Gender Differentials and Academic Performance in English Language
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
The main purpose of this study is to assess the academic achievement of senior secondary schools students in English Language and find out whether gender difference in English language performance exist among senior secondary school students in Edo state.
Specifically the objectives of this study are;
- To assess the overall academic achievement of students in English Language
- To find out whether gender difference exist in the students‟ achievement in English
- To determine whether School location influence gender difference in English achievement
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
OVERVIEW
This chapter tries to bring out other researches done that are similar to my research problem. The chapter is sub divided into three sections these include; academic performance of boys and girls: differences between boys and girls, factors that lead to academic performance in boys and girls.
Academic Performance
In educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance, or how well a student meets standards set out by local government and the institution itself. Academic performance according to the Cambridge Dictionary of English (1995) refers to how well a school, college, university, an individual or a group is able to perform when given a learning task, activity or one’s achievement in standardized tests in academic pursuit. Academic performance refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teacher. Academic performance is related to content and intellect, meaning that academic performance depends on the learner’s competence. Cary, Roseth, David and Roger (2008) define academic achievement/success as: Performance on task with measures including comprehension, quality and accuracy of answers of tests, quality and accuracy of problem solving, frequency and quantity of desired outcome, time or rate to solution, time on task, level reasoning and critical thinking, creativity, recall and retention, and transfer of tasks. (p. 29).
Academic achievement refers to a successful accomplishment or performance in a particular subject area and is indicated by grades, marks and scores of descriptive commentaries. Academic performance also refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers in a fixed time or academic year (Dimbisso, 2009). (Ferla, Martin and Yonghong 2009) use the notion of academic self-concept referring to individuals’ knowledge and perceptions about themselves in academic achievements, and convictions that they can successfully perform a given academic tasks at designated levels.
They further stated that academic self-concept represents a more past-oriented, aggregated and relatively stable judgment about one’s self-perceived ability in a particular academic domain; while academic self-efficacy represents a context specific and relatively future oriented judgment about one’s confidence for successfully performing an upcoming subject-specific academic task. Good (1973) as cited in Dimbisso (2009) stated that achievement encompasses actual accomplishment of the students‟ of potential ability. Kobaland and Musek (2001, p. 9) stated that: there are two broad groups of definitions of academic achievement.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The study was a survey design in order to describe the performance of male and female students in English. A cross section design was used a use information was collected from different groups of people. The research study was mainly quantitative but also supplemented with quantitative data.
Study area
Egor is a City of Edo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Uselu. It has an area of 93 km² and a population of 339,899 at the 2006 census.Edo State is a state in Nigeria. It’s capital Benin City. The 2014 estimated population of the Edo state is 5 million people. It is made up of 4 major ethnic groups; namely the Edo’s In Benin, Esan, Owan, and Etsako. However the State has a high presence of residents from across the country and the world because of its cosmopolitan tendencies. Benin City the capital has a history of being one of the foremost destinations of Europeans during their exploration of the African continent many centuries ago. Some of the flash points have remained tourists attractions for the state.
Sources of data
This data employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data involved the use of self structured questionnaires randomly distributed to the targeted respondents in the study area. Secondary sources of data involved the use of study materials such as books, ebooks, journals, repositories, and the use of the school library.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results
Research Questions 1: How well did secondary school students perform in English language achievement Test?
Table 1 above presents the mean students‟ academic achievement as measured by their performance in the English language achievement test. The result revealed the mean performance to be 48.46 out of a total score of 100. This is barely about 48.46%, and is a little less than 50% which means the performance of the students in English language was below average. Generally the overall student achievement in English can be considered to be average.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
From the findings of this study, the academic achievement of students in English fell below average, and gender difference in English language achievement exist. Similarly academic achievement of females is higher than that of males with respect to location of school (urban and rural). Negative attitudes and behaviours of the teachers, time wasting activities by female students, boys have more reading hours than girls, inadequate facilities lack of satisfaction and motivation among the teachers’ irregular attendance low levels of persistence inferiority complexes among female students.
It should be noted that no single factor could independently explain the factors that underlying to observed gender differences in performance but a host of variables interplay to bring out a true picture of gender differences in performance. However most factors put the blame on the girls’ inadequacies as compared to the boys.
Recommendation
Basing on the discussions and conclusions made, the following recommendations are made:
- Further training in gender sensitive techniques through workshops should be given to teachers to transform the negative attitudes and behaviors towards girls in classrooms. Workshops should also involve parents on how they can get involved in their daughters education
- Female students should be sensitized on how to manage time while at school, and this is done to eliminate wastage of time.
- Government may come in to help schools by providing them with desks, chairs water lights and books which facilitate learning and teaching in schools.
- Schools administrators’ should improve teachers working conditions by, increasing their numeration and fringe benefits to motivate them for work. They can also be made aware of impact of their actions on girl’s child education.
- Female students should be empowered through counseling and guidance to improve their esteem, persistence levels reading habits and school participation.
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