Abstract:
The teaching of social studies in primary schools is expected to produce desirable social skills and academic achievement in pupils. However, pupils’ deficiency in social skills and academic achievement have been reported in Imo State, Nigeria. Previous studies focused largely on pupils’ school-related factors with little emphasis on intervention in the area of language of instruction. This study, therefore, was carried out to examine the effects of two languages of instruction (Igbo, English and Igbo) on primary IV pupils’ learning outcomes (Achievement and Social skills) in social studies in Imo State. The moderating effects of gender and school location were also examined.
Socio-cultural and Erik Erickson’s Psychosocial theories provided the framework, while the mixed method (quasi-experimental design and phenomenological approach) was adopted. The Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted. Stratified random sampling was used to select six Local Government Areas (LGAs) (three each from rural and urban areas) out of the 27 LGAs in Imo State. One public primary school was purposively selected from each LGAs based on availability of Igbo Language teachers. Intact Primary IV classes were purposively selected from each school because the pupils were in transition class, totaling 166 pupils. One urban and one rural school were randomly assigned to Igbo (67), English and Igbo (57) and English (42) media of instruction. The Instruments used were Children Communication skills Observation Schedule (α= 0.78), Pupils Self-expression Scale (α= 0.82), Social Studies Group Loyalty Questionnaire (α= 0.75) and Social Studies Achievement Test (α= 0.84). A session of focus group discussion was held with six primary IV teachers. The treatment lasted six weeks. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of covariance and Scheffe post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were thematically analysed.
Majority of the participants (61.0%) were females. There were significant main effects of treatment on pupils’ achievement (F(2; 159) =42.18; partial ῆ2 0.35) and social skills (F(2, 153) =2.58; partial ῆ2 0.03). Pupils exposed to English and Igbo medium of instruction had the highest achievement mean score (x ̅=18.68), followed by Igbo (x ̅=16.82) and English (x ̅=14.53) groups. Pupils taught with Igbo had the highest social skills mean score (x ̅=63.02), followed by English and Igbo (x ̅=62.22) and English ((x ) ̅=60.98). There were significant main effects of school location on pupils’ academic achievement (F(1; 159) =8.45; partial ῆ2=.05) and social skills (F(1; 153) =5.22; partial ῆ2=.03), in favour of pupils from rural schools on achievement (x ̅=17.23) and social skills (x ̅=62.95) respectively. Gender had a significant main effect on pupils’ social skills (F(1; 153) =4.03; partial ῆ2=0.03), in favour of male pupils (x ̅=62.82) than female (x ̅= 61.32). The two-way and three-way interaction effects were not significant. Teachers preferred the use of English and Igbo as medium of instruction.
English and Igbo as media of instruction enhanced primary four pupils’ achievement and social skills in Imo State, Nigeria. These media of instruction should be adopted by primary IV social studies teachers for improved achievement and social skills of pupils.
