Influence of Family Factors on Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in English Language: A Case Study of Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The general objective of this study is to examine the influence of family factors on academic achievement of secondary school students in English language.
Other objectives include;
- To determine the effect of parents’ educational status on students’ academic achievement in English language.
- To determine the influence of family size on the performance of student
- To find the relationship between parental attitude and students’ academic achievement in English language
- To determine the effect of family income on students performance in English language.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reviews the literature on influence of family factors on academic achievement of secondary school students in English Language. It discusses issues arising from the topic of interest as viewed from different perspectives, with a view of giving a theoretical and empirical foundation to the study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Graetz (1995) conducted a study on study on socio- economic status of the parents of students and concluded that the socio economic background has a great impact on student’s academic achievement. Pedrosa et. al (2006) in their study on social and educational background pointed out those students who mostly come from deprived socio-economic and educational background performed relatively better than others coming from higher social-economic and educational area. Eamon (2005) “Those students usually come out from low socio-economic status or area show low performance in studies and obtained low scores as compared to the other students or their counter parts
HOME ENVIRONMENT FACTORS INFLUENCING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
The family is the primary social system for children. Rollins and Thomas (1979) found that high parental control were associated with high achievement. Cassidy and Lynn (1991) included a specific factor of the family’s socioeconomic status, crowding, as an indicator of how being disadvantaged affects educational attainment. They found that a less physically crowded environment, along with motivation and parental support, were associated with higher educational levels of children. Religiosity as an aspect of the family environment is another independent variable possibly influencing academic achievement (Bahr, Hawks, & Wang, 1993). According to Hammer (2003) the home environment is as important as what goes on in the school. Important factors include parental involvement in their children’s education, how much parents read to young children, how much TV children are allowed to watch and how often students change schools. Achievement gab is not only about what goes on once students get into the classroom. It’s also about what happens to them before and after school. Parents and teachers have a crucial role to play to make sure that every child becomes a high achiever. Parental influence has been identified as an important factor affecting student achievement. Results indicate that parent education and encouragement are strongly related to improved student achievement (Odhiambo, 2005). Phillips (1998) also found that parental education and social economic status have an impact on student achievement. Students with parents who were both college-educated tended to achieve at the highest levels. Income and family size were modestly related to achievement. Peng and Wright‟s (1994) analysis of academic achievement, home environment (including family income) and educational activities concluded that home environment and educational activities explained the greatest amount of variance. In conclusion denying the role of the impact of a student’s home circumstances will not help to endow teachers and schools with the capacity to reduce achievement gaps (Hammer, 2003). Allen and Kickbusch (1992), cited in WEAC, (2005), found that the higher-achieving students plan to continue their education after graduation from high school, participate extensively in extracurricular activities, have a few absences each school year, more likely to engage in recreational reading and to check books out of the school or public library on a regular basis, watch less television, spend more time each evening doing their home-work, have friend who have positive attitudes toward school and who rarely cut classes or skip school, have positive feelings about their teachers and about specific courses they take and attribute success in school to hard work rather than ability. This study attempted to reveal the relationship between motivation, family environment, student characteristics and academic achievement.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to a critical analysis of influence of family factors on academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English Language.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information a critical analysis of the influence of family factors on academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English language. 200 students of 10 selected secondary schools in yakurr local government area of cross river state of were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain a critical analysis of the influence of family factors on academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English language
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations are made, which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefit in addressing the challenges of poor academic achievement in English Language by secondary school students in English language.
Summary
This study aimed at having a critical analysis of the influence of family factors on academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students. Four objectives were raised. These objectives include: To determine the effect of parents’ educational status on students’ academic achievement in English Language, to determine the influence of family size on the performance of student, to find the relationship between parental attitude and students’ academic achievement in English Language, to determine the effect of family income on students performance
Conclusion
Based on the above findings pertaining to the objectives of the study the following conclusions are drawn.
Family characteristics like socio economic status (SES) are significant predictors for students’ performance at school besides the other school factors, peer factors and student factors. Higher SES levels lead to higher performance of students in studies, and vice versa (Hanes, 2008). Parental education also has effects on students’ academic achievement in English Language. Parental occupation has little effect on their child’s performance in studies than their education. The outcome of the analysis shows that, parents’ socio-economic status has a significant influence on the academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English Language; parents’ educational status significantly influences the academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English Language; family size has a significant influence on academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English Language and lastly, parental attitude significantly influences academic achievement in English Language of secondary school students in English Language.
Recommendation
Parents should create conducive atmosphere in the home that will allow for free interaction between them and their children, so as to detect errors from their children’s responses. Finally, students’ academic records should be made available to their parents so that they will be equipped with the necessary information about their children’s progress in school.
REFERENCES
- Amber, A., & Saucier, J. (1984). Adolescents’ academic success and aspirations by parental marital status. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 27(1), 62-71.
- American Council on Education. (1990). Minorities in higher education: Ninth annual report 1990. Washington, DC: American Council on Education, Office of Minorities in Higher Education (formerly Office of Minority Concerns).
- Astone, N. M., & McLanahan, S. S. (1991). Family structure, parental practices and high school completion. American Sociological Review, 56, 309-320.
- Bank, B. J., Slavings, R. L, & Biddle, B. J. (1990). Effects of peer, faculty, and parental influences on student’s persistence. Sociology of Education, 63, 208- 225.
- Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182.
