Effects of cognitive styles on the academic performance of primary school pupils with aphasia in Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

The manner and ways in which learners perceive and internalize information have been the subject of discussion by many scholars. This paper investigated the effects cognitive styles had on the academic performance of primary school pupils with aphasia in Sokoto State, Nigeria. A correlation research design was used in the conduct of the study. The population used for the study covered all primary school pupils in Sokoto state which numbered 706,064 and the study drew its sample using four stages of sampling. Primary four pupils numbering (9,369) in 63 primary schools that had symptoms of Aphasia were handpicked using a sampling technique called purposive before subjecting them to screening using the Language Screening Test and a total of 69 pupils were screened as aphasic across nine (9) Local Education Authorities from the three (3) educational zones of Sokoto State. The adapted version of the Language Screening Test, Group Embedded Figure Test, and Academic Performance Test designed by the researchers were the instruments used for data collection. The data collected was analyzed using PPMC. Instruments used for the study were validated by the developers and designers of the standardized instruments while academic performance test was validated using assessment and corrections by experts and they were found to have a face and content validity. The reliability of the instruments was realized using test-retest techniques, the correlation index found were, (0.71), (0.77), and (0.80). Findings of the research indicated that; there existed a positive, strong, and significant connection and the relationship between cognitive styles (field dependent) and academic outcomes/performance as well as a negative, weak, and insignificant relationship existed between cognitive styles (field-independent) and academic performance. It was concluded that children with Aphasia have language and communication disorder that affected their expressive and receptive language abilities, and the repetition of phrases and words. The researchers recommended that effort should always be made by teachers to identify pupils with aphasia in their classes whose mode of perceiving and processing information is holistic and global toward problems and match it with an individualistic and self-directed teaching approach in a well-structured learning environment.