EFFECT OF PEER TUTORING ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN READING COMPREHENSION IN OREDO EDUCATION ZONE OF EDO STATE NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

The study was designed to investigate the effect of peer Tutoring on students’ achievement and interest in Reading comprehension. Six research questions and six   hypotheses   guided   the   study.   A   quasi-experimental   design   was   used specifically, the non radonmnised control group design, involving four intact classes.   The sample for the study consisted of 200 SSII students from four co- educational secondary schools in Oredo Education zone. A purposive sampling technique  was  used,  first to draw four  co-educational  schools and  two  intact classes from each school, and to assign school to experimental (PTS) and control groups (LM). Two instruments, namely the English reading comprehension Achievement Test (ERCAT) and the English reading comprehension interest inventory (ERCII) were developed and validated. The internal consistency of ERCAT was computed and found to be 0.91 using Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation co-efficient while that of ERCII was 0.87 using cronbach Alpha. The research questions were answered using mean scores, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The result  indicated  that  PTS  had  significant  effect  on  students’  achievement  and interest in reading comprehension but gender did not significantly influence students’  achievement  and  interest  in reading  comprehension.  The  result also revealed that there was no significant interaction effect of instructional method and  gender  on  students’  achievement  and  interest  in  reading  comprehension Based  on  the  findings,  it  was  concluded  that    the  study  provided  empirical evidence of the efficacy of PTS in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in reading comprehension . It was therefore, recommended among others that government and other professional bodies should organize workshops, sem

and conferences to educate and sensitize the serving teachers on the use of in teaching reading comprehension.

Background to the Study

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

English language is considered as an essential pre-requisite  to move  education forward in Nigeria as it is the medium of communication and instruction in schools. In commerce  as  well,  English  language  plays  a  remarkable  role  as   it  is  the  most acknowledged  language  for  business.  The  unending  role  that  it  plays  in  the  world especially in a multi-cultural  nation like Nigeria cannot be  over-stressed.  This is due solely to the fact that it is the only unifying language that helps to ameliorate the barrier that  hinders  the  effective  communication  created  by  divergent  languages  existing  in Nigeria. As a result, increasing quest for its study and understanding cannot be wished away in countries that use it as a means of communication. It is necessary to be studied because one needs it for empowerment, accomplishing success in business, science and even in the media world because according to Adim (2011), the priority in the world is the capability to market one’s skills globally not just being skillful in a field. This cannot be dully achieved  without a good  knowledge  of the English  language.  As well, the knowledge of English language helps in understanding other school subjects since it is used to teach other subjects. The growing need for English language in nation building has led to finding out ways of improving its study.

The objective of teaching English as stated in the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) is to give the students permanent literacy and the ability to  communicate effectively.  Also,  NERDC  (2007)  states that the senior  secondary  English Language curriculum is designed to equip the students with an adequate range of words, sentences and sentence  types to enable them communicate  effectively in school and outside it, listen effectively to any speech or lecture as well as speak fluently and intelligently. It is also designed to ensure that students can read materials of varying lengths and difficulty effectively, and write logically with grammatically correct sentences.

Realizing   the   importance   of  English   language   for   enhancing   educational

attainment as well as for improving communicative  competence and the ability of the

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citizens, it requires the knowledge of the skills which are listening, speaking, reading and writing. The Federal Ministry of Education, in the National policy on Education (2004), indicates that the medium of instruction in primary school shall be the language of the immediate  environment  for  the  first  three  years  and  from  the  fourth  year,  English language shall progressively be used as medium of instruction.

In junior and senior secondary, the policy made English language a core subject,

which must be offered by all the learners (FRN, 2004:22). In tertiary institutions also, English language is seen as a compulsory course offered as a general study (GS) for undergraduates.  Hence,  it is seen as a medium of instruction,  a  compulsory and core subject that must be offered and passed at all levels of education in Nigeria’s educational system. The objectives of reading comprehension as stated by NERDC (2007) is that Reading  is  a  very  important  literacy  skill.  At  the  senior  secondary  school  level,  it involves recognition and accurate  interpretation of words in context: understanding of sentences no matter how complex as well as ability to grasp the main ideas and import of what is read.

However, reading comprehension is a basic tool to understanding of all the skills of the language: be it oracy (Listening and speaking) or literacy (reading and  writing) skills because  in the  learning  process,  a child  needs to read  instructions  in order  to understand. This is the basis for literacy. Reading is one of the four skills that must be mastered by secondary schools students. Through reading, they are able to understand the content of subject matters. Reading comprehension is an integral aspect of English language  in the National  curriculum.  It is the  duty of  English  language  teachers  to develop in the students the ability to find main idea, specific information or details, make inferences  and  predict  the  word  meaning  from  context.  The  reading  competence encompasses a range of skills, knowledge and strategies that are attained through life in different contexts and communities in which an individual intervenes and takes part, and in which a reader plays a leading role by reflecting on interpreting the meaning of a text (Sole, 2011).

Currently,  in  Oredo  Education  zone  of  Edo  state,  students’  performance  in reading comprehension is still low, worrying, unsatisfying and far from expectation. This

could be deduced from the reports of West African Examination Council (WAEC) Chief Examiner from 2010-2016. These reports showed that students’ achievement in English language was consistently poor. In 2010, it was reported that candidates achieved poorly in comprehension  section of English Language  as compared  with  the standard of the paper, despite the deliberate  attempt to test the students within  their experiences  and capabilities (WAEC, M/J 2010). The report of May/June  2011 examinations indicated that performance of candidates became worse than those of previous years (WAEC M/J

2011), not withstanding that the questions were not ambiguous. As for May/June 2012, WAEC chief Examiner reported that the performance of candidates was also very poor (WAEC M/J 2012). In WAEC chief examiners report for November/ December (2013), it was indicated, that the candidates’ performance was generally disappointing, especially in comprehension  despite the deliberate low standard of  the paper (WAEC, Nov/Dec

2013). In 2014 and 2015, the achievement of candidates in English Language, especially in reading comprehension was also very poor as less than forty percent of the candidates who sat for the examination passed it. In 2016 student’s achievement was disappointing as more than forty- five percent of the candidates who sat for the examination failed it.

Some  teachers  in the  field  have  also  observed  that  when  students  are  asked

questions, some do not respond, they also keep silent during lectures. They are passive and have no courage to share ideas with their friends and tend to work  individually. Students are not able to find main idea of each paragraph.  They  have  difficulties  to differentiate  between  the main idea and supporting  details.  They cannot  identify the unstated information from text. They cannot relate one clue to another and are not able to recognize the word meanings from the context. Could these be attributed to the teachers’ techniques  during  teaching  and  learning  process  which  make  the  students  passive? Teachers’  teaching of comprehension  is  limited  to asking questions  on texts without much  consideration  for  exploiting  texts  or  developing  specific  skills  in  students. Teachers are often guilty of testing comprehension, rather than teaching it (Otagburuagu, Obah, Onuigbo & Okorji, 2007).

It has been observed that teachers dominate the class with broad oral explanation

so that the students face some difficulties in understanding the passage. The teachers just

read the passage and discuss with the whole class. So, the students do not have time to share their  ideas with their friends about the passage  freely. Moreover,  the  teachers’ explanation  is considered  first.  In most cases,  the class condition  is  not  lively,  it is uninspiring and boring.

The  use  of lecture  method  has  been  reported  by teachers  and  West  African Examination  Council (WAEC) Chief examiners  to have led to poor  achievements  of senior   secondary   school   students   in   English   Language,   especially   in   external examinations like West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE).   In lecture method, the students are arranged in straight line down and a cross the classroom. The teacher assumes that all the students in the class have equal knowledge or that they know little or nothing. The teacher stands in front of the class and delivers his lessons. Students work individually  and are  assessed  individually.  Only the best students are rewarded which force students to work against each other so as to be the best. The lecture method makes the students to be passive listeners while the teacher monopolizes the teaching/ learning activities. The students’ interest in the lesson becomes minimal. There is the need  therefore  to  find  ways  in  which  the  persistence  problem  could  be  reduced. However, many researchers like Jessica (2015), Laurice (2015) and Offorma (2003) have suggested that students should be discouraged from teaching methods that would make them to be passive in the learning process. Instead, they should be made to be active in the learning process by engaging them in peer-led interaction,  peer conferencing, peer tutoring and co-operative activities, which could help  students to evaluate and modify strategies.

Supporting this, Idu (2012) viewed active learning as learning in an environment that allows students to listen and talk, read and write and reflect as they approach course contents through problem solving, exercises,  informal small  groups, simulations,  case studies,  role playing  and other  activities,  all of which  require  active  participation  of students.  It  occurs  whenever  experiences   stimulate   mental  activities  that  lead  to meaningful learning (Ausubel 2005). In view of this, Bioce (2002) remarks that when learners are actively engaged in  worthwhile  classroom activities which emanate from proper  management    practices  of the teacher,  they concentrate  on academic task and

achieve  better  results.  This  may enhance  learning  and  it  may  lead  to  learning  that involves interaction among students, students- centred engaging activities (Leou & Liu,

2012). The researcher wonders whether peer tutoring strategy could improve  teaching reading  comprehension.  Peer  tutoring  is  a  collaborative  learning  strategy  in  which students alternate between the role of tutor and tutee in pairs  or  groups to help one another learn material or practice an academic task  (Kunsch,  Jitendra, & Sood 2015). Peer tutoring originated from collaborative learning method which is a teaching method where the learners are heterogeneously placed into groups. They interact synchronously and solve a given academic problem or produce a project. Each group works as a team, coordinated by a leader and produces a unanimous result (Offorma, 2003).

In peer tutoring, before treatment, the research subjects will be given a  pretest which will be admitted by the regular English language teachers in the sampled schools. The students and the teachers will undergo training for four to six days. The students will be encouraged  to assemble in groups of two or more and  are to work together on a specified  reading comprehension  passage. The students  will work together to prompt, monitor and evaluate each other to achieve  the  goal  of the group. The students will alternate between role of tutor and tutee in groups of two.

During intervention tutor will read a passage to the tutee and the tutee will follow along providing corrective feedback. After five minutes, the students will switch role and repeat the procedure. The higher performing students will always begin the session as the tutor. This procedure will enable the weaker reader to hear and see the passage prior to oral reading. Once the student becomes skillful at the tutoring procedure, the teacher will introduce comprehension questions to the tutoring sessions. After each student has orally read for five minute, he/she will summarize   what has just been read, answer questions pertaining to the reading such as “what is the first thing you learnt? Or what is the most important thing about who?. Or what is the most important thing about who or what in the text?.  The process  will be  repeated  several  times before submission  of the final version to the instructor.  Upon completion of the task, the students will complete the post-  questions  and  that  include  the  same  statements  in  the  pre  questionnaire.  The experimental  groups will be taught using peer tutoring  while control groups will be

taught using lecture method. Teaching will last for six weeks. The experimental groups will be subjected to peer tutoring strategy. The objective of the lesson will be spelt out for each topic. The teacher will introduce the topic and use peer tutoring strategy. The objective of the lesson will be spelt out for each topic. The teacher will introduce the topic and use peer tutoring to illustrate and explain. The  teacher will get the students involved in the peer tutoring process, the teacher will correct and reinforce the students where  and  when  necessary.  Peer  tutoring  could  be  an  extremely  powerful  way  to improve students’ academic and social behaviour as reported by Gresham, (2015).

Another variable that is of significance  in this work is interest. Dewey (2013) describes interest as being engaged, engrossed or entirely taken up with an action, object or topic. Interest is a feeling of curiosity, fascination, absorption or the cause of any such feeling.  Chukwu  (2002)  sees  interest  as  emotionally  oriented  behavioral  trait  which determines  a student’s  urge  and  vigour  to  tackle  educational  programmes  and  other activities. Musa (2006) defines interest as zeal or willingness to participate in an activity from which one derives some pleasure. On the other hand, Situ (1999), sees interest as an expression of likes and dislikes which plays a significant role in learning all subjects or courses. Situ further stresses that if a student is interested in any subject, such a student will spend more time studying that subject. Such devotion of time to the learning of a subject may most likely crystallize in greater achievement, if the interest of students is capitalized on, it could facilitate reading comprehension when peer tutoring is used. It could also lead to greater achievement in reading comprehension.

Achievement, according to Anaekwe (2007) is a term used to indicate the degree of  success  attained  in  some  general  specific  area.  It  is  the  level  of  an  individual educational  attainment  as  determined  by combining  his/her  score  in  a  test  with  the average score of other people of the same age, academic achievement is the outcome of education,  the  extent  to  which  a  student,  teacher,  or  institution  has  attained  their educational  goals. Academic  achievement  is  commonly measured  by examinations or continuous assessment.

In separate studies, Situ (1999), Omeje (2008) and Torty (2010) found out that

there is a positive correlation between students’ interest and achievement in particular

subject or skill. Osuafor (2001) also found out that interest can be aroused and sustained in teaching and learning through appropriate teaching method. Consequently, as a result of  the  connection  between  interest  and  achievement,  it  becomes  important  to  teach reading comprehension in English language in manner that will arouse the interest of the students through appropriate strategy. Therefore,  there is the need to find out how to improve  student’s  interest  and  achievement   in  reading  comprehension   in  English Language.       Thus, this study is aimed at  finding out the effect of peer tutoring  on students’ achievement and interest in reading comprehension.

Gender  is an important variable  in this work as it has been an issue of  great interest to researchers  in education.  Keller (1991) sees gender as a cultural  construct developed  by  the  society  to  distinguish  the  roles,  behavior,  mental  and  emotional characteristics  between males and females. Offorma (2004) also  agrees that gender is learned,  socially constructed  condition  ascribed  to  males  and females.  Distinction  is usually made between gender and sex. While sex is biological, gender is socio-cultural. The roles ascribed different sexes may agree in some society, but may differ in others. This may also affect learning outcomes.

Commenting  on  gender  and  language  learning,  Anderson,  cited  in  Igbokwe

(2007) asserts that there is a difference in the taught process of males and females which has implications for language learning. Egbe (2015) is of the view that females are faster in the acquisition of language and language expressing than males. Among ESL (English As a second language), female students are more disposed to expressing themselves in second language. This positive disposition favours permanence of learning. In a similar vein, Ogo cited in Igbokwe (2007) notes that female secondary school students tend to be more relaxed  in a language class than  males. This relaxation may influence  learning positively.

In Nigeria, there are conflicting reports on whether gender plays a significant role in language achievement. Some researchers claim that the female gender perform better than the male in language. Other researchers like Uzeoegwu (2004) and Opara (2004) found out that the males perform better than females in language.  Yet other studies by Olukpe (2004), Igbokwe (2007), Agada (2008), Omeje (2008) and Torty (2010) did not

establish any significant difference in the achievement of males and females in language. Based on this disparity of findings on which gender performs better in language, it seems that the exact influence of gender on language achievement is not clear, hence there is the need for further studies on the nature of students’ achievement by gender, especially in Nigeria.

The issue of gender becomes necessary in this study since the schools to be used

are  co-educational.  It  is  necessary  to  see  what  effect  gender  will  have  on  reading comprehension  when taught with peer tutoring.  It is against this  background  that the researcher  has  decided  to  carry out  a study on  effect  of  peer  tutoring  on students’ achievement and interest in reading comprehension and also to determine whether there will be gender difference in achievement when peer tutoring is used in teaching reading comprehension in English language.

Statement of problem

The persistence problem of poor performance of students in English language at the  senior  secondary  school  level  of  education  has  been  attributed   to   students’ deficiencies in various aspects of English language, especially in reading comprehension. In Oredo Education zone, statistics shows that the numbers of students that pass English language  is  less  than  forty  percent  in  recent  years  in  both  internal  and  external examinations.  Literature  is  replete  with  evidence  that  teachers’  use  of  predominant lecture method in teaching reading comprehension  of  the English language make the teachers to dominate the class without the students playing active role in the classroom. In addition, no specific skill is instilled in the students, lecture method is not strategic enough to carry the  students along. It is not also strategic enough to capture students’ interest. The method is monotonous to the students so much so that they continue to fail in internal and external examinations. The WAEC Chief Examiner’s report of students in Oredo education zone between 2010 and 2015 had proved that students perform  very badly in English language especially in reading comprehension. There is the need for the teachers  to change  strategy from the lecture method  to a more  effective  one that  is collaborative in nature in teaching reading comprehension at the senior secondary level.

There is the need to improve senior secondary school students’ achievement and interest in reading comprehension without further delay.

Could  a  more  collaborative  strategy  bring  about  improvement  among  senior secondary  student  in Oredo  Education  zone?.  Could  Peer  tutoring  strategy  improve students’  achievement  and  interest  in  reading  comprehension  in  English  language?. Therefore, the problem of the study posed as a question is  what  is the effect of peer tutoring  on student’s  achievement  and  interest  in  reading  comprehension  in English language? Hence, the need for the study.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of peer tutoring on students’

achievement and interest in reading comprehension.

Specifically, the study intends to determine:

1.   the  effect  of  peer  tutoring  on  students’  achievement   scores  in     reading comprehension.

2.   the effect of peer tutoring on students’ interest scores  in reading comprehension.

3.   the   influence    of   gender    on   students’    achievement    score   in    reading comprehension.

4.   the influence of gender on students’ interest score in reading comprehension.

5.   the interaction effect of methods and gender on students’ achievement in reading comprehension.

6.   the  interaction  effect  of  methods  and    gender  on students’  interest  score  in reading comprehension.

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical significance.  The study will be theoretically justified based on the fact that peer tutoring is supported by (Longe 1996) interactionist learning theory of second language acquisition (SLA) which holds that  learners  need  to be encouraged  to  negotiate  meaning  to  facilitate  second language acquisition.

Practically, the study will be useful to teachers, students, guidance  counselors, heads of schools and the ministry of education. Specifically, the findings could show that the use of peer tutoring strategy would help  teach students how to teach themselves in reading comprehension. The teacher will be less engaged. Since peer tutoring strategy is used, students take over the duty of the teacher while the  teacher only supervises the classroom work. The teacher is therefore relieved of the burden of being everything in the learning process.

The study’s finding will be relevant to the students because peer tutoring enables them to get used to the process of teaching themselves. They become active members of the class as they engage in discussion,  explanation,  correction  etcetera.  They interact under an atmosphere where they are not afraid to ask questions from their peers. When the teacher is absent from the classroom, the students can keep themselves busy teaching one another.

Peer tutoring will be useful to guidance counselors in the school system because students with reading problems who would be brought to them for counseling would be introduced  to peer  tutoring  strategy  as  solution.  Furthermore,  heads of schools  who would be faced with the students having the problem of reading comprehension in other subjects would through the collaboration and co-operation among the English language teachers and school counselor organize seminars and workshops for the other teachers on peer tutoring strategy which they will in turn apply for their students in the classroom.

The finding could also be of great help to the ministry of Education because it would help it to organize seminars for teachers and students on how to  improve their reading strategies using peer tutoring strategy in English language  and other subjects. This  could   improve   the  performance   of  students   in  both   internal   and  external examination.

Scope of the Study

This study focuses on the effect of peer tutoring on the achievement and interest of students in reading comprehension among senior secondary school students of Oredo Education Zone in Edo State. These categories of students have learned some concepts that will aid them in reading comprehension which is the basis of peer tutoring strategy. The choice of SSII students for the study is due to the fact that it is a certificate class at senior secondary level whose curriculum contains topics in comprehension to be used for the students.

The  investigation  is  restricted  to  finding  main  idea,  specific  information  or details,  and  making  inferences  from  context.  This  is because  these  areas  have  been identified to be posing difficulties to students in SSCE as deduced from  WAEC chief examiners’ report 2010- 2015. The study will also investigate gender as variable to find out the difference in the achievement of students in comprehension using peer tutoring. Interest will also be investigated to find out the effect peer tutoring will have on interest of the students

Research Questions

The Following Question will guide the study.

1.        What  are  the  mean  achievement  scores  of students  exposed  to peer  tutoring strategy (PTS) and lecture method (LM) in reading comprehension?

2.        What  are  the  mean  achievement  scores  of  male  and  female  students  taught reading comprehension?

3.        What is the interaction effect of instructional method  and gender on  students’

achievement scores in reading comprehension?

4.        What are the mean interest scores of students exposed to peer tutoring strategy

(PTS) and lecture methods (LM) in reading comprehension?

5.        What  are  the  mean  interest  scores  of  male  and  female  students  in  reading comprehension?

6.        What is the interaction effect of instructional method  and gender on  students’

interest in reading comprehension?

Hypotheses

The Hypotheses stated below guided the study and are tested at probability less than 0.05

Level of significance.

1.        There is no significant  difference  in the mean achievement  scores of  students exposed  to peer tutoring strategy and lecture method in reading comprehension

2.        There is no significant  difference  in the mean achievement  score of male  and female students in reading comprehension.

3.        There is no significant interaction effect of instructional method and gender on students’ achievement in reading comprehension.

4.        There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of students exposed to peer tutoring strategy and the lecture method  in reading comprehension.

5.        There is no significant difference in the mean interest score of male and female students in reading comprehension.

6.        There is no significant interaction effect of instructional method and gender on students’ interest in reading comprehension.

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