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i INFLUENCE OF PEER ASSESSEMENT ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING BY EJIOGU, DANIEL CHIJIOKE PG/M.ED/11/61255 DEPARTMENT OF ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA OCTOBER, 2015. i TITLE PAGE INFLUENCE OF PEER ASSESSEMENT ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING A PROJECT REPORT PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION (ENGLISH) BY EJIOGU, DANIEL CHIJIOKE PG/M.ED/11/61255 SUPERVISOR: DR. P. N. UZOEGWU OCTOBER, 2015. ii CERTIFICATION Ejiogu, Daniel Chijioke, a postgraduate student of the Department of Arts Education, with registration number PG/MED/11/61255 has satisfactorily completed the requirement for the award of masters Degree (M.ED) in language Education. The work embodied in this project is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any other diploma or degree of this or any other university. Ejiogu, Daniel Chijioke Dr. P.N. Uzoegwu (Student) (Supervisor) iii APPROVAL PAGE This thesis has been approved for the Department of Arts Education, Faculty of Education University of Nigeria Nsukka. By Dr. P.N. Uzoegwu Dr. P. N. Uzoegwu (Supervisor) (Head of Department) Dr. Uche Igbokwe (Internal Examiner) (External Examiner) Prof Uju Umo Dean Falculty of Eucation iv DEDICATION This research work is dedicated to God Almighty that helped and sustained me while carrying out this academic work. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my profound gratitude to people who in one way or the other made the production of this project a success. First I am grateful to my supervisor Dr. Uzoegwu P.N for her guidance and correction throughout the period of this research work. My gratitude; also goes to my lovely wife Esther Ejiogu and my little daughter Amarachi for their understanding during this period especially as I may have denied them some fatherly care. I am immensely grateful to my colleagues who may have assisted in one way or the other to see that this work is completed. Finally, my most profound appreciation goes to the Almighty God for the life, knowledge, finance and even journey mercies he granted to me even as I shuttle between Owerri and Nsukka. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Certification ii Approval Page iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Tables viii List of Appendixes ix Abstract x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Background of the Study 1 Statement of the Problem 10 Purpose of the Study 12 Significance of the Study 12 Scope of the Study 14 Research Questions 14 Hypothesis 15 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 16 Conceptual Framework 17 Concept of Essay Writing 17 Concept of Assessment 22 Achievement in language Teaching and Learning 33 Gender in language Teaching and Learning 34 School location in language Teaching and learning 36 Theoretical Framework 38 Constructivist Learning Theory 38 Bandura’s Social Learning Theory 41 Review of Empirical Studies 43 Studies on Gender 46 vii Studies on School Location 47 Summary of Literature Review 49 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHIOD 51 Design of the Study 51 Area of the Study 52 Population of the Study 52 Sample and Sampling Technique 52 Instrument for Data Collection 53 Experimental procedure 54 Control of Extraneous Variable 55 Experimental Bias 55 Pretesting 55 Teacher Variables 56 Inter group Variables 56 Instructional Situational Variable 56 Method of Data Collection 57 Method of Data Analysis 57 CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 58 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 65 Discussion of Findings 65 Conclusion 67 Educational Implications of Study 68 Recommendations 69 Limitations of study 70 Suggestions for further studies 71 Summary of the Study 71 References 73 Appendixes 79 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Mean achievement scores of students taught English essay writing using peer assessment 58 Table 2: Mean achievement scores of male and female students taught English essay writing using peer assessment 58 Table 3: Mean achievement scores of students of urban and rural schools taught English essay writing using peer assessment. 59 Table 4: Interaction effects of method and gender on students mean achievement scores on English essay writing. 60 Table 5: Interaction effects of method and location on students mean achievement scores in English essay writing. 60 Table 6: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of post test achievement scores in English essay writing using peer assessment 61 Table 7: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of male and female students taught English writing 61 Table 8: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of urban and rural students taught English essay writing. 62 Table 9: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of interaction effect of method and gender on students’ mean achievement scores. 62 Table 10: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of interaction effect of method and Location on students’ mean achievement scores. 63 ix LIST OF APPENDIXES Lesson Plans 79 West African Examination Council Marking Scheme 99 List of Schools in Owerri Zone One 104 Sample Size 107 Analysis of Scores Using SPSS 108 x ABSTRACT The poor performance of students in essay writing has raised a lot of concern to teachers of English language and other stake holders in education. Poor performance in essay writing leads to poor performance in English language and this will consequently hinder students’ ambition for higher studies and job opportunities. This study was designed to find out the influence of peer assessment on students achievement in English essay writing in Owerri Zone 1 of Imo state. The study also sought the effect of gender and location on students achievement in English essay writing. Five research questions and five hypotheses guided the study. The design was a non equivalent control group quasi-experimental design involving the use of intact classes for experimental and control groups. Four schools in Owerri Zone 1 educational zone were selected by purposive random sampling technique. The population comprised of all SS11 students. The sample for the study was 167 students drawn from one intact class of each of the four schools selected. The English Essay Achievement Test (EEAT) was adopted as the instrument for data collection. Lesson plans for the experimental and control groups were developed validated and used for the pretest and the post- test assessments. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Major findings of the study was that students taught English essay writing using peer assessment performed better than students with teacher assessments. It was also found that female students had a higher mean score than their male counterparts. Based on these findings, it was recommended that stakeholders in education administration incorporate peer assessment in the curriculum to facilitate teaching and learning. Teachers of English language should be trained and retrained to enable them engage students in peer assessments activities. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Language is at the heart of human activities .Any activity carried out by human beings uses language which can be in the spoken form or in the written form. Language then can simply be defined as a complex and arbitrary system of vocal sounds used by human beings for communication in a given community (Amadi et al 2001). One of such languages is the English language which has become an international language and also a language of wider communication. It is Nigeria’s official language as well as the language of law, business, aviation, politics, education etc. Realizing the importance of the English language, for enhancing educational attainment as well as for improving communicative competence and ability of citizens, the Nigerian government has made it a core and compulsory subject for all students in Nigerian schools and for any good employment. In order to facilitate its study, Nigeria government begins its project of teaching English language from primary school as stated in the National Policy on Education: in lower primary the policy stated: “English shall be taught as a subject”, while in upper primary: “English shall be progressively used as medium of instruction” (NPE, 2004:14) . In junior and senior secondary, the policy stipulated that English should be a “core subject” (NPE, 2004:18-21), which must be offered by all the l earners. In tertiary institutions also, English is seen as a compulsory course offered as a general study (GS). Hence, it is seen as a medium of instruction, a compulsory and core subject that must be offered and passed at all levels of education in Nigeria’s educational system. It is therefore evident that without a thorough mastery of the language, learning is inefficient in Nigeria. Despite the provision of this policy which shows clearly the central role of English in the Nigerian educational system as observed by Nwachukwu (2007), the mastery of the language has continued to be poor. This accounts for the poor performance of students in English especially in essay writing. 2 In English language, there are basic four language skills which include listening, speaking, reading and writing. While listening and speaking are the oracy skill, reading and writing are the literacy skill. These skills are to be taught properly for proper mastery of the English language. However, among these four language skills, writing skill has an incalculable influence on humanity because it is a common instrument for the dissemination of knowledge. It is also a complex skill which is seen as difficult and hard. This is because, a learner is always judged from what he writes since he will not be there to defend himself on the course of assessing him. The learner should be able to think, form basic concept, plan and write coherently in English (Uzoegwu, 2004).