Causes of poor performance in English language and solutions among shs students at Kibi senior high technical school

Abstract

The study assessed the causes of poor performance in English language among SHS students at Kibi Senior High Technical School. To achieve this, four (4) specific objectives were set to: examine the school environmental factors to the causes of poor performance; analyse teacher related factors that contribute to learners’ poor performance; find out the learner factors that lead to poor performance in English Language in KISHTS; investigate the social factors that contribute to the poor performance of English language in KISHTS. The population for the study included all final year students, teachers of English language, Headmaster and Assistant Headmasters of the school. A sample of 157 respondents was used for the study. Purposive sampling method was used to select Teachers of English Language and Headmasters and random sampling method was used to select the final year students of the school. Data was collected through questionnaire, interviews and observation. The data collected were analysed with the help of SPSS version 20.0 and use of tables, frequencies, charts, graphs. Then, the study found that factors outside the school environment significantly influenced the students’ prospects for academic success in school. Again, the study revealed that classroom activities of teachers, teacher quality, teacher commitment, teacher absenteeism and punctuality and teachers of English not following the prescribed syllabus were considered as teacher related factors that contribute to the poor performance in English Language at KISHTS. Finally, the study also recommended that qualified teachers of English language should always be employed to teach it, adequate facilities and instructional media/materials need to be provided and where they are not available teachers are to improvise, proper supervision by all stakeholders should be embedded and so on.