ABSTRACT
The
study examined the assessment of stress as a factor affecting mass failure of
students on Oral English Language at Senior
Secondary School level in
Mushin local
government area of Lagos
State. In this study,
some relevant and related literature were reviewed under sub-headings.
The descriptive research survey design
was used in this study in order to assess the opinions of the respondents. the
questionnaire was used to collect necessary information from the selected
respondents, while the subjects for this study were sampled through the
adoption of the stratified sampling technique.
A total of 100 (one hundred) respondents were used for
this study. They are made of 20 (twenty) teachers and (eighty) 80 students who
were randomly selected to represent the population of this study.
The following research questions were
raised to guide the study:
1.
What are the likely causes of stress on Oral English teacher
in the secondary schools?
2.
To what extent does teachers’ methodology affect the failure
of students in Oral English?
3.
What is the difference between the academic performance of
students in Oral English who were taught by experienced teachers and those
taught by non-experienced teachers?
4.
Does stress affect teachers work performance in the schools?
5.
How can unconducive environment cause mass failure of
students’ in Oral English?
The results obtained
from the questionnaire were analyzed to see if they answer the research
questions raised in this study. The data collected were analysed with simple
percentage frequency counts.
The results that emerged at the end of
the analysis of research questions showed that:
1)
The likely causes of stress among teachers are: Taken their
unfinished works to finish at home; having ill feeling or depression about the
teaching profession, work overload, sadness about delayed salaries etc.
2)
It was equally found that stress affect teachers’
methodology, which in turn affects the failure or success rate of students in
Oral English.
3)
The findings also revealed that students who were taught by
well experienced teachers in Oral English differ in their academic performances
from those taught by non experienced ones in Oral English.
4)
It was equally found that stress affects teachers work
performances in the school.
5)
Finally, the result obtained at the end of the analysis
showed that unconducive environment does not favour success in academic careers
of students; as it does not favour teaching and learning process in schools.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Abstract v
Table of contents vii
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION 1
1.0 Background to the Study 1
1.1
Statement of the Problem 6
1.2
Purpose of the Study 8
1.3
Research Questions 9
1.4
Significance of the Study 9
1.5
The Scope and Limitations of the Study 11
1.6
Definition of Terms 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 13
2.0 Introduction 13
2.1 Concept of Stress 13
2.2
Signs and Symptoms of Stress 14
2.3
Causes of Stress 15
2.4
Nature of Stress 20
2.5
How is Teaching Done in Class 23
2.6
Who Teaches What in School 26
2.7
Socio-economic Background of Students and Their Performance
in Oral English 27
2.8
Students’ Attitude Towards the Learning of Oral English 30
2.9
Teachers’ Effectiveness in Relation to Classroom Situation 31
2.10 The Quality and
Quantity of Teaching in Oral English 32
2.11 Material Resources
Available in Teaching of Oral English 36
2.12 The Effect of
Teachers’ Stress on Students’ Performance in
Oral English 38
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 41
0.0
Introduction 41
0.1
Research Design 41
0.2
Research Area 42
0.3
Population of the Study 42
0.4
Sample and Sampling Procedure/Technique 43
0.5
Instrumentation 43
0.6
Procedure for Data Collection 44
0.7
Data Preparation 44
0.8
Data Scoring 43
0.9
Procedure for Data Analysis 43
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 46
4.1
Introduction 46
4.2
Analysis of Teachers’ Bio-Data 47
4.3
Analysis of Data Collected from Teachers 50
4.4
Analysis of Students Bio-Data 60
4.5
Analysis of Data Collected from Students 62
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION
AND SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER
STUDIES 72
5.1
Introduction 72
5.2
Summary of the Study 72
5.3
Conclusion 74
5.4
Recommendation 75
5.5
Suggestions for Further Studies 77
References 78
Appendices
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background to the Study
The
issue of stress among teachers has become an issue of serious concern in
Teacher Education Worldwide. Its implication on the quality of education
particularly on Oral English and consequently on national development are
obvious and crucial.
A report of the Educational Services
Advisory Committee of the Health and Safety Commission U.K. (1990) informs that
about 105 of the workforce experience occupational stress. Cooper (1994)
submits that teaching is among the stressful occupations.
The issue of stress in teaching and its
implications has been a major concern and focus on enquiry for teachers,
teachers’ unions and other professional associations (Rees, 1989). Stress is a
major behaviooural psychological link to illness, Strausser (2000), Johnny
(2001) stress can lead to frustration, discomfort and ineffective performance.
Wynne et al (1991) Johnstone (1993)
from their respective researchers on occupational stress have reported that
teaching is a stressful job. This situation is observed by the researcher that
it must have had a great effect on the Oral English among some secondary school
students and mostly likely influence the poor performance of students in the
final year West African Examination Certificate (WASC) as recorded over the
years.
Also it is
observed that the quality of the English spoken by most secondary school
students is perceived by some good speakers of English to have been
deteriorating over a long period. Such was the complaint of speaker after
speaker at a conference on English Language studies in Higher Education held at
Kano in
September 1984. There were also reported cases of mass failure in Oral English.
Although, there are various factors
that could also impede the teaching and learning of Oral English, which could
in turn, lead to mass failure. These include: environmental factor, such as the
non-availability of teaching and instructional materials, physical factor such
as unconducive classroom for learning, psychological factor such as lack of
interest on the learning of Oral English by the learners etc.
Teachers stress seems to be the most
significant factor that could affect teaching and learning of Oral English
which can result in mass failure in Oral English Language at the Senior Secondary
School level. It is therefore, as a result of
this that researcher decided to carry out this study to survey and observe how
can teachers stress influence the performance of senior secondary school
students on Oral English with efforts to see how this occurs, so as to offer
suggestions on how it could be controlled.
The
rate and degree of failure in Oral English by the secondary school students at
the external examinations, especially West African School Certificate
Examination, seems to be a problem of national concern. Therefore, there has
recently been formed a consensus for national conference at the University of
Ibadan, Nigeria, to look into the causes of mass failure of students in public
examinations especially in Oral English. Some researchers such as Ifeanyi et
al, (1990) attributed to the mass failure of laziness and lack of seriousness
on the parents who exhibit non-challant attitude on the educational career of
their children especially, on their spoken English. For example, some parents
discouraged their children by keeping them away from attending debate or any
speech competition especially if such children are not participants, or key
actors. To be a good speaker of English, one needs to watch and listen to good
speakers of English language and practice what is learnt constantly, because,
practice makes perfect. Again, some literate parents do not complement the
efforts of the teachers for not correcting and teaching their children on Oral
English at home, even, some use the Pidgin English to communicate with their
children.
A good number of the researchers blame
it on the teachers or lack of devotion and effectiveness towards their jobs.
Yet, other blame the government for its failure to provide adequate and
suitable environment for teaching and learning in the school. For this school
of thought, government should be blamed for the inadequacies and
ineffectiveness in the teaching and learning of Oral English. According to
them, the government has failed to provide an environment that makes teaching
and learning friendly, teachers are not paid their salaries and that
commensurate with their jobs, their conditions of service is nothing to write
home about. Majority of our teachers who specialize in Oral English do not
teach with aids, language laboratories and current text books on Oral English.
Many English teachers are not specialized in Oral English and lack the skills
involved in it, but simply because they teach English, they are expected to
teach Oral English.
The above factors made the teachers to
teach students with great amount of stress.
What
is stress?
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary,
defines stress as continuous feelings of worry about work or personal life.
Syle (1996) defined stress as a response to a challenging demand of event.
According to Syle (1996), the circumstances that placed physical or
psychological demands on an individual could be quite stressful, but in spite
of this, throughout the life span of an individual, stress is an inevitable
accomplishment and influence on human existence. The emotional and behaviour
patterns that indicate the presence of stress include:
(a)
Feeling of tension, apprehension and fear
(b)
Reactions that show that one is worried by a particular
incidence and
(c)
Physiological and behaviour changes that is associated with
anxiety.
Quick and Quick (1986) consider the
topic of stress in the teaching profession as being very important because of
the health problems and subsequent reduction in the effectiveness in work
performance that would likely result from it. Such health problems according to
Cooper (1996) can take the form of headaches, insomnia, nervous tension and
eventually breakdown of the nervous system, fatigue and many other health
hazards, poor job satisfaction, lowered self esteem and absenteeism which in
turn lead to poor performance in teaching of Oral English.
Stress in the teaching profession has
been found to be a major cause of teacher burn out, a term used by Enever
(1988), to describe an individual’s condition of physical and emotional
exhaustion resulting from excessive demands on personal resources.
Environmental or work stressors have
been examined in various ways in terms of their qualitative and quantitative
elasticity as perceived by an individual. When teachers of Oral English
Language are faced with stress, it could lead to:
1)
the inability to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and
behaviours which could enhance the success of the students in Oral English.
2)
poor preparation of lessons which in turn would result in an
ineffective learning.
3)
restriction only to teaching from textbooks which in most
cases may contain obsolete information and wrong knowledge which the West
African School Certificate Examination’s board do not assess. English language
students under such teachers have a great deal of disadvantages in passing
their examination and a great deal of problems communicating effectively in the
society where they live (Ajayi, 1995).
4)
the possibility of teaching what they are not supposed to
teach and leaving taught what they are supposed to teach, while a good number
of them skip certain areas of the syllabus that they found difficult and time
consuming Onwuchekwa (1996).
Therefore, what the Oral English
Language teachers teach in such situation is only part of what they are
supposed to teach in the given subject. It is difficult to guarantee that the
secondary school students in Nigeria
are actually learning what they are supposed to learn in Oral English.
One can make an endless list of the
inadequacies that can result from stress on the secondary school English
teachers. According to Olupade (1996), at this period of rapid changes in the
educational structures with attendant psychological problems, coupled with the
high standard of works performance expected of teachers, who are themselves
faced with the biting effect of inflation in a depressed economy, the teachers
are in need of counseling to be able to cope effectively with the stressful
situations.
1.1 Statement
of the Problem
There is no doubt that English Language
is the official language used in Nigeria both in schools and outside
of it. It is therefore imperative that students master the subject very well,
and speak it clearly and meaningfully. The essence of good speech is to enable
them to get along in their daily activities in life e.g. buying and selling,
interviews, interactions in the bank, hospitals, parties, shopping centres etc.
It also helps self preservation, respect, political relationship with the
appropriate use of language in different situations. Good speech with
appropriate pronunciation, commands respect and makes any symposium lively,
while poor speech results into boring communication which is very common among
students today.
Lack of correct and good pronunciation
by the students has been observed by the researcher to have led to shyness in
public. Some students have chosen to withdraw or keep sealed lips during a
discussion both within and outside the school for fear that their colleagues
might laugh at their pronunciations. This shows the level of their exposure to
learning of Oral English. Therefore, it will be a wrong assumption that the
students are being taught by the right type of people under the appropriate
condition and environment (Achuzie, 1988).
Onwucheka (1996) states the following
categories of teachers that can be found in the nation’s secondary schools: The
Grade II, the (NCE) Nigeria Certificate in Education, (OND) Ordinary National
Diploma, (HND) The Higher National Diploma, the graduates without teaching
qualification. There are also the NCE, the OND/HND and the graduate with
teaching qualifications.
In many states, the N.C.E. teachers are
over stretched. They are only trained to teach at the junior levels of the
secondary schools, but one finds that they now teach up to the senior secondary
schools. Some of them are Heads of English Departments in our secondary schools
in some states. This development has watered down the standard of learning Oral
English in our secondary schools, as such, teachers lack the ability to cope
with the skills that are inherent in English Language, especially in Oral
English. Due to the fact that they do not have the wherewithal to teach Oral
English effectively, coupled with the poor environment in which learning takes
place and the poor conditions of service, these poorly trained and trained and
inexperienced teachers teach Oral English with stress, in a manner that
students can hardly learn effectively. This has caused dismal performance of
students in Oral English in public examinations like West African School
Certificate and General Certificate Examinations respectively (WASC) (GCE).
Also, the categories of teachers that
are classified to possess teaching qualification are overstressed with other
activities in school such as assigning them to teach other subjects that are
irrelevant to their discipline, etc.
It is on this assertion that this study
seeks to examine various things that lead to teachers stress and the effect on
the students’ performance in Oral English at S.S. level in some selected
schools in Mushin L.G.A. of Lagos
State.
1.2
Purpose of the Study
The
purpose of this study includes:
i)
To evaluate teachers’ role in the mass failure of students
in Oral English in some selected secondary schools.
ii)
To find out likely causes of stress in the teacher and
whether it affects teachers’ work performance.
iii)
To find out whether there is difference in the academic
performance of students who are taught under a conducive environment and those
taught under an un-conducive environment.
iv)
To find out whether there is any possible solutions to the
problems of mass failure in Oral English by students.
1.3
Research Questions
1.
What are the likely causes of stress on Oral English teacher
in the secondary schools?
2.
To what extent does teachers’ methodology affect the failure
of students in Oral English?
3.
What is the difference between the academic performance of
students in Oral English who were taught by experienced teachers and those
taught by non-experienced teachers?
4.
Does stress affect teachers work performance in the schools?
5.
How can unconducive environment cause mass failure of
students’ in Oral English?
1.4
Significance of the
Study
This
study will be beneficial to the school as it will change their bad attitude and
approach towards school organization. The school will have more in depth
understanding into the importance of given full support to the teachers towards
effective performance, by making provision for instructional materials and
teaching aids such as tape recorder, charts, videotapes, languages laboratory,
library etc to facilitate the teaching and learning of Oral English, and
thereby reduce teachers stress.
Teachers of Oral English will also
benefit from this study, as it will enable them to have greater insight in the
appropriate methods devoid of stress in delivering Oral English lessons to
students, and thereby, overcome the problems identified and enumerated.
Students will also benefit from the
findings, as they will have a great insight into the causes of mass failure
both internal and external examinations in our country especially at West
Africa Examination Council (WASC), General Certificate of Education (GCE),
Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), etc., so as to work harder and
reduce the mass failure which is repeatedly recorded yearly in our public
examinations. It will enable them to improve on their weak foundations as they
are exposed to co-curricular activities such as symposia, talks, impromptu
speeches, debates etc.
The external examination bodies such as
WAEC, NECO, GCE, etc will also benefit as it will enable them to have an
insight and understanding to how, and why students fail mostly the public or
externally organized examinations in Oral English, so as to ensure that
questions set are relevant to what the syllabus stated.
The society too will benefit, because
the society is one of the stakeholders in our educational system. The society
should therefore not be kept in the dark concerning the welfare of the
students. They will be able to make more useful suggestions and
recommendations.
1.5
The Scope and
Limitations of the Study
The
scope of this study covers the evaluation of teachers’ stress as one of the
major factors contributing to the mass failure of students in Oral English
language.
Due to the limited time available for
the research work and limited financial resources, the study is restricted to
some selected secondary schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State.
1.6
Definitions of Terms
Operational
definitions of terms:
Assessment: This is an act of
expressing one’s opinion on the worth of somebody or situation.
Stress: This is the outcome
of force or pressure caused by difficulties or various problems in life.
Influential: Power to contribute
to one’s change in behaviour either positive or negative change.
Multilingual: Ability to
understand and speak fluently two or more official languages.
Grounded: Act of being well
rooted.
Commensurate: Act of measuring by
the same standard.
Commentators: Researchers.
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