Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Abstract

This research work examined the parental socio-economic status on students’ academic performance in English Language in public secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were stated and tested at 0.05 alpha levels of significance. The population of the study comprised all secondary two (SS2) English Language students in Obot Akara Local Government Area of the 2022/2023 academic session.

The sample size used for the study was one hundred students (200) draw from two public schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area. Home Variables Questionnaire (HVQ) and English Language Achievement Test (ELAT) were the instruments used to collect data for the study. Data obtained for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistics analysis, and findings showed that:

1. there is a significant difference between parental level of education and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area;
2. there is a significant difference between parental occupation and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area;
3. there is a significant difference between family income and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area;
4. there is a significant difference between family type and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background to the Study

Home is the first and the most significant place for the child’s inclusive growth and development. Home provides not only the hereditary transmission of basic potentials for the child but also the favourable environment in terms of interpersonal relation and cultural pattern.

However, education like in school at home must also strive to achieve the desired objective in principles with constructive ways of perceiving and making self-meaning. However, educational psychologist broadly maintained that in education development of a child, how and school are the twin that play complimentary roles and also towards the social bringing of the children in the society. Omebe (2012), agreed on the ideology that, home is the forerunner of the school. He also expressed that; the home and school are the two notable institutions that cultures a child to be what he/she is in the society.

Egboh and Igba (2013) in their personal reflection added that the homes are the two stages that combined efforts to propagate a child or children to face the challenges in the society. Okpahone (2010) stated that home is the basic education formation, while school is the vehicle which help to pilot a child to his or her educational attainment which is needed to function effectively in the society.

Therefore, if the foundation laid by the home teachers is fragile, the child may not stand firm and benefit adequately from the secondary school education. But, when its natural or educational formation satieties and also effectively boosts its awareness toward the study, the school can feature to strengthen the foundation, Aboyi (2012) asserted that the failure of some students from meeting up to the demands within the family, school and society was the negative influence of students toward the utilization of the available wealth of the family.

Nweke (2011) stated that the actual cause of students’ failure is as a result of the nature of family background and up-bringing in terms of socio-economic status and other home variables, which can give birth to poor planning mechanism. Poor planning mechanism has to do with a situation in which parents do not have the will to set aside funds and use the funds based on budget. Interest in learning and academic performance among students cannot be separated from the home environment from which they grew up.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Several studies have been done within and outside Nigeria on the effects of home environment on students’ achievement and interest in English language. Research results in psychology and sociology of education have pointed out some factors that enhance educational achievement.   For example, Dewey’s learning by experience theory, revealed that experience is an interaction between the organism and his environment.

Also, cognitive theory stated that learning takes place when the child interacts with the environment where the learner gets maximum concentration (Malik, 2000). Environment could be physical, social and abstract (Anene, 2003). It also includes people, parents, sibling and peers. According to Anene, social environment has to do with social life, societies, and club which may affect individuals.

Abstract environment, she adds, is the reactions, feedback of the responses received on interactions with others, while the physical environment is the objects or materials found in the home, school or community. Nwosu and Maduewesi (1980) observed that factors such as motivation, ability to learn and maturation are affected by environmental conditions.

Of all the different aspects of the environment, the home produces the first and most insistent and perhaps the most subtle influence on the education development of the child. Nwosu and Madeuewesi (1980) and Malik (2000) asserted that the kind of home in which the child receives his early training determines in good part the kind of individual he/she will become. Malik also observed that the home is the first and the most significant place for the child’s inclusive growth and development.

It provides not only the hereditary transmission of basic potentials for the child, but also the favourable environment in terms of interpersonal relationship and cultural pattern. Malik added that the home, like school, must strive to achieve desired objective in educating the child. It has also been argued that other factors other than socio-economic status (Anumudu, 2001; Onyejemezi, 1989; and Taylor, 2012) contribute to the child’s performance in school.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Intelligent quotient, as noted by Nwosu and Maduewesi (1980), affects the child’s educational achievement. Nwosu and Maduewesi argued that intelligent quotient plays an important role, while Stone (1966) claimed that parents’ value for education has great effect on the child’s achievement in school. Similarly, language of communication in the home, according to Taylor (2012), affects a child’s learning of the English language especially children from bilingual or multilingual homes.

This is why Ejike (2003) argued that slow adaptation of many Nigerian students at school is the reason why many fail English language because the language of communication used at home may be the child’s first language or Pidgin English. Anumudu (2001) confirmed the assertion that interested parents encourage their children to work hard by exposing them to different experiences which help them to learn a lot of things before going to school.

However, Anumudu (2001) confirmed that supportive parents encourage their children to work hard by providing them with the needed educational materials that facilitate learning at home.  These facilities have motivating factors, which the child manipulates and in the process, learning occurs and the child gains educational experience or background knowledge.

Supporting this claim, Marynard (1970) opined that the performance of any child at school is affected by the basic support the child receives at home. Ejike (2003) added that student’s learning attainments are traceable to the circumstances at home. Ezewu (1983) revealed that the failure of many remedial schemes launched to counter non-performance failed in America because they neglected the home situation. Thus, Frude (1981) observed that the family as the principal sources of a child’s happiness and well-being can also be the most powerful source of stress, which can affect the child’s academic performance.

Home interactions by family members at home frequently help in finding out children area of difficulties in learning. The head of the family communicates messages to family members to perform home related activities at home and outside of it. The tune, words and approach in communication reflects the attitude of the head of the family and the reply of family members to the head of the family has the same ingredients which also constitutes their attitude towards the head of the family and his/her communication.

Besides, family decisions are major factor that involve in-depth interactions of the family members. It is the stage from where the importance of family member say/opinion can be judged. Families that involves children in their decision making process enable their children to have self-confidence develop’ their self-esteem and thus contribute towards social development of students (Hussain & Naz, 2013; Ewumi, 2006).

Researchers are of the opinion that the majority of Nigerian secondary school students possess poor reading habits (e.g. Aina, Ogungbemi, Adigun, & Ogundipe, 2011). The poor academic performance of Nigerian students in English Language have been traced to, inter alia, teacher factors (e.g. Abiola, 2013), student factors (e.g. Fakeye, 2010), mother-tongue interference (e.g. Oluwole, 2008) or a combination of factors (e.g. home and school (Adekola, 2012).

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Also, the poor performance of Nigerian students in English Language public examinations has been located, albeit partially, in their lack of competence in reading comprehension (Adekola, 2012). Thus, this study sought to investigate the effect of three variables–home, school, personal–on reading comprehension, an aspect of English Language competence, because reading has been found to be a cornerstone of literacy and success.

“Home environment” is not an abstract concept. It is the combination of physical and psychological environment. The first one includes rooms, basic facilities such as water, shelter, clothes, food and other physical needs of the individuals, while the psychological environment of home includes the mutual interactions of family members, respect, say in family matters and such other things.

Both the aspect has a direct and significant influence on the overall development of students (Mukama, 2010, Muola, 2010). There are certain influential factors which influence home environment. It includes nature of family, authority (head of family), educational status of parents, attitude of parents towards children and financial position of the family; all these factors are significant for home environment (Codjoe, 2007; Mukama, 2010; Muola, 2010).

Comprehension passages, a major part of the English Language examination in Nigeria, are usually tough nuts to crack for Nigerian students. For example, Kolawole, Adepoju, and Adelore (2000) submit that students’ problems and failures begin in English Language Paper 1 (of the West African Examination Council secondary examination) which covers essay writing, summary writing, and comprehension tasks; comprehension tasks constitute 33% of the total marks obtainable in the paper.

The foregoing background information brings into sharp focus the concern of the present study, an examination of the extent to which aspects of the variables of home (literacy resources and economic background), school (quality and characteristics of teachers as well as school resources), and personal (self-concept) affect students’ reading comprehension and achievement in reading. It is our contention that a better understanding of the interactions among these variables, especially when taken together, would help in solving some of the problems of Nigerian students’ poor performance in English Language examinations.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

Home variables means those qualities in a family that are subject to change or varies; they include all the human and material resources present at the home that may affects the child’s academic outcome, such as the parent’s level of education (low, middle or high), their occupation, socio-economic status (low, middle or high), parenting style (authoritative, permissive, democratic and neglectful), marital status, broken homes (single parenthood, divorce, separated etc.) and socializing facilities available in the house.

Thus, the home is the basic institution for providing the child’s primary socialization and laying the educational foundation for the child upon which other agents of socialization are built. The education received by a child from parents at home is most likely to house highly significant and dominant effects on the behaviours of the child later in life. What the child learns at home and how his/her family motivates him/her towards education contributes to the child success of every individual. Furthermore, in students’ home background, some factors that influence their academic performance include: parental educational background, parental economic status, parental marital status, parental home location etc.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Researchers have observed a decline in the academic performance of Nigerian students in English Language examinations in recent times (Abiola, 2013; Oluwole, 2008). The poor performance has been linked to many factors, of which home variables is one (Adekola, 2012).

The researchers’ personal observations have revealed that, these days, parents do no longer pay attention to their ward(s) in terms of creating time to make sure they look into the academic activities of their wards at home, providing for them the basic school needs which has led Nigerian students across all strata of the educational structure, do less of reading and more of television watching, Internet browsing, and foreign football viewing.

Even when they read, the students usually accompany the act with listening to music through earpieces, thereby finding it difficult to concentrate on what is being read. Given the second language status of English in Nigeria and the deterioration in the Nigerian students’ performance levels in English language as a classroom subject, it is to be expected that students and all other stake-holders will devote more attention to a better grasp of the language. Against this background, the problem of this study is to investigate home variables and academic performance in English language among secondary school students in Obot Akara Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to examine home variable and students’ academic performance in English Language in Obot Akara Local Government Area; specifically this study intended to:

1. examine whether parental level of education influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools.
2. access whether the occupation of the parent influences students’ academic performance in English language in secondary schools.
3. find out whether family income influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools.
4. find out whether family type influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools

1.4 Significance of the Study

The finding of this study may be significant in the following ways:

1. It will be significant benefits to secondary school teachers in a sense that they will modify their teaching strategies to suit all categories of students irrespective of their home background.
2. The finding of the study will help parent in understanding their background as it affect their children academic performance in school.
3. It will also help educational planners and curriculum planners to design a curriculum that will make learning of social studies and other school subject interesting to students irrespective of their home background.
4. The study will provide useful information for guidance counselors for effective counseling of both parents and students as it highlight the effect of home variables on students’ academic performance in social studies.
5. The finding of this study will also provide bases for further studies on home variables and academic performance of students in secondary schools.

1.5 Research Questions

To guide this study, the following research questions were formulated.

1. To what extent does parental level of education influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools?
2. How does occupation of parents influence students’ academic performance in English Language?
3. Does family income influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary school?
4. Does family type influence students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary school?

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

1.6  Research Hypotheses 

The following research hypotheses were formulated;

1. i. there is no significant difference between parental level of education and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools.
2. there is no significant difference between parental occupation and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary schools.
3. there is no significant difference between family income and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary school.
4. there is no significant difference between family type and students’ academic performance in English Language in secondary school.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

In writing a research study like this, the researcher faced many problems in the course of works. One of these problems is the refusal of the students’ to respond positively to questions on personal interview and on questionnaire. There were also financial constraints on the part of the researcher, insufficient information on the subject matter as well as insufficient time. However, the researcher was able to cope with the above stated problems in carrying out the study.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

The study will be delimited to senior secondary school students in English language in Obot Akara Local Government Area. The study focused mainly on the influence of home variables such as parental level of education, occupation of the parent, and income influence students’ on academic performance in secondary schools in the study area.  

Home Variable and Students Academic Performance in English Language

1.8 Definition of Terms

The following terms will be used in the study as there are operationally defined.

Home Variables: There are home factors which in one or the other affects one’s life in the society and in any institution of learning.

Home: This refers to a driveling place used as a permanent or semi-permanent resident for an individual, family, or several families.

Variables: These refer to those elements, features or factors that are liable to very or change.

Parental Level of Education: It is the levels of education attend by any given parent, which can also influence the academic performance of the child.