Relationship Between Language and Communication Skills and Students\' Performance in Vocational Courses: A Case Study of F.C.E. Okene.

Abstract

This study sought to find out the influence of language and communication skills on students\' performance in vocational courses. The study used the cumulative mean scores of two sets of final year students over tine three-year perrod of their N.C.E course in Agricultural Education, Business Education, and Fine and Applied Art and their corresponding cumulative scores in language and communication courses. The degree of relationship was determined using Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. Results obtained show that for the two sets of Agricultural Education students, there was a highly significant positive linear correlation (r; 0.56, 0.63), while for Business Education students there was a highly significant positive linear correlation for one set, (r; 0.83). For the other a not significant positive correlation (r, 0.12) was obtained. For the two sets of Fine and Applied Art students there were not significant linear correlation (r; 0.24, 0.23) at 0.01 level of significance. These results show that language and communication skills positively affect students\' academic achievement in Agricultural Education. The same is true for one set of Business students but it was no so for the other. The results also show that language and communication skills have no positive influence on the performance of the two sets of Fine and Applied Art students These mixed results explain the argument that is often made about the level of understanding of language and communication skills that vocational students should possess. The Nigerian Journal Of Guidance And Counselling Vol. 7 (1) 2000: pp. 196-205