ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effect of scrabble game instructional technique (SGIT) on secondary school students’ achievement and interest in English Vocabulary. It also determined the influence of gender and location on students’ achievement and interest in English language vocabulary. Ten research questions and ten hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental design was used. Specifically, the non-randomized control group design, involving two inter classes was used. The sample for the study consisted of 160 JSS II students from two co-educational secondary schools in Ajaokuta Local Government Area of Kogi State, which was the area of the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used, first to draw the two co-educational schools and two inter classes from each school, and to assign schools to experimental (SGIT) and control group (LM). Two instruments, namely the English Vocabulary Achievement Test (EVAT) and the English Vocabulary Interest Inventory (EVII) were developed and validated. The internal consistency of EVAT was computed and found to be 0.86 using Kuder Richardson’s formula (K – R 20), while that of EVII was .837 using Crobach’s Alpha co-efficient method. The data obtained were used in answering the research questions and testing the hypotheses. The research questions were answered using mean scores, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that SGIT had significant effect on students’ achievement and interest in English language vocabulary, but gender did not significantly influence students’ achievement and interest in English Vocabulary. Location was a significant factor in students’ achievement and interest in English vocabulary. The results also showed that there was no significant interaction effect of instructional technique and gender on students’ achievement and interest in English vocabulary. However, while there was significant interaction effect of instructional technique and location on students’ achievement in English language vocabulary, there was no significant interaction effect of instructional technique and location on students’ interest in English vocabulary. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the study provided empirical evidence of the efficacy of SGIT in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in English language vocabulary. By implication, if teachers of the English language adopt SGIT and practice it in their various schools, students’ achievement and interest in English language vocabulary may improve. It was, therefore, recommended among others that government and other professional bodies should organize workshops, seminars and conferences to educate and sensitize the serving teachers on the use of SGIT in teaching English vocabulary.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language is an arbitrary system of symbols which enables man to communicate an infinite number and variety of messages, meanings, intentions, thoughts, requests and items of information. It is involved in thinking, memory and reasoning, problem-solving and planning. Indeed, language is involved in higher order mental processes. It is also a means of cultural and value transmission from one generation to the next and from one country to the other (Uzoegwu, 2004). Any activity carried out by humans employs the use of language. One of the most encompassing definitions of language is that it is purely human specific and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. Language in any society serves diverse functions but the most important of these functions is the role of language as a medium of communication (Pelt, 2005), and this role is given such a central place as a result of the natural unification of humans to pass information. Thus, the natural desire to share feelings, ideas, and thoughts in a highly multilingual nation like Nigeria creates a dire need for a language of inter-ethnic and inter cultural communication.
As a result of the role of English as a language of international communication and the multilingual nature of the Nigerian society, English language was voluntarily adopted for official and inter-ethnic communication in the country (Akabogu, 2006). English language since then has come to serve various vital functions in the life of the nation. Of all these functions, however, its role as the language of education is paramount since education gives life and is essential to all other spheres of human endeavour (Obanya, 2002). This function is given greater vigour as a result of the position given to it by the National Policy on Education (2004), which makes English language mandatory in secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria. It is also the language of evaluation in schools as it is used for assessing students after primary school for the First School Leaving Certificate Examination, Junior School Certificate Examinations, Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and other professional examinations.
As a result of the importance of English language in Nigeria, the federal government (FRN: 2004:16) in its National Policy on Education states:
The medium of instruction in the primary school shall be the language of the immediate environment for the first three years. During this period, English shall be the language of the immediate environment for the first three years. During this period, English shall be taught as a subject. From the fourth year, English shall progressively be used as a medium of instruction.
The desire of the Federal Government of Nigeria, according to this statement is to enable students attain some level of proficiency in English to enable them to fully participate in the educational, social, economic and political aspects of the Nigerian society. Given the importance of English language as a subject, it demands that students should perform well in it but instead, the reverse is the case. It is expected that after learning the English language for so many years; students would have reached a certain level of proficiency but it is not so. A look at the summary of English language result in Ajaokuta Local Government Area of Kogi State, between 2014 and 2015 revealed that the performance of candidates in English language has not been encouraging as the rate of failure has been high. The Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in English language is divided into three distinct papers, referred to as paper I, II, and III. Paper I consists of essay writing, reading comprehension and summary. The reading comprehension section requires that the candidates must have acquired the ability to read printed words, sentences, paragraphs and whole passages thoughtfully, meaningfully and flexibly with understanding. They are also expected to interpret such passages, indentify the main ideas contained in each paragraph, make adequate and relevant inference, recall the knowledge acquired and make use of it as the need arises. It is observed that students are not proficient in English and deficient in English vocabulary. Most of the students do not have enough words in their repertoire thereby affecting their performance.
For students to be proficient and intelligible in English language, they are expected to have wide vocabulary (Scarborough, 2001). Vocabulary constitutes the knowledge of meanings of words possessed by individual learners. It is the body of words known to individuals. Yenny (2007) states that vocabulary is a stock of words in a language, written or spoken, with meaning considered as cultural meaning used by group or individual community. From the above definition, it can be inferred that the number of vocabulary in the linguistic repertoire of every learner determines his/her competence and performance. Learners’ achievement in every aspect of English as in essay writing, comprehension, summary, lexis and structure is premised on the number of vocabulary they possess. It is believed that the more vocabulary students learn, the more ideas they would have, so that they can communicate their ideas more effectively. Eyisi (2006) is of the view that the more new words one has the better one understands or is understood.
