Factors that affect students performance in English in some selected secondary school in Siaya district--Nairobi

Abstract

Stratified random sampling was used to select the schools that were involved in the study to delineate factors that affect the performance of students in English in some selected secondary school within 9iaya District. One hundred and five students and three teachers were utilized for the study. The population sample was derived from the three secondary schools categorized into high, average and low performing. The teachers were purposively selected while the classes from which the students participated was done through simple random sampling technique. A teacher questionnaire containing twenty one items (21 items ) a student a questionnaire containing twenty five items (25 items) and a student attitude scale containing twenty items (20 items) were used to elicit the needed data. The data was coded and then analysed by a computer package known as EXCELL to generate frequencies, percentages and means. The findings of the study showed that lack of teacher effectiveness is a factor in students not performing well in English. Contrary to the expectations of the study, the data revealed that teachers had professional competence in their work. The students tended to believe that there was lack of parental support in their bid to be competent in English language. It was recommended that teachers try to strike a rapport with students in class for effective content delivery. It was also recommended that parents should try to buy the necessary reading materials and offer a conducive atmosphere for language learning.