Strategies For Improving Students’ Interest In Learing of Account In Secondary Schools In Owerri Municipal Local Government Area, Imo State

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research work is to ascertain the strategies for improving students’ Interest in the learning of Account in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area, Imo State. A descriptive survey was adopted using a sample of nine (9) secondary schools, seventy-five (25) Accounts teachers and two hundred and fifty (250) senior secondary schools (S.S.S.3) student selected randomly from schools in Owerri Municipal Council. The questionnaires were constructed based on fixed model questions of either yes or no point value and were administered to the selected Senior Secondary Schools in Owerri Municipal Council to elicit answers to the research questions. The data gotten were analyzed using statistical table and percentages. Based on the responses, the researchers found out that most of the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal do not have adequate instructional materials for their lessons. The researchers therefore recommended that government, teachers and parents should help to provide adequate instructional materials to secondary schools for students to learn. The government should provide fund as well as incentives to the schools. Finally, the implementation of adequate instructional materials have to be supervised and evaluated so as to determine the outcome of teaching and learning of Account in secondary schools in Imo State.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

         Background of the Study 

Every subject is unique and focuses towards the achievement of some desirable goals and thus must be taught in the most appropriate manner to improve students’ interest in learning backed by adequate material and methods. Education is the most important component in human development; and the basic medium towards the acquisition of this education is teaching. Therefore, teaching is a process or an act of causing an individual to learn and understand what is being taught.

Account is a subject in senior secondary school that generates opportunity for mutual interaction and analysis between account teachers and the students. However, when students in senior secondary schools attend Account class, they often have little background knowledge in Account and no background knowledge in its methodology. However, it is during research that students often begin to develop or solidify their ideas about the subject (Account). Consequently, creating interesting programmes that students find challenging and rewarding is one way to bring in more students to study Accounts in the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area in Imo State. To achieve this, Accounts teachers can make use of primary sources or technology in presentations and research (Azubuike, 2011).

Furthermore, studies have shown that the use of instructional materials in secondary schools by Accounts teachers is perceived to be the appropriate method of delivering the ideas, theories and data of historical inquiry. Similarly, if Accounts teachers in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area carry out effective method for teaching and learning of Accounts for diverse learners in today’s schools, and combined it with active discussion and exercises that involve the use of historical materials, it will go a long way to impact positively on students’ academic performance and boost their interest in the learning of Account

Moreso, how effectively Accounts teachers respond to the methods and materials of Account can have repercussions on Account’s perceived value to secondary school students in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area. Hence there is need for Accounts teachers to be committed to effective teaching of Account in secondary schools because Account is an important subject in secondary school curriculum that give true and fair of our national economy monetary aspect. It encompasses a broad spectrum of academic fields such as Commerce and Economics even though they are often viewed as independent disciplines. Akpan (2010) maintains that as part of strategies to improve students’ interest in the learning of Account in secondary schools, Account teachers can use a method that combines skills in reading, writing and analysis to achieve specific goals. He further stated that students are enrolled in secondary schools where they are expected to acquire knowledge in order to pass proficiency tests in Accounts.

Statement of the Problem

Students’ poor performance in Account between 2013 and 2015 in external examinations in some of the secondary schools in Owerri Muncipal Local Government Area of Imo State has discouraged many potential Accounts students from studying it as a course in tertiary institutions.

Secondary school teachers (including Account teachers) in Owerri Municpal Local Government Area in Imo State whose monthly remuneration are being  delayed by the government for several months lack the morale to map out strategies to improve students’ interest in the learning of Accounts; hence this had made many students to abandon Accounts as a subject.

As a result of inadequate supply of modern textbooks in Accounts in the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area, many students have lost interest in the learning of Account in the secondary schools believing that Account as a subject has gone into extinction.

When Accounts teachers teach for about forty five minutes without making the class interactive, the students often find the subject (Account) boring hence they lose interest in the learning of Account. Furthermore, teachers who lack the basic qualifications to teach Account in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area have done more harm than good because one of the characteristics of a qualified teacher is the ability to promote emotional and psychological health among his/her students in order to improve their interest in a given subject and enhance better academic performance

The inadequate use of instructional materials have created many confusions, intellectual, psychological and emotional imbalances, lack of understanding and vacuum at some stage of learning experiences. Students are thus given half-baked knowledge and as a result perform poorly in internal and external examinations.

The utilization of instructional materials by history teachers for effective teaching and learning of Account in secondary schools in Imo State has been undermined and thus has become a problem. All these are what the researchers are investigating.

Scope of the Study

The strategies for improving students interest in the learning of Account in secondary schools are numerous but this study will focus on how these strategies can be used to improve the interest of secondary school students in Account in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area of Imo State. Consequently, this will go a long way to enhance better academic performance of the students in Accounts.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is on strategies for improving students’ interest in the learning of Account in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal  Local Government Area. Specifically, the study sought to

1. To find out the extent instructional materials required for teaching accounting are available in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal
2. To find out the extent Accounting teachers in the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area consider the use of instructional materials necessary in the teaching of the subject.
3. To find out the extent lack of qualified teacher affect use of instructional material in teaching account.
4. To find out the extent account teachers in secondary school in Owerri Municipal improvise instructional material while teaching t
5. To determine the effects of the utilization of instructional materials by Accounting teachers on students’ academic performance.

 Significance of the Study

The expectation/results of this study will be useful to the teachers, parents, students, the Government and society at large. Therefore, having identified the problems, it becomes the sole responsibilities of the teachers to device a means to meet up with the required standard of teaching Accounting effectively; knowing that when the teachers are encouraged, the students would be influenced by the teachers’ attitudes and this will go a long way to increase their own interest and attitudes towards the subject (Account).

Furthermore,

1. This research will help curriculum planners to build their content and objectives with proper consideration to the time required for preparation and provision of instructional materials needed for teaching and learning of Account.
2. The study will help to increase the interest of the students in Accounts subject and also improve their performance on the subject.
3. The study will help educational policy makers to improve the teaching of Account in secondary schools by making provision on the supply of instructional materials in schools.
4. The findings of this study will serve as a reference material to future researchers.

Research Questions

The following research questions were used to guide the study:

1. To what extent instructional materials required for teaching account are available in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal
2. To what the extent do Accounting teachers in the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area consider the use of instructional materials necessary in the teaching of the subject.
3. To what extent does lack of qualified teacher affect use of instructional material in teaching account.
4. To what extent do account teachers in secondary school in Owerri Municipal improvise instructional material while teaching t
5. What are the effects of the utilization of instructional materials by Accounting teachers on students’ interest and their academic performance?
   

   ---

   Pages:  67

   Category: Project

   Format:  Word & PDF

   Chapters: 1-5

   Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References