Investigating the causes and effects of poor performance of male students in English language

Case Study from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: B, , course: Variety of English, language: English, abstract: The project work was conducted to investigating into the causes and effects of poor performance of SHS Boys in English Language. A case study in Tuna Senior High School. Which sort to find remedy to curb this challenge that Senior High School Students faces. The research instruments used were observation, questionnaires and interviews. The researchers also used pre-intervention, intervention and post intervention design to help curtail the students' poor performance in English Language when it comes to essay writing. The study generally revealed that the dominant use of mother tongue, inadequate qualified English language teachers, inadequate infrastructural facilities and instructional media (materials), teacher's attitude toward innovation and use of instructional media and inappropriate use of teaching methods were some of the causes of poor performance of male students in English Language. Worry and fear, inability to get fair and objective grades, less fluent and unable to communicate with others, low esteem and no confidence to express themselves and it leaving a negative mark on parents for other parents to mock at were also some of the effects of poor performance in English Language. Some strategies were also designed to curb the poor performance of students in English Language which include employing the services of a qualified trained teacher, the use of teaching and learning materials by teachers, way of motivation by teachers, also teachers should teach students correct pronunciation and use of language laboratory to improve the students' poor performances in English Language. Finally, the importance of the strategies designed were not also left out since it promotes student-teacher interaction for effective learning, the use of teaching and learning materials makes learning of English Language pleasant since they offer a reality of experience, another important of the strategies designed was the activating of positive attitudes on the students and last but not least was the motivation offered by teachers to their students.

Joseph Peter Yaw-kan is a budding academic, and teacher of English Language and Literature at the Chereponi Senior High School. His research interests include: African fiction and Literary Stylistics.