ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effect of manual games on the achievement of Junior Secondary School students in English grammar in Igbo-Eze North Local Government area of Enugu State. Five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. Related literatures were reviewed for the study. The study adopted non-equivalent control group quasi experimental design using a population of 2, 107 junior secondary school students in the local government area. A sample of 210 JSS 2 students comprising 127 female students and 83 male students. English grammar achievement test adapted from junior WAEC examination past questions was used to collect relevant data for the study. The instrument was face validated by three experts, one in Science Education and two from Arts Education all in University of Nigeria. Content validation of the instrument was ensured through the use of test blue print. A reliability index on 0.65 was obtained using Kuder-Richardson’s formulae 20. Data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that; the use of manual games instructional technique has significantly proved very effective in improving the achievement of students in English grammar than the conventional discussion technique. Also, gender influence on the achievement of students in English grammar was found not to be significant. On the other hand, there was a significant differential achievement of students with high and low ability levels in favour of the high ability level students. Both gender and ability level students were found not to interact significantly with instructional technique to affect the achievement of students in English grammar. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that School authority should enforce the use of manual games by the teachers in the teaching of English language since its efficacy has been proven.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language is man’s priceless procession which is a mark of his personal and group identity. It is equally man’s major vehicle for self expression. Anagbogu, Mbah and Eme (2001, p.1) posit that “language is a means which human beings have devised for communicating ideas, feelings, emotions, desires, etc through complex vocal or written symbols”. Language according to Kirkpatrick (1983) is a mode of expression or any manner of expressing thought or feeling intelligibly. It is an important means of communication. As the chief tool for human thinking and for transforming experiences into ideas, most learning takes place through the use of one language or the other.
Language is seen as a tool for communication. Grice (2012) sees language as a system of communication which enables human beings to cooperate. This social aspect of the language is fundamental to the cooperate existence of human beings in a given society. This definition stresses the social functions of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves and to manipulate objects in their environment. The uniqueness of human language is therefore attributed to human capacity to produce an infinite set of utterances from a finite set of elements and because the symbols and grammatical rules of any particular language are largely arbitrary, so that the system can only be acquired through social interaction (Searle, 2012).
The word, ‘language’ can also be used to describe the set of rules that make combination possible, or the set of utterances that can use practical forms of those rules. Agbedo (2010) posits that language can also be defined in social perspectives. Therefore language here is seen as a system of communication that enables humans to cooperate in different fields of human endeavour. He also stated that in human communication i.e language, the ties between meaningful element and their meanings are arbitrary and a matter of convention. This definition stresses the social function of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves in their various environments.
In a nutshell, human society can hardly survive without language. This is almost certain as human beings are always interacting with one another and language is the principal tool for this interaction. It enables people to form and maintain relationships through the sharing of thoughts, feelings, intentions, ideas and needs. In Nigeria, this great importance of language is clearly pronounced. The nation has a myriad of indigenous languages which have been used over the ages for the satisfaction of basic human needs of communication. However, none of these indigenous languages is spoken by an overwhelming majority of the people for it to perform a bonding common service to the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic groups in Nigeria (Egbe, 2009). Although these languages are still very much in use, the appearance of the English language in the Nigerian linguistic landscape through trade and colonization has had a far-reaching effect. The existence of enormous linguistic diversity in the Nigerian society before colonization made it possible for English to be naturally put in place as a lingua franca for the purpose of maintaining effective interaction across the diverse linguistic groups. It is at present the official language of education, commerce and politics in the country.
In the Nigerian educational system, this dominance of the English language is glaring. It is a core subject that is offered at the primary and secondary schools (FRN, 2004). It is also a compulsory subject at the higher institutions of learning. Besides, it is stipulated to be progressively used as a medium of instruction from primary four in primary schools. Hence, it is pathway to the learning of other subjects at every level of education in Nigeria. In addition, one must have a credit pass in it before one can gain admission in any tertiary institution no matter the course of the person’s choice. Thus, the English language in Nigeria is not only the criterion for assessing certificates, but also a benchmark for measuring the quality and depth of learning. Buttressing this, Baldeh (1990, p.7), claims that “educational failure is primarily a linguistic failure in the English language”.
Looking at the pride of place which the English language occupies in the Nigerian educational, political, economic and social settings, and the fact that it is taught more regularly than other subjects in the primary and secondary schools, it could be expected that students should display a high degree of proficiency in it at the interest and external examinations. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In spite of the vital importance of the language in the country, students’ performance in it has been very discouraging. According to Uwadiae (2008) over 80 percent of the candidates who registered for the May/June 2008 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) did not score credit in the English language. The November 2009 National Examination results were also poor. Ogunsola, Akinjide, Nwangu and Taiye (2010), reported that only 1.80 percent of the 234,682 of the candidates who sat for the examination got credits in English. In 2011, WAEC results indicate that 40.11% of the candidates registered for WAEC had credit pass while 74.01% failed (WAEC Chief Examiners Report, 2011) while NECO released a result showing about 45.05% passed while 54.05% failed (NECO Chief Examiner’s Report 2011).
In 2013, WAEC results released show that only 24.5% of the candidates passed at credit level and 75.5% failed (WAEC, Chief Examiners Report, 2013) while NECO recorded only 10% pass at credit level whereas 90% failed (NECO Chief Examiner’s Report 2013). WAEC also recorded that 27% of the candidates passed at credit level and 73% failed (WAEC, Chief Examiners Report, 2014).
In Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, the instance of the poor performance of students in English language is clear. Recent research findings are clearly show glaring evidence. According to Ezema (2010), students in the area can hardly write or speak a correct sentence. In line with this, Ugwu (2011) maintains that overwhelming majority of the students in the area exhibit an embarrassingly poor command of the English language. Ugwu attributes this poor performance to a number of factors such as shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials, poor school environment, unseriousness on the part of the students, lack of motivation and finally teaching techniques. The mass failure in the English language is attributable to poor grounding in the four major language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The acquisition of these skills and attainment of proficiency in them requires, to a reasonable extent, the mastery of the grammar of the language.
The grammar of a language can be referred to as a set of rules guiding the usage of the language. However, grammarians are not unanimous on what grammar is or what it should be or how it should be taught (Otagburuagu, Obah, Onuigbo and Okorji, 2007). In an attempt to reconcile such differences, grammarians have made efforts to inquire into the nature of grammar itself by emphasizing the essential ingredients instead of quarrelling over what should be the most acceptable definition. In this perspective, grammar is seen as a body of knowledge dealing with sentence formation, a set of rules showing how sentences are formed and a usage informed by proper choice of words (Otagburuagu et al, 2007). From the foregoing, it is clear that grammar is the central part of any language. Therefore, if any language is worth learning, the learning of its grammar is an indispensable aspect of it.
In acquiring one’s mother-tongue, one needs not to bother about the grammatical conventions of the language because a first language speaker or learner has his/her grammar internalized in him/her. On the other hand, the second language learner, as is the case with the Nigerian learners of English, is not so endowed. A second language learner has to attain a considerable proficiency in the grammar of such language before he/she can claim some mastery of it (Oji, 1994). Hence, the Nigerian learners of the English language have to learn its grammar. Proper usages of the language belong to the grammar because such usage draws its code from grammatical rules. In Nigeria, grammar is divided into topics and sub-topics while teaching it at junior and senior secondary school level. According to (NERDC, 2006, 2007) grammar is broken down into topics and sub-topics in Nigeria education system, in the junior and senior secondary education curricula at the secondary school level. The topics and sub-topics include those on nominal groups (nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, and nominalization), verbal groups (tense, aspect, sequence of tenses, phrasal verbs), nominal group plus verbal group (subject verb agreement, transitive and intransitive verbs), adverbial/adjectival group (adverbs and adjectives), adverbial phrases, adverbial and adjectival phrases and clauses. Irrespective of the topic to be taught, tenses run through all the structures. Therefore, tense will be the focus of the researcher in this study.
English grammar is classified into papers 1 and 2 of the English language examination in senior school certificate examination. Paper one is on essay/letter writing, comprehension and summary. In letter/essay writing grammar is tested under mechanical accuracy, in comprehension and summary, the grammatical aspect will be checked before awarding full mark. If there is grammatical error, no matter the level of the idea of the writer, half a mark will be deducted from each answer. Paper 2, is the objective test. This area is used to test the students’ knowledge of lexis and structure. It is not surprising therefore that the language and its grammar form part of the core curriculum of all the teaching, learning and examining bodies in Nigeria. So, it can be deduced that students’ mass failure in the English language examinations may be as a result of improper grounding in the grammar of the language. WAEC Chief Examiners’ Report (2012) expressed concern about the poor construction of English language of the candidates; incorrect use of tenses, faulty grammar and wrong spelling.
The problem of the students’ poor performance has been expressed clearly in a document released by the international final awards and examiners appointment committee of WAEC held in Accra in September, 2012, entitled “WAEC unhappy with students’ performance in English”. Hence, poor teaching method has been identified as a major factor contributing to the poor performance of candidates in external examinations, the recommendations by the WAEC Chief Examiners’ supported by the International Awards and Examiners Appointed Committee (2012) is that teachers should adopt better methods and strategies of teaching the language more effectively.
