WELCOME TO KENTERPRO:
EFFECT OF PEER GROUP DISCUSSION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF STRESS PATTERN AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS IN PANKSHIN LGA

  CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

English as an international language that has been learned by every country in the world and also Nigeria. English is a foreign language of Nigeria. So, many approaches and methods are used to learn it. But, the problem of teaching English still exists in many classes in Nigeria. It can be task of the English teacher subject in the class to make students feel happy when they learn about English. In learning English, students should acquire the four skills that are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. One of the four skills that plays an important role in English is speaking. The results of students’ success in learning English course is often measured based on how they can improve in their verbal skill. 

According to Brown (2007: p.9) that speaking is not a single skill, rather speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. In addition, Harmer (2001: p.15) points out that speaking include two categories; accuracy and fluency.

That means developing speaking skill involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and speech spontaneously. To teach the speaking skill is not easy, a teacher needs to have a clear understanding of the processes involved in speech, such as motivation, interest, etc. 

Since such problems in speaking activity are inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation and mother tongue use (Zakaria & Zanaton, 2007). In Nigeria building language habits is very difficult because so many mother tongue, that also make the students feel afraid of making errors in their speech, uncomfortable in pronouncing the words or sentences, and lack of vocabulary. 

In the context of speaking English, the goal of speaking activity is to encourage students to share their own experiences by using the English or being able to speak to friends and even speak with foreigners, but most of them often feel anxiety when they face such situation. For learners, speaking is a highly anxiety-provoking situation. Saville-troike (2006: p.90) stated that the students might experience the difficulties related to their psychological traits, such as lack of confidence, fear, and anxiety. Such difficulties also become a great obstacle for students to practice their speaking skill.

Discussion is one of the methods which can be used to teach speaking. According to Harmer (2001: p.88-93) in the discussion activity, the learners have opportunities to express their ideas and opinions and to interact in meaningful realistic context. The learners can also generate their own discourse. It is useful for the students to express their ideas without feeling embarrassed. In these activities, students must work together to develop a plan, resolve a problem or complete the task.

Thornbury (2005) described that in a small group discussion, the students would be able to learn from each other. They might also correct each other’s mistakes, help out with a needed word and teach each other some non-linguistic material through the content of the discussion.

The researcher also thinks that small group discussion can facilitate the task of students where they can help each other who do not understand the lesson. For the quiet students, within a group someone can feel more confident than when in a class and in the presences of a teacher.

To Wiersma (2000)small group discussion could improve the student’s speaking skill. He further said that there are 3 reasons why we can use small group-discussion in improving speaking skill. First, discussion is used to increase teacher-student interaction and student-student verbal interaction in the classroom. Second, discussion is used to promote meaningful personal interaction and learning. The learning may be of contents, skills, attitudes or processes. Third, it is used to help students adopt more responsible and independent mode of learning.

English Study Program is very concerned in teaching learning English competence especially in speaking. Speaking is an important skill among other which has to be practiced by the students. As the case may be, some of students still feel nervous when speaking in front of the class. According to Yiljep (2020) the speaking skill can also be tested through the teaching of stress pattern. He further said that students should be allowed to hear and then identify the differences; produce the differences by using words in sentences which show meaning differences.

According to Jimwan and Salamatu (2017) the dialogue format thus encourages oral practice in a meaning situation. Grammatical items can be taught and consolidated through the use of the items taught in the dialogue. Substitution within the dialogue situation serves to demonstrate the functional range of the new item. Naturalness does not lie in the utterance alone, it depends on equal or even a greater degree upon the way the utterance is delivered.

It is in the light of the above discussion that this study seeks out to evaluate the effect of peer group discussion on the performance of senior secondary school students’ performance in stress pattern in selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Speaking as a skill is a most neglected part of the English language syllabus. Most teachers of English at the secondary school level shy away from teaching this aspect of English language. This accounts for why some people can write proficiently but speak poorly. Furthermore, the WAEC Chief Examiners Report in (2018) said that 45.3% of students failed English language. Most of these students who failed had zero knowledge on speaking skills and especially stress pattern.

This problem becomes an obstacle to our secondary school students who are potential admission seekers into the university. If this problem is not tackled at the secondary school levels, this country is likely to produce bad speakers of the English language. Hence the present researcher has seen the grave need to look for a way forward which will serve as a remedy for poor stress pattern among senior secondary school students in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State.

1.3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of peer group discussion on the performance of students in stress pattern on senior secondary school students in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State. Other specific objectives of the study include:

1. To determine the performance of experimental and control groups in their pretest in stress pattern.
2. To determine the performance of experimental and control groups in their post-test in stress pattern.
3. To find out the difference between the performance of students exposed to peer group discussion and those who were not exposed to it.

1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In line with the purpose of the study, the following research questions have been formulated to guide the study. They research questions shall be answered at the end of the research:

1. What is the performance of experimental and control groups in their pretest in stress pattern?
2. What is the performance of experimental and control groups in their post-test in stress pattern?
3. What is the difference between the performance of students exposed to peer group discussion and those who were not exposed to it?

1.5.RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

H₀: There is no significant difference in the performance of students in the experimental and control group in stress pattern.

1.6. SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study covers the effects of peer group discussion on the performance of students in stress pattern. The study is limited to two selected secondary schools in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State. However, despite the fact that the study is limited to the selected schools and local government area, its findings can be generalized to other schools, state and country as a whole.

1.7.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of the study can give theoretical information, or references to existing theories related to teaching speaking skill, speaking anxiety especially through the use of the group discussion as a strategy.

The result of this study hopefully can give the alternative way for education especially for the students. It can help students in learning speaking. 

This research hopefully can give significant effect for field of education, in the form of giving information about small group discussion to the teachers. Then the teacher will apply it.

It is also as a reference for further research, especially a research about speaking skill, speaking anxiety and small group discussion.

1.8. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Small Group Discussion

Small group discussion is a process of discussing things in a state of small number of people joining together in the discussion.

Speaking Skill

Speaking is interactions among students in classroom during the teaching learning process of certain topic in English class. The students will interact of assigned topic in learning speaking with their friend.