ASSESSMENT ON  THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES ON STUDENT'S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Leaders in society throughout the world are increasingly wondering how we might better man's surroundings. We are highly worried about our environment, particularly since our performance in all aspects of life is influenced by our surroundings. The impact of environmental factors on students' academic achievement in English language in public secondary schools is the only concern here. Men's environment discussions have revealed at least as much variance in the real environment that men have attempted to create for themselves. The majority of people believe that all citizens should have equal access to education. But, when it comes to susceptibility to various types of stimuli, what are the essential ages?

Differences in the rate of growth under social (different) situations give a remarkable indication of the significant influence of environment on human existence. Japanese youths are now taller than their parents and behave differently from their pre-war predecessors, not because of genetic differences, but because the environment in Japan has changed dramatically since WWII (Bernstein and Hedenon, 2000). A similar effect may be seen in the Israeli Kibbutz, where children are fed and raised in hygienic settings that are as close to ideal as possible. The relevance of the ecological method in the study of human issues is demonstrated by these intricate feedback linkages between man and his environment.

The factors that occur during the very early stages of human development, particularly the intra-uterine period, warrant special attention since they have a significant impact on the adult's morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits.

Environmental insults that an organism is exposed to during its formative years have long-term consequences; indeed, the effects of such early influences appear irreversible, necessitating precise observations and extensive experimental studies on the impact of external conditions (environment) on students' academic performance in public schools.

In today's world, education is a powerful tool for social mobilization.  It places a high value on young people's education as a path to cultural, social, political, economic, and technical liberation.

According to Nigerian educational philosophy, education is considered as a tool of constructing a free, just, and equitable society, one that provides citizens with a variety of options. Some state governments go above and above by providing direct financial aid to students in the form of scholarships and bursaries, as well as covering WAEC and NECO costs. Despite this deliberate effort, there is widespread public outcry over the declining quality of education, as evidenced by external assessments. We can wonder if the educational level is slipping at some point. We can address this question by assessing our educational system. We must investigate the conditions in which children learn, including the setting in which they live. Is it a rich, exciting, and motivating environment? Bello (2004) defines environment as the sum of all external conditions and factors that affect an individual's existence and development.

The physical environment (air, water, and land) is part of the environment. Climate change) and socioeconomic issues (ethics, economics, aesthetics and others which affect the behavaiour of an individual). Children are molded or formed by the elements that operate in a certain environment. He stated that these variables include the quality of the school as well as the professors, all of which may have a favorable or bad impact on a student's academic achievement. Another element is parental raising style, which includes discipline, occupation, and so forth. Another key aspect is school location; the difference between a tranquil and serene school environment and a dreadful school site might affect children' academic performance. All of these factors have an effect on students' academic achievement in English language.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

            The poor performance of our students in their certificate examinations as well as JAMB for admittance into higher institutions is causing concern among parents, teachers, educationists, and the general public. However,   It is well understood that environmental factors may have a good or negative impact on a learner's learning. It is also true that factors like as teacher quality, parental style, and academic background, among others, may impact academic performance. Some students have been seen roaming the streets while they should be in class listening to lectures.  According to Uwana (2017), some teachers go to school and go at will in some secluded areas because they believe the school's location will not attract inspectors from educational board.

Some schools have been found not being able to expose their children to the necessary curriculum due to a lack of certified teachers. Students' learning quality may be harmed as a result of these shortcomings. The goal of this study is to evaluate environmental factors and their impact on the academic performance of English language students in public secondary schools against this backdrop.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study was to present an assessment on  the influence of environmental variables on student's academic performance in English Language in public secondary schools. Specifically, the study intends to:

i.          Determine whether teacher qualification and teacher-student relation influences student’s academic performance in English language.

ii.        Examine whether school quality and location influences student’s academic performance in English language

iii.      Ascertain  whether parenting styles influences student’s academic performance in English language

iv.      To suggest measures in which some of this variables could be positively used towards achievable goals in the student’s academic performance.

1.4 Research Questions 

To guide the study, the following research questions were posed;

i.          Does teacher’s qualification and teacher-student relations influences student’s academic performance in English language.

ii.        Does school quality and location influence student’s academic performance in English language?

iii.      Does parenting styles influences student’s academic performance in English language?

iv.      What measures can be put in place on environmental variables toward towards improving student academic performance

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in the sense that it is the first step to the amelioration of students’ academic performance.

To the Government:  This study will be useful to the government while setting up public secondary schools.  To the Parents, they will have to understand the psychology of the child under their care. Spotlight the importance of environment in the growth and development of the child as well as its influence on the child’s academic performance. It will also enable the parents to know that the environment a child grows up in and associates with, aids in his/her growth and development, proper usage of the English language, as well as his academic performance.

To the Teachers, it will help the policy makers/planners, officials in the teaching service/ministry of education in decision making as regards the teaching approach and methods used in teaching and to motivate teachers to strive to write out extraneous variables as much as they can. To the Students:, this study would serve as a useful reference material for future research in related fields

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

It was not the intention of the researchers to cover all public secondary schools since such would be too wide.  Therefore, the study was on the “influence of environmental variables on the academic performance of public secondary school students in  Enugu educational zone in Enugu State was the focus of the study.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only public secondary school students in  Enugu educational zone in Enugu State. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other public secondary schools  in other  States within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

To enhance proper understanding of this work, some terms were defined in the context of this research as follows:

Environmental variables:  As used in the study, refers to the student’s home as they were brought up by parents, the quality of schools attended by students in terms of teacher quality, facilities and also the location of schools.

Academic performance:  This is referred to the educational output of individual child, be it negative or positive that can be measured.  It is measured through scores obtained by the students in the researcher constructed English achievement test.

Parental rearing style:  This is used to measure parents attitude in bringing up their children.

Influence:  This refers to the subtle but very potent forces of powers that dominates an environment that can shape somebody either good or bad.

Questionnaires:  This means a list of questions to be answered by a group of people to obtain facts or information for a survey.

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