Effect of Peer Tutoring Learning Strategy on the Academic Performance of Drama Literature Students of Senior Secondary Schools in Isu L.G.A of Imo State

ABSTRACT

This research work investigated the effect of peer tutoring learning strategy on the academic performance of drama literature students. This study was quasi-experimental in nature. Four research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was three thousand, seven hundred and fifteen (3,715) Senior Secondary Student in Isu L.G.A of Imo State, three hundred and seventy two (372) SS Students were sample for the study using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a twenty five (25) item Drama Achievement Test (DAT). The DAT was validated by two experts in the department of measurement and evaluation, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education. The descriptive statistics was used to answer the research question while the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that there was significant difference in the relative effectiveness of peer tutoring learning method of teaching over conventional method of teaching in the achievement of students in drama. Gender is not a significant factor when peer tutoring learning strategy is used in teaching and learning of drama. Based on these findings it was recommended that peer tutoring learning strategy should be used by teachers. The curriculum of teacher education should include the use of peer tutoring learning strategy in order to popularize its use in teaching and learning.                 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Any material written or spoken is generally described as literature. Literature is commonly refers to works of creative imagination, drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction.  It is the representation of the tradition and culture of a language or a people. Literature is an imaginative and beautiful creation either in oral or written words. Rajabu (2017) states that “Literature is a work of art expressed in words using a Language creatively to express human realities.” It is used to designate fictional and imaginative writings. Literature is distinct from other works of art such as painting, sculpture, drawing and so on. However, both works of art express the culture of a specific society from which they owe their essence. Literature in English is one of the subjects taught in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. It consists of three genres, which include, prose, poetry and drama.

Wikipedia Dictionary explains, “Drama is a word that originates from a Greek word ‘drao’ which means ‘to do/to act’.” It refers to a stage performance whereby actors act out the events and characters of a story. Drama is a composition, telling a story and intended to be represented by actors impersonating the characters and speaking the dialogue in a dramatic situation in real life. It is all about mimesis. Ullah (2020) defines drama as “a literary form, designed for the theatre  because  characters  are  assigned  roles and  they  act  out  their  roles  as  the  action  is  enacted  on  stage.” Drama is synthetic in nature, this means that it is an impure art which is not on its own but, only due to the coming together of different arts. It is like an assembly line where different components are brought together. Drama is also said to be temporal. Burwick (2021) states that “A dramatic work is usually called a play which is further divided into comedy, tragedy and tragic-comedy. It can also be seen as a literary composition which involves action, actors, stage and audience. Drama is the only genre of literature that is associated with stage performance.”

One of the major agents of socialization is the peer group. It is said to be vital for improved learning amongst students especially those of them in secondary schools. According to Oxford advanced learners dictionary, peers are people of the same age bracket who have one or many things in common. Usually, members of the peer group are generally free with themselves and the means of communication between them is free and open. They can easily express themselves in any way they deem fit.Apart from being in the same age bracket and having one or two things in common, members of the peer group also possess abilities with different levels of understanding.

Peers are divided into three categories; the slow learners, the average learners and the fast learners.

Inuwa, Abdullah, and Hassan (2017) posits that peer tutoring is one of the learner-centred strategies which is an effective strategy to improve students’ academic achievement and other related learning outcomes.

Ruffing S, et al (2015) states that “peer tutoring is systematic, peer-mediated teaching strategies”. Peer tutoring is therefore an instructional plan or method that consists of student’s partnership. This means linking high achieving students with the lower achieving ones or those whose achievement can be compared. In peer tutoring, learners are responsible for the aspects of teaching and for the evaluation of their success.

Macpherson (2019) describes Cooperative Learning as “part of a group of teaching/learning techniques where students interact with each other to acquire and practice the elements of a subject matter and to meet common learning goals.” It is much more than just putting students into groups and hoping for the best. Cooperative Learning is a very formal way of structuring activities in a learning environment that includes specific elements intended to increase the potential for rich and deep learning by the participants.

The umbrella under which peer tutoring can be found is the cooperative learning. It involves the organization of different groups of students to learn in a group of four to six members. The group should be different so as to enable each group, religion, culture and gender. Gillies (2016) opines that “The first of these key components involves structuring positive interdependence within the learning situation so all group members understand that they are linked together in such a way that one cannot achieve success unless they all do, and they must learn to synchronize their efforts to ensure this occurs.” Cooperative learning is also a strategy in which team of students of diverse levels of ability make use of any known means to improve their understanding of a subject.

Abaoud (2016) states that “Peer tutoring is one of the approaches used in class wide interventions targeting both behavioral and academic deficiency components of students”. Peer tutoring is an instructional method in which one child tutors another in material on which the tutor is an expert and the tutee is a novice. Other alternative names for peer tutoring include “peer teaching,” “partner-learning,” “peer education,” “child-teach-child,” and “mutual instruction”. It often implies cross-age tutoring. Ullah (2018) defines peer tutoring as “people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers helping each other to learn and learning themselves by teaching”. The term as used in this study relates to peer tutoring in which one classroom student tutors another student in his or her same classroom or cross-age tutoring where an older student or an adult tutors a younger student.

Goodlad (2003) describing Brendan’s History of peer tutoring, states that the first systematic approach to peer tutoring is credited to Andrew Bell, who was the superintendent of the male military at Egmore in England. The asylum was run as a school for boys whose fathers had been killed during Maritime. The asylum under Bell’s leadership was transformed into an official school. The superintendent’s idea on the implementation of peer tutoring came from a strange source. The source was that the superintendent observed several children drawing on the sand on a beach one day, which made him to introduce the idea of using trays of sand as cheap writing materials in his schools. The teachers in his school all thought that this was absurd and for this reason, Bell made the children teach one another with sand to ensure that the sand trays were indeed being used. Bell’s use of child-monitor, which he later realized, was a more significant discovery than trying to cut cost by using the sandy teaching practice. In the year 1791 and 1792, Bell reassigned his school so that every person will have a specific role with classes of students grouped according to their level of achievement. He promoted students who did well to a better class and demoted those who didn’t do well. Those who did well were made to tutor those who didn’t do well and quizzes were used to make sure that the system worked.

This study tends to find out the effect of using peer tutoring learning strategies, which constitutes the organization of small group of students who work together on a common task in the learning and analysis of drama texts used by students in senior secondary school 2.

Statement of the Problem

This research is based on the desire to assess the academic achievement of students using peer tutoring in the learning of literature. It has been found, that students studying literature in English find it difficult to read and analyze texts given to them in the course of their study especially plays. Scholars attribute this problem to the instructional methods, materials and strategies used by the teachers.

The researcher believes that students should be taught using good teaching methods, materials, strategies etc., which is learner, centered. The peer tutoring strategies which is learner centered could be a very important strategy to the teaching and learning of drama in secondary schools.

The problem of this study is that despite the fact that serious failures have been recorded among students in drama and literature, it has drawn attention of more researches, and little or no work is seen in the literature. More importantly, the literatures available at the researcher’s disposal did not consider secondary school students in Isu L.G.A, which is the locale for the present study. Thus, the gap the research tried to fill in this study; To investigate the impact of peer tutoring on the academic achievement of drama students.

Purpose of Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of peer tutoring on students’ academic achievements in drama and it seeks to:

1. Ascertain the extent to which peer tutoring learning strategy influence the teaching and learning of students.
2. Investigate the extent to which the use of drama influence teaching and learning among peer groups.
3. Find out if students taught with peer tutoring learning strategies achieve high academically in drama than those taught with chalk and talk method.
4. Ascertain if any difference exist in the academic achievement of male and female students in drama with peer tutoring.

Significance of the Study

It is expected that the findings of this study will be of significance to: students, teachers, curriculum planners, parents, e.t.c.

• Student: It will enable the teaching strategy to be learner centered thereby making them to be able to interact and solve problems freely without fear.
• Teacher: The use of the peer tutoring strategies calls for easier understanding of drama as a genre of literature in English and help to encourage students and reduce workload.
• Curriculum Planners: peer tutoring will help curriculum planners to see the need to add its strategies into the school curriculum as a good way of teaching. It also enables them to plan the curriculum to accommodate this strategy.
• The Government: it will enable the government provide adequate instructional materials and fund needed to encourage peer tutoring learning strategies in drama in secondary schools
• Ministry of Education / Academic Board: use of peer tutoring in learning will enable them to see the need to organize workshop seminars etc to encourage and educate teachers on the use of peer tutoring learning strategies in secondary schools.
• Counselor: it will enable the counselors to guide the students properly in their quest/selection of peer groups, as they tend to be influential on the students/individuals.
• Parents: peer tutoring learning strategy will help parents to keep an eye on their children and the choice of friends they make.

Research Questions

The following research questions will guide this study:

1. To what extent does peer tutoring learning strategies influence the teaching and learning of students?
2. To what extent does the use of drama influence the teaching and learning among peers?
3. To what extent is the difference in the mean achievement score of students taught using peer tutoring strategies and those taught using chalk and talk methods?
4. To what extent is the difference in the mean achievement of male and female students using peer tutoring learning strategies?

Hypothesis

This research work is set out to investigate the effectiveness of peer tutoring strategy on the academic achievement of students in drama in senior secondary schools in Isu L.G.A. The following null hypothesis was postulated to guide the study.

1. There is no significant difference between the mean achievement score of male and female students taught drama using peer tutoring learning strategies.
2. There is no significant difference in the mean achievement score of students taught drama using peer tutoring learning strategies and those taught using the conventional chalk and talk method.

Scope/ Area of Study

This research work was carried out in Isu L.G.A of Imo State using thirteen secondary schools selected for the study. Isu is a local government area in the Imo State of Nigeria. Its headquarter is in the town of Umundugba. Other communities are Amandugba, Ekwe, Uburu Ekwe, Isunjaba, Amurie Omanze, Ebenator Ekwe and Amurie.

Pages:  77

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF         

Chapters: 1-5                                 

Source: Imsuinfo                            

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.