Assessing Teaching Effectiveness of the English Grammar Teacher in Public Senior High Schools Within the Ejisu Municipality Using the Quality Teaching Model
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
This research assesses the effectiveness of English grammar teachers in four public Senior High Schools within the Ejisu Metropolis using the Quality Teaching Model. The study specifically looked at:
- The appropriateness of Senior High School English grammar teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis teaching in ensuring intellectual
- How Senior High School English grammar teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis establish quality learning environment for their
- How English grammar teachers in the Senior High Schools within the Ejisu Metropolis make grammar lessons significant to their
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
This section deals with review of related literature related to the topic under study. Theoretical review will be under the following headings; conceptions of teaching, relevance of teaching grammar, effective teaching and models of teaching; which will include direct teaching model, co- operative learning model, mastery learning model and the quality teaching model.
The Concept of Teaching
Teaching is a process of imparting knowledge, skills, and attitudes to peoples. It can be in a formal way or an informal way. Teaching involves various procedures through which teachers guide students through. Tamakloe, Amedahe and Atta (as cited in Sekyi Acquah, 2009) also explain teaching as an activity of imparting knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to learners. The teacher is the one who is charged with the duty of imparting knowledge to the students. The whole process of teaching involves creating a suitable environment which will favor learning and the teaching process.
All the definitions of teaching suggest that teaching is a complex process which encompasses various components. These are the teacher, students and the subject matter; which is the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that are being imparted. These components play very important roles as they interact continuously, making it possible for an effective teaching and learning process. These components in teaching are closely inter-related that each work hand-in-hand.
The Teaching and Learning Process
Teaching is a process which encompasses various stages and components. This process is carried out in a context where the principal agents are the subject matter, the teacher and the students. According to Tamakloe et al (as cited in Sekyi Acquah, 2009), these three components or focal points form a triadic relationship which has been depicted in figure 1.
The triadic relationship of teaching as opined by Tamakloe et al gives a pictorial representation of the various components in teaching and how each relates to bring about effective teaching and learning. At the top is the teacher, whose core business is teaching. The teacher must always be abreast with the subject matter he is teaching. This, Arends (1988) together with others points out as the baseline for an effective teaching. The subject matter is the knowledge and skills that is being imparted to the students. There is also the student, the final consumer in the teaching process. The student receives the knowledge and skills; subject matter, which the teacher is imparting.
As indicated by Tamakloe et al (as cited in Sekyi Acquah, 2009), “A mastery of the subject matter and its methodology instill confidence in the teacher and this reflects on the learner”. The teacher is thus supposed to be abreast with his subject matter. Arends (1988) emphatically states that the baseline for effective teaching is one who has mastery over the subject matter. He must have prior knowledge of what he is about to teach. This requires a vigorous and an extensive preparation towards teaching. When a teacher is adequately prepared and has mastery of the subject matter, he demonstrates confidence in teaching. This gives the learners some sort of trust in what the teacher is teaching and makes learning understandable. The teacher employs numerous teaching methodologies in the process of imparting the subject matter to students. Apart from the teacher being abreast with his content, he must employ various teaching methodologies to ensure that what he is teaching has been perfectly absorbed in by the learner.
The learner or student acquires knowledge after being taught. The learner is expected to exhibit a change in attitude after the teacher has taken him through the teaching and learning process. The only means that the teacher will know that the learner has acquired a change in attitude is through evaluation. The teacher organizes various evaluations to ascertain whether students have understood what they were taught. If student demonstrates low level of subject matter acquisition, teacher must then reconstruct the manner in which that subject matter was taught for better understanding to students.
Tamakloe et al (as cited in Sekyi Acquah, 2009), summarize the teaching and learning interaction thus: The teacher exerts some influence on the taught (learner) and the taught in turn exerts some influence on the teacher. So it is with the teacher and the discipline as well as the taught and the discipline. The influence that the teacher and the taught exert on the discipline may eventually lead to its transformation. The influence that the discipline exerts on the teacher and the taught may help to transform their behaviour or their total life-style; and so will the relationship between the teacher and the taught.
Effective Teaching
Teacher effectiveness is a concept, which is very broad and defies a clear-cut definition. This is because different researchers approach the subject from their own perspectives. For instance, Goe, Bell and Little (2008) posit that the evaluation of teachers in general can be approached from three different but related angles: measurements of inputs, processes and outputs.
Inputs, which are also known as “teacher quality”, are explained by Goe et al (2008) as what teachers bring to their positions, generally measured as teacher background, beliefs, expectations, experience, pedagogical content knowledge, certification and licensure, and educational attainment. The broad nature of the concept with its characteristic absence of a clear cut definition is likely to make a study related to it very difficult to conceptualize. Goe, et al (2008), however, are of the view that there is the need to clarify the way teacher effectiveness is defined for two main reasons:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the procedures by which data required for the study was collected and analyzed. It specifically takes a critical look at the research design, population, sample and sampling procedure, instrumentation, validity and reliability of the instrument(s), data collection procedure, and data analysis.
Research Design
The researchers intended to assess the teaching effectiveness of English teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis. It was a descriptive survey. According to Gay (1992), descriptive research is a research which specifies the nature of a given phenomena. It determines and reports the way things are without manipulating the data. This is exactly what this study did, hence the choice of the design.
The descriptive research design was chosen because it elicits a very good amount of responses from a wide range of people. It also aids to completely and accurately describe variables in a research work. Aside these few merits, there are some limitations of this design. One disadvantage of this design is that it may produce untrustworthy result. The researchers may develop into private matters that people may not be completely truthful about. Also, this design is easily influenced by distortions through the introduction of biases in the measuring of instruments. Errors within the questionnaires for instance might distort the research findings (Amadahe & Asamoah, 2003).
This research design was found most suitable for the current study largely because it aided the researchers to draw meaningful conclusion from the data obtained.
Population
The target population for the study comprised teachers in public senior high schools within the Ejisu metropolis in the Central Region of Nigeria. English teachers in four public S. H. S; specifically St. Augustine’s College, Holy Child School, Nigeria National College and Academy of Christ the King; all in the Ejisu metropolis formed the accessible population of the research. In sum, 45 English teachers were used.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter presents the data collected and its discussions. The first section deals with the presentation of data about the respondents. The second section presents results gathered from the respondents based on the questionnaires administered to assess the teaching effectiveness of the English Grammar teacher using the various dimensions of the Quality Teaching Model. The third section discusses the findings which emerged from the data.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter gives a summary of the study undertaken. It brings to the fore the conclusions drawn from the study and makes some recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
Summary
The main focus of the study was to assess teaching effectiveness of the English Grammar teacher in public Senior High Schools within the Ejisu Metropolis using the Quality Teaching Model. The researchers were mainly motivated by the general outcry of stakeholders of education concerning the fall in performance of students in the English Language.
The study sought to answer the following research questions:
- How appropriate do Senior High School English grammar teacherswithin the Ejisu Metropolis teach to produce deep understanding of important concepts?
- How do Senior High School English grammar teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis create supportive learning environments for students?
- How do English grammar teachers within the Ejisu Metropolismake learning meaningful and important to students?
Data were collected from 45 English Grammar teachers selected from four Senior High Schools in the Ejisu Metropolis. They consisted of 27 females and 18 males. Using the Likert scale, questionnaire which addressed elements within the QTM was administered to the teachers. Percentage values and frequencies were calculated. Similarly, means were computed and these were presented in a tabular form.
The researchers came to a conclusion that to a very large extent, English teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis appropriately teach to produce deep understanding of important concepts and ideas. To a very large extent, it was realized that English teachers create a supportive learning environment for their students. It was also realized that to a very large extent teachers make learning meaningful and important to their students.
Researchers conclude that to a very large extent, English Grammar teachers appropriately teach effectively when assessed using the Quality Teaching Model.
Conclusions
In view of the findings of this study, the researchers generally assert that teaching of English Grammar in Senior High Schools within the Ejisu Metropolis is very effective. Teachers enforce deep understanding of important concepts and also create a supportive learning environment for students’ learning. Similarly, teachers make learning very meaningful to their students.
In sum, it has been realized that the teaching practices of English Grammar teachers within the Ejisu Metropolis is very effective. The findings of this study thus resolve the original problem of finding out the effectiveness of the teaching of English within the Ejisu Metropolis.
Recommendations
The following recommendations have been made based upon the findings of the researchers:
- Teachers should be motivated in order to maintain a balance in the useof the three dimensions of the Quality Teaching Model; that is, intellectual quality, quality learning environment and
- Further research should use observation and interviews to investigatethe teaching effectiveness of English teachers.
- Future research should also conceal other aspects of teaching effectiveness such as teachers’ preparation and personal qualities.
- The Nigeria Education Service as well as the Curriculum Research Division should in the future try to organize in-service training for English teachers to maintain the quality of their teaching and
REFERENCES
- Amedahe, E. K., & Asamoah, G. (2003). Notes and Educational Research.Unpublished: Ejisu.
- Anderson, L. W. (2004). Increasing teacher effectiveness (2nd ed.). Paris: UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning.
- Arends, R. I., (2001). Learning to teach (5th ed.).Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. Arends, R. I., (1988). Learning to teach. U.S.A: McGraw Hill.
- Ayers, P., Dinham, S. & Sawyer, W. (2004). Effective Teaching in the Context of a Grade 12 High Stakes External Examination in New South Wales, Australia. British Educational Research Journal. 30(1) 147- 165.
- Biggs and Collis, (1982) Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.
- Brooks and Brooks (1999), “The Courage to be constructivist Educational Leadership”. 57(3), 18-24.
- Campbell, R. J, Kyriakide, L., Muijs, R. D. & Robinson, W. (2005). The Evidence of Differentiated Teachers Effectiveness: A Review. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 16(1), 51-70. Retrieved November 5, 2013, from
