The Influence Of The Media On Students Acheivement In English Languge In Secondary Schools In Mbaitolu Local Government Area Of Imo State

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the influence of the media on students achievement in English language in secondary schools. Four research questions were formulated and a descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised of teachers and 1494 students of the all senior secondary schools in the area of study. However, samples of 200 respondents were randomly drawn from the total population. The method of data collection was through the use of a questionnaire which was structured on a four point likert scale. The data were analyzed using arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results indicated that through media, new information is assimilated by the students which also help the students to improve their achievement. Also, the study revealed that one of the negative influence of the media to students is that it sends wrong  message to English language speakers learning slangs to add to their speech. The study recommends amongst other things, that government should support through adequate provision of educational media facilities and continuous training and retraining of teachers using these media facilities.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The researcher will present this chapter under the following subheadings; Background to the Study, Statement of the Problem, Scope of the Study, Purpose of the Study, Significance of the Study and Research Questions.

Background to the Study

Education is very important to national development because education and national development are two sides of a coin that mutually reinforce and challenge each other. Jega (1997) affirmed that “Education is generally regarded as a necessary and essential requirement for national development. It is central to socio-economic and technological advancement and it is critical to self-generating process of positive transformation of modern society.”

Abiabaka (2010) affirms that “Education is the key to national development. It provides the intellectual capability needed by man to harness the human and materials resources for scientific and technological advancement”. Education is the process of transferring information, ideas, values from one person to another. Education has been defined by various authors in different perspectives. In all, their various approaches to the definition of education remain a general consensus that education is an invaluable process and a basic instrument for individual and societal development.

Secondary education is defined in the Nigeria National Policy on Education (2004) as the form of education children attend after primary education and before tertiary education. The main aim of Nigerian secondary education is to prepare students for useful living within the society and for higher education, Abolade (2003) described secondary educational level as probably the most unique and precarious of all other levels of education. This is because he saw it as or junction box of all the subjects of the tertiary level. Media is a means of communication it can be through radio, television, newspaper, magazines, orally and internets.

Sarah (2011) posited that media is an umbrella term for the different kind of mediums that enrich us with knowledge and vital information. It is the circuit that runs through society, in the form of visual, print and audio mediums, named television, newspaper (magazines, tabloids and newsletters), radio and the internet. These mediums play different roles when it comes to communicating to the audiences at large as well as altering their perceptions.

Media are communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data. The term media refers to components of the mass media communication industry, such as print media, publishing, the  news  media, photography, cinema broadcasting,(television and radio) digital media and advertising. The development ofg early writing and paper enabling longer-distance communication systems  such as mail,  including in the Persian empire and Roman empire which can be interpreted as early forms of  human communication as early forms of media, such as Lascaux Cave paintings and early writings. Another framing of the history of media starts with the chauvet cave paintings and continues with other ways to carry human communication beyond the short range of voice smoke signals, trail makers and sculpture.

The media plays a very prominent role in our lives. There are various effects of media on the society at large. Media tends to influence and it’s obvious, there are positive as well as negative influences of the media. However, it also depends upon the way audiences perceive things. The power of the media is by far recognize by everybody in terms of advertising, marketing and as a medium to broadcast information to people at large. Since the media is used to communicate and interact with people from various walks of life, it can often result in a conflict of options. Lad (2011) stated that print media (magazines, newspapers, brochures, press releases, newsletters etc), electronic media (television, radio etc) and the internet are all part of media. Today, mass media can give a person phenomenal exposure and this can result in various effects of the mass media on the society.

It is against this background that the researcher deemed it necessary to investigate on the influence of the media on student’s achievement in English language in secondary schools in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.

Statement of the Problem

One of the topical issues in the present day Nigeria education system is the performance of graduates (outputs). Most worrisome is the growing discontent and distrust from the society about the quality of public secondary schools products. This is judged by their poor performance in public examinations, inability to cope with further education at the tertiary institution and even their inability to express themselves very well in public (Ohia, 2010).

The result of a research carried out by Nwafor (2007) showed that the achievement level of public secondary school leavers is very poor graduates from public secondary school is performance abysmally below the expectations of the employers of  labour. Besides, 84% of these students graduate from secondary school without having the ability to speak and write correct sentences in English language (the nation’s Lingua Franca). They can hardly exhibit any acquired skill or knowledge. Obioma (2007) exclaimed that the status of education in Nigeria is in an epileptic stupor. In fact he lamented that the Nigeria educational system is virtually in shambles.

On the influence of the media on students achievement, many researchers has argued on the negative impact of the media on student’s academic performance, where they say it corrupts their mind, diverts students attention and makes them to perform poorly in their examinations.

Scope of the Study

This study covers all the secondary schools in Mbaitoli LGA of Imo State. It is delimited in examining media as a means of evaluating English language among junior secondary education. The study sought to address the level of understanding of English teachers on the basic concept of media, the influence how these problems can be remedied.

Purpose of the Study

The main aim of this research is to investigate on the influence of the media on student’s achievement in English languages in secondary schools in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State. But specifically, the study will attempt to find out;

1. The positive impact of media on student’s achievement on secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State.
2. The negative impact of media on student’s achievement on secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State.
3. The importance of English language to the academic performance of students in secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State
4. The role of the media in educational settings and in the classroom in secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State.

Significance of the Study

It is important to note that the findings of this research will be significant and serve the government educational policy makers, the teachers and students.

To the government, the study will enlighten them on the state of our educational system and on the need to improve the standard of education in order to achieve quality output.

The study will benefit the educational policy makers in adopting measures and policies that will improve the educational sector as well as integrating the needed policies on qualitative and efficient media facilities which will improve the proficiency of learners.

To the teachers, the study will help them to know the various ways of using media to inculcate learning abilities to the students and also make awareness on the best media tools to use in the classroom.

The study will help students to achieve a better academic goal and to improve their learning abilities.

Lastly, the study will serve as a reference material to subsequent researchers who might be carrying out research work related to this.

Research Question

The following research questions will help to guide the study;

1. What are the positive impacts of media on student’s achievement on secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State?
2. What are the negative impacts of media on student’s achievement on secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA of Imo State?
3. What are the impacts of media to academic performance of English language students
4. What are the roles of media in the advancement of English language in secondary schools in Mbaitolu LGA?
   

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   Pages:  64

   Category: Project

   Format:  Word & PDF                

   Chapters: 1-5                                                      

   Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.