According
to Dadzie, (2004) in Nigeria,
English Language started with the arrival of the Portuguese in Benin Kingdom
(in the early 15th century). The origin of the use of English dates
back to the early 19th century when freed slaves have received a
degree of formal education abroad. Although, this language was imported into Nigeria
alongside colonialism and commerce, its importance cannot be over-emphasized
looking at the ethnic and lingua diversity of Nigeria. Okputu (1989) viewed that
there is the potential importance of school shaping and strengthening the
course. In line with what Okputu has said English language in modern education
in the world has been considered as a vital and veritable instrument for achievement
of individual security and personal social well being and development.
According to Kehinde (2006:205), the essay is a “vehicle
for expressing a person’s inner thought and deeply felt emotions and all
educated people are expected to be able to do this. Human beings have used
essays for generations to express their views about a subject or to state their
side of a story. As you are expected to be able to do likewise, your essay is
expected to be concise without losing facts, detailed without being boring and
appealing without being unserious”.
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (9th
edition) views an essay as a piece of writing usually telling a story,
describing a person, place or thing, explaining a situation, an action or
occurrence and also intending to convince either in reading or listening
audience. Okonkwo (2009), sees essay-writing as a fundamental skill of art. It
is a skill which demands that students should organize their thoughts clearly
and effectively. Essay-writing constitutes an aspect of the English Language
called composition. It is an aspect of writing that has its own peculiarity and
distinctly, its own techniques. Essay-writing as a part of English language
plays a meaningful role in equipping the students and enabling them to have a
good grasp of information about happenings in their daily existence.
According to a famous English essayist Aldous Huxley in
his quote defines essay as, “as a literary device for saying almost everything about
almost anything”. In a similar vein, Ako (2005) contends that an essay is a
piece of writing or a short and vivid story. He further said that essay-writing
in English language is of immense help to students as it;
a. Affords them the opportunity of creative imaginations and
re-awaking of past imagination.
b. Equips them with the opportunity and knowledge of
expressing oneself.
c. Helps students to have high memory capability and reduce
forgetting.
d. Enables students to be able to pin point main idea and
discover clumsiness and rigmarolling.
According to
Otagburuagu (2002) The ability to write is an asset as the student is able to
keep good records not only of his private readings but also of lectures
received. He is able to produce readable, enjoyable and standard texts during
examinations, continuous or progress tests and other class exercises in the
English class and in his specialist subjects. The benefit of good essay writing
is not confined to class or discipline related texts alone but extents to
letter essay-writing and non-fiction writing as well.
Ajao (2001)
stated that quality of education does not only depend on teachers as reflected
in the performance of their duties but also in the effective coordination of
the school environment. When students do not perform satisfactorily in
examination in any subject or fail to gain enough places in higher institution,
their parents are worried. Success means acceptance and affection and breed
hopes for future. While, failure, cannot blame, loss of hope and confidence
cannot be rejected. Students essay skills are most enhanced if students are
exposed to writing or essay writing competition at their early stage, which
begins right at home where they are motivated by others; that is parents, older
siblings, aunts and uncles to write, sing and tell stories to the child. The
question is, can we really see many of such homes in the society today? Our experiences
lead us to understand that there is a literacy violence confronting many homes.
This includes poor socio-economic status which makes it difficult for parents
to take good care of their children.
Odejide (2001)
opined that poor socio-economic status of parents account for their inability
to read or encourage reading. We can understand from the above that it is
impossible for someone who cannot read to write. While the literate parents in
the higher strata of the society cannot afford to spend quality time with their
children because of materialistic pursuit. Thus, while the home has been
identified in the society to play the major role in learning to write. Schins-Mchleidt,
(1990) observed that the school seems to be tasked with that responsibility in Nigeria. In
this study, the factors of interest are:
v Students lack of interest in writing.
v The teacher’s subject mastery and lack of adequate
learning environment.
According to
Hsui, (2000). Talking to and reading to a child will have a big effect on how
well the child is able to communicate later. Children who are seldom spoken to
or read to usually learn to talk and write later than other children of their
age. At the infant age, they can be taught writing using matching item, rhyming
words, letter writing skills, direction, motor skills and concepts of prints. It
is generally accepted that teachers constitutes the pivot of any school system.
This is because the success of any system of education depends to a large extent
on the number of teachers; their quality, and their devotion to duty and their
effectiveness on the job.
According to
Mkpa, (1987), “Trained teachers are: someone who went through and completed, in
a formal teacher training institution, a planned programme of training, among
other areas in the principles and practice of education, and was exposed to an
observed period of internship either
after or part of the period of training”. This implies that: competent teacher
must possess knowledge and method that could bring about change, he must
possess the willingness and ability to change human behaviour. This ability
will consist of the knowledge, skills, techniques, attitude and methods, which
the teachers acquires, in one way or the other through training. Another
serious mark of a competent teacher is certification and acceptability in terms
of age and other human consideration to the body officially charged with the
responsibility of looking into the art of teaching in all official, formal and
non-formal settings in the country. As a result of training and proper
pre-service exposure to the theories, principles and practice of education, the
subject specialist is confident and some of his classroom practices.
Several
researches have been carried out on the problem areas of teaching and learning
of English language in Ohaukwu Local Government Area, these researchers
designed out so many problems; pointed the weakness and proffered several
solutions. This work however, shifted from the existing tradition by taking a
proper look at essay writing and the problems students encounter in it. That
is, problems of essay-writing among senior secondary school students in Ohaukwu
Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
Eguridu
(2015), Maintained that out of 1593442 candidates who sat for the May/June 2015
West African senior secondary school certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria, it was
only 38.68% that obtained credits in five subjects and above including English
language. According to him, the major poor performance in English language was
in the aspect of essay-writing.
The report
above indicates, that there has been an increasingly poor performance of
students in English language over the years. The West African Examination Council
(WAEC) has attributed the poor performance of students in (WASSCE) especially
in English Language and other external examinations in the country, to shallow
knowledge of the subject matter, disregard for rubrics and incorrect
interpretation of questions.
The general
aim of this study is to investigate the problems of essay- writing among Senior
Secondary School Students in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
This study is specifically to find out:
i. The problems students’ of senior secondary school
encounter in essay writing.
ii. How teacher qualification affects students’ performance in
essay-writing.
iii. How the problem of poor essay-writing by students can be
solved.
Findings of
this study will point out the problems of essay-writing among Senior Secondary School
Students will be both theoretically and practically important to teachers
especially to the English language teachers that are interested in passing
quality knowledge to the learning population.
It will also
be of great significance to the school administration, school inspectors and
the ministry of education in the country. Theoretically, it will help to
contribute to the existing knowledge of students’ performance in essay-writing
in our secondary schools. The findings will help the ministry of education to
realize the fact that the provisions of adequate and qualified English language
teachers are a pre-requisite or pre-condition
for students’ good performance in the subject. Again, the findings will also
help English language teachers to constantly re-appraise their teaching
methods, make the subject livelier so as to encourage and stimulate students’ interest
in the subject. Practically, the findings of this study will serve as a source
of information to the WACE, GCE and NECO officers to find solution to students’
poor performance in school certificate in English Language.
The study
focuses mainly on the problems of essay writing among senior Secondary School Students
in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. In order to make the study a
success, it has been limited to the teachers and Students in Senior Secondary School
in Ohaukwu Local Government Area.
The study
will be guided by the following research questions:
i.
What problems do students
of senior secondary school encounter in essay writing?
ii.
How does teacher
qualification affects students’ performance in essay writing?
iii. How can the problem of poor essay-writing by senior
secondary students be solved?
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