Abstract:
The research sought to find out the challenges students face in summary writing in
Ghana Secondary Technical School, Takoradi, and ways of improving performance in
summary among students. The sampled population was 90 final year science students
and 10 English Language teachers. The study was conducted with both qualitative and
quantitative methods executed through interviews, tests and questionnaires for which
90 students responded to both quantitative and qualitative data while 10 teachers
responded to qualitative data. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixedmethod
approach. The quantitative data were subjected to statistical analysis using
SPSS version 24.0 together with percentages for the research questions. Findings
indicated that teacher effectiveness significantly contributed to students’ academic
performance in summary writing, but a positive school climate as one of the teacher
efficacy was found to be the best indicator of students’ success in academic
excellence. Based on the findings, it was recommended that stakeholders in education
should motivate and resource the teacher for better academic performance. Finally,
data revealed that some variables such as large class sizes and teacher feedback
techniques played important roles in influencing the performance of students in the
study of summary.
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign
Languages Education and Communication submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies, in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Teaching English as a Second Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba
