Gender as predictor of academic achievement in English among senior secondary school two students in Calabar metropolis, Cross river state

R. F. Attah,P. M. Ita

doi:10.4314/gjedr.v16i2.9

Abstract

The study examined the influence of gender on academic achievement in English Language among senior secondary school students in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State. The researchers adopted survey designfor the study. The study sample comprise 660 Senior Secondary School two (SSS II) students drawn from 22 public secondary schools, 15 in Calabar Municipality and seven (7) public secondary schools in Calabar South Local Government Area, Cross River State, using Stratified Random and Purposive sampling techniques. Data were generated through ‘’English Language Academic Achievement Rating Scale” (ELAARS). A reliability index of 0.75was realized using Cronbach’s alpha. The data generated were analysed using Independent t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the analysis showed that gender has no significantly influence on academic performance in English Language among senior secondary school students in Calabar metropolis.KEYWORDS: Gender, predictor, academic achievement, English language.

Highlights

Despite the importance attached to the English Language, and efforts made by stake holders in the educational sector to optimize the learning of English Language as a school subject, students’ achievement in English Language has not commensurate to the investment made in it
The analyses revealed that the difference between male and female students’ achievements in English Language was not significant. (T-value 0.305, degree of freedom was 398 and p > 05).There have been a number of other empirical studies on the same subject matter by different researchers in different places using different samples and methodology but still came to the same conclusion that gender has no significant influence on academic achievement of students in English Language (Okoye (2009);Obadaki (2011); Babalola and Onyiloye (2012); Adeyemi and Adeyemi; (2013) Adeyemi (2014)
The results indicated that English as a Foreign Language learning is to some extent related to gender and it has a significant effect on the achievement test

Summary

Introduction

Despite the importance attached to the English Language, and efforts made by stake holders in the educational sector to optimize the learning of English Language as a school subject, students’ achievement in English Language has not commensurate to the investment made in it. There has been a fall in students’ academic achievement in English Language over the years as compared to other subjects in the school system. Adeosun (2010) observed that the low standard of English Language is reflected in the large number of candidates who failed the school certificate English. The result of the SSCE from 2012 to 2014 showed that 2012 (38.81%), 2013 (36.57%) and 2014 (31.28%) respectively passed the subject at least at credit level (West Africa Examination Council 2014). From the result, it has shown a drastic decline in the achievement of students in the subject. This statistics and report is a call for concern for any patriotic stakeholder in the education subsector to ponder over the system

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion