language, whether written or oral is gender. Some
researchers have dealt extensively on the factor of gender as one that is
capable of influencing students’ learning. Nash (1979:279) states, “females
tend to do better in tests of verbal ability including such components as
fluency, reading comprehension analogies and creative writing” but on the
contrary, Ekpunobi (1985:35) in his own findings posits that assessment on
written composition of Group Assessment Learning Technique (GALT) shows that
the female students in the experimental schools did not achieve significantly
higher than the male students in the senior secondary schools. The difference
between the female and male students has no definite proof, thus, it is
regarded as a mere description out of proportion. Gass and Varonis
(1986:46) Pica, Holliday, Lewis and Morgenthaler (1989:46) carry out an investigation
into gender-based differences in the structure of social interaction and to
shed light on gender-related differences in areas such as learning strategies
for second language comprehension, their modification of inter-language and
negotiated interaction. The discoveries from the investigation raise the
possibility that language learning opportunities and experiences might not be
quite the same for male and female students.
Statement of the Problem
The
problem of poor performance of senior secondary school students in summary
writing in English Language is concerned with poor infrastructures (conducive
sizeable classroom) which constitutes the problem of large classes. Salle
(2000:1) emphasizes that “it does not take a rocket scientist or poet laureate
to know that teaching a large class is a very different set of challenges that
we typically face in our classes”.
The
government of Nigeria be it federal or state as stakeholders in education
contribute to the problems of schools and make the schools what they are today.
The poor funding of the education sector has reduced the teaching/learning
programme into a mere struggle for survival between the teachers and their
students. The insufficient dilapidated school buildings are used to compress
large number of students for learning activities. The meager salary paid to
teachers and incessant strike actions have always disrupted adequate
concentration of teaching/learning programme.
The
frequent visit of the officials from the Ministry of Education into various
schools in the nation to verify certificate and ghost workers does not include
investigation of the teaching/learning progress, which are most relevant. The
loss of relevant issues is spelt in the unrealized stated objectives of the
learning outcome. Edoabasi (2007:19) emphasizes, “the teaching of basic
language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, cannot be
developed in crowded class rooms”. His stated opinion supports that effective
teaching/learning is only possible in a conducive environment where
students/teachers are at ease. The dismay expressed over the poor performance
of students in senior secondary schools in Nigeria over the years by the chief
WAEC examiner are evident in the release of senior secondary school examination
(SSCE) results. The chief WAEC examiner counsel the teachers to diversify
methods and give more attention to the teaching of English language to students
so as to reduce the level of poor performance for good ones, by engaging the
students in writing activities in other subjects.
The poor
performance of students in summary writing is a big concern to not only the
teachers but the principals of schools and even the parents of these students,
because poor performance in summary writing eventually leads to poor
performance in English Language and at the end hinders students ambition for
higher studies and placements in good jobs in the society. What effect would
therefore class size play on student’s achievement in summary writing? The
problem of this study put in question form is “what is the effect of
class size on the effective teaching and learning of summary writing in senior
secondary school particularly in Niger State?
Purpose of the Study
The main
purpose of this study is to find out, how large class can hinder the effective
teaching/learning of summary writing in English language in senior secondary
schools.
Specifically, the study seeks to
1.) Determine the effect of large class size on the effective teaching
and leaning of summary writing in English language in senior secondary schools
especially in Niger State.
2.) Ascertain the effect of class size on the achievement of
male and female students in summary writing.
3). Find out the effect of class size on the achievement of
rural and urban schools in summary writing
The Significance of the Study
The
importance of summary form of writing is of paramount significance, the finding
from this study is of great benefit to the following people: the teachers, the
students, the curriculum planners and Education officials as well as
individuals who are concerned with writing in summary form.
This study provided information to the teachers in secondary
schools since teachers recognize, through this study that teaching small class
size in summary writing is more effective; the teacher can then adopt the shift
method and group her large class into small sizes, though this may increase her
contact time.
Students can benefit more in summary writing through small class
sizes when the teacher adopts the shift method in teaching class, because this
shift method will improve personal contact between the teacher and her
students.
The curriculum planners can suggest average class size to
government on the teaching of some aspects of English for effective teaching
and clear understanding on how to write summary.
The study finding provided information to the Ministry of
Education Officials about the effect of large size in teaching/ understanding
of English in schools. The government can make use of this information to make
policy adjustments on class size in schools for effective teaching/leaning.
The
report writers, journalist, secretary of organizations and other private
officials who are concerned with summarizing in writing will also benefit from
the finding because the discoveries will help them further to use economy of
words without sacrificing the meaning. Because the finding has shown that
summary writing will hence improve skills development in individual learners.
Scope of the Study
The study was restricted to determine the effect of class size
on the teaching/leaning of summary writing in senior/secondary schools in Niger
State.
The study was also restricted to the study of location, gender
and summary writing of SS 2 students in Niger State Educational Zones.
Research Questions
The following research questions were developed to guide this
study
1. What is
the mean difference between the achievement of student taught summary writing
in the large class setting and those taught summary writing in the small class
setting?
2. To what
extent does class size affect the mean achievement scores of male and female
students in summary writing?
3. To what
extent does class size affect the mean achievement scores of rural and urban
schools in summary writing?
Hypotheses
The
following Hypothesis were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.
1. There
is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught
summary writing in the large class setting and those taught summary writing in
the small class setting in Niger State.
2. There
is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female
students in summary writing.
3. There
is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of rural and urban
students in summary writing.