Impact Of Teacher-competence On Students’ Achievement In English Language

In effective schools, effective English language teachers monitor students’ progress which takes place at all levels of the school system. Effective English language teachers monitor minute-by-minute comprehension, reading and writing skills of students, their overall success and engagement rates along with the longer term achievement records of every student in the subject-matter. Effective English language teachers monitor achievement scores for individual students, class interactions among students, students’ grade levels and so on. Improvement minded English language teachers also monitor average achievement scores for their students, comparing their performances with the performances of other students in the classrooms in a particular school in order to know whether their students are high achievers in the subject or not (Boot 2003). Whatever level or form, monitoring of students’ progress takes effective school teachers of note to use the achievement information as the basis for modifications of teaching and learning processes or school wide improvement plans in English language (Nwagbara, 2007).

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem inherent in the teaching and learning processes in English language, is as a result of teacher–factor. For instance, the academic performance of students is affected negatively, when teachers do not possess the necessary teaching competences in terms of mastery of the contents or possession of good teaching methods in English language as a subject of study in schools. Also, teachers’ negative attitudes, poor personality, inexperience, poor classroom management, poor personal hygiene, poor teacher–student relationship, lack of communicative skills and poor judgments in the classrooms, contribute greatly to the poor academic achievement of students in English language in the schools. Apart from the above mentioned problems, many English teachers are lazy and therefore, find it difficult to prepare themselves before appearing in the classrooms. This has caused them to be poorly exposed to the course materials and absolute deficiency appearing in their mastery of what to teach poor methodoly on how to teach the subject in the classrooms. By extension, this has caused the great down-ward trends of the quality in the educational standards in Nigerian school system, with the attendant low performance of students in both spoken and written English language in and out of the school.

Many teachers who teach English language in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions these days are “cheats”, because they do not possess the required professional skills, the required cognate experience and the training that is innate in effective classroom teachers. Lack of competence and professional skills, are some of the main factors militating against high academic performance by students in the Nigerian school system.

1.3    PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of teacher-competence on students’ academic achievement in selected Senior Secondary Schools in Education District IV of Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos, Nigeria.

The specific objectives of this study will be amongst others to:

(1)  Find out whether teachers’ mastery of content affects students’ academic achievements in schools.

(2)  Examine the difference between teachers’ teaching methods and students’ academic achievement in schools.

(3)  Investigate whether there is difference between teachers’ qualifications and students’ academic achievement in schools.

(4)  Find out whether there is difference between teachers’ experience and students’ academic performance.

1.4    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Based on the background information and statement of the problem of the present study, the following research questions will be raised to guide the study:

1.   Will teachers’ mastery of content affect students’ academic performance in schools?

2.   Is there any significant difference between teaching methods and students’ academic performance in schools?

3.   Is there any significant difference between teacher’s educational qualification and students’ academic performance in schools?

4.   Is there any difference between teacher’s experience and students’ academic achievement in schools?