PERCEIVED MANAGEMENT OF LEARNING FACILITIES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:Schools and colleges have no worth without students. Students are the most essential asset for any educational institute (Ikegbusi, 2012). The social and economic development of any country is directly linked with students' academic performance of that country (Roberts & Sampson, 2011). According to Ali and Jusoff (2014) and Ikegbusi and Iheanacho (2016), the students' performance (academic achievement) plays an important role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great leaders and manpower for the country, thus responsible for the country's economic and social development.The academic performance of secondary school students in examinations generally, and Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), General Certificate of Education (GCE), National Examination Council (NECO), and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in particular do not appear to be as good as they are expected to be as shown in the analysis and statistics of school records (Igbinedion & Omodolor, 2016). They added that many students are below credit levels and that this has given rise to uncomplimentary remarks from parents, guardians and other stakeholders on the academic performance of secondary school students especially in English language. Okoye (2014), observes that the performance of secondary school students in Senior School Certificate Examination and National Examination Commission in Nigeria is not all that impressive. Often students find it difficult to enter into higher institutions due to the fact that they do not have credits in English language, which is one of the core subjects, which every student must pass at credit levels or above, but many students score ordinary pass or even fail it. This situation has resulted in frustration to the concerned students and their parents in addition to making the school system inefficient. Although, according to Hijazi (2015) and Niebuhr (2015), academic performance is a function of many variables which include facilities provided, housing environment, parents motivation, quality of teachers, school climate as well as students 'Intelligence Quotient (IQ), all of which do influence, singly and collectively the students' academic performance. Management of learning facilities play vital roles in students' academic performance.According to Clabaugh & Rozyeki (2014), intelligence is not the only determinant of academic performance and achievement of a student. Academic performance and achievement of a student are always associated with many components of learning environment. Bosque & Dore (2015), posits that teaching and learning environment ought to implement six functions: inform, communicate, collaborate, produce, scaffold, and manage. They added that conceptually speaking, the learning environment refers to the whole range of components and activities within which learning happens. Based on Sandberg (2015), the definition of the functions of a learning environment can be quoted as 'teacher component's role' in providing a safe and conducive environment for students, foster participation in local and global communities and provide guidance and direct instruction. It can be a human agent (present or distant), an intelligent agent, and instructions like some text books. This information provides information from the syllabus to the task level.''Thenmozli (2015), sees management as the utilization, inspection, and maintenance of learning facilities to reach the desired aims and objectives. It encompasses managerial activities like planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. He stresses further that for management to be effective, it must seek to produce the required or targeted results. It consists of interlocking functions of creating corporate policy and organising, planning, controlling, and directing an organization's resources in order to achieve the objectives of that policy (Gulshan, 2015). He explains further that management has the following three characteristics:1. …