EFFECTS OF CRISIS ON THE CHOICE OF ENGLISH WORDS BY SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page – – – – – – – – i
Declaration – – – – – – – – ii
Approval Page – – – – – – – – iii
Dedication – – – – – – – – iv
Acknowledgement – – – – – – – v
Abstract – – – – – – – – vi

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study – – – – – – 1
1.2 Statement of the problem – – – – – – 3
1.3 Objectives of the study – – – – – – 4
1.4 Research questions – – – – – – 5
1.5 Significance of the study – – – – – – 5
1.6 Scope and delimitation of the study – – – – 6

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction – – – – – – – 30
3.1 Research Design – – – – – – 30
3.2 Area of the Study – – – – – – 31
3.3 Population of the Study – – – – – 31
3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique – – – – 31
3.5 Instrument for data Collection – – – – 32
3.6 Description of Instrument – – – – – 32
3.7 Validity of Instrument – – – – – – 32
3.8 Method of data collection – – – – – 33
3.9 Method of data analysis – – – – – 33

CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction – – – – – – – 34
4.1 Method of Data Presentation – – – – – 34
4.2 Results – – – – – – – – 35

CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction – – – – – – – 40
5.1 Summary of Finding – – – – – – 40
5.2 Conclusion – – – – – – – 42
5.4 Recommendations – – – – – – 43
Reference – – – – – – – 45

Abstract
This study investigated the effects of crisis on the choice of English words by secondary school students in Riyom local government. Three research questions were used to guide the study. The researcher employed the survey research design to find out whether or not crisis does affect students’ choice of English words. To do this, a number of Secondary school students were selected from senior secondary II in two different schools (Government Secondary School and Christian Community Secondary School Riyom). Each sample consisted of thirty students who were randomly selected. A structured interview containing 15 questions were used to elicit answers from the students. The researcher found out that crisis did not have any significant effects on the choice of English words by the students interviewed. Nevertheless, the students used words such as ‘helpless’,’ enemies’, which indicated their familiarity with crisis. The study thus recommended that more researches should be carried out on crisis and language learning.

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
1.0 Background of the Study
The happening in and around people go a long way to shape their thought. Neblett (2009) is credited with the famous quote that the individual is the sum total of his experience, this means that whatever happen around them goes on to become part of them as well, and goes further to infiltrate his thought and then his language. What is used to tell where the person comes from is when the person uses expressions that are typical of the particular part of the country.
In recent years, crisis and crises related happenings in the Nigerian socio-political space have become rampant. There is no denying the fact that children of all ages have been exposed to the horrors of crises. This crises range from hunger and starvation, disease, crime and criminality, these children have been prematurely exposed to them, and consequently these negative experiences of crises penetrate the minds of these children and in no time , the vices dominate their thought life.
There are several ways by which people’s thought, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others. This suggests that humans are easily manipulated by social influences even when alone, such as when watching television or following internalized cultural norms. Therefore, social psychologist typically explains human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and situations. Social psychologist examine factors that cause behaviors to unfold in a given in the presence of others. They study conditions under which certain behavior, actions, and feelings, occur. Social psychology is concern with the way these feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intensions, goals are cognitively constructed and how these mental representations, in turn influence our interactions with others.
Many crisis redden, communities have been affected in several ways by these realities for example, incessant attacks on the people of Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, in recent years have become part of the social experiences, for instance, the population of the local government, though predominantly Berom, has hitherto been living in mixed settlements. The Berom people live side by side the pastoral Fulani and other language groups. However, since the attacks are suspected to be from the pastoralist, the Berom people have forced the Fulani population to relocate to the forest away from the main settlement areas. Since then there has been a growing tension between members of the two ethnic groups, leading to mutual suspicion.
Crisis always affects people’s use of language perhaps the re-occurring crisis in the local government has always affected language in one way or another. In particular, it may have reshaped students’ use of English language, so much that there is a noticeable influence of this on the choice of English language words by secondary school students in Riyom local government area in plateau state.
It is against this background that this research seeks to investigate what relationship there is between crisis and the students choice of English language words and there expressions.
1.1 Statement of the Problem
Nigeria has been experiencing different kinds of crisis. Some of these crises range from the Boko Haram insurgency in the North east, to ethno-religious crisis in the North central, as well as sectarian crisis in virtually all other regions of the country, not to forget the farmers’ herdsmen clashes. The Nigeria society is a crisis-ridden society. The result is that the educational sector now has even more problems on its hands than it can deal with if it is so to stand the slimmest chance of survival.
For one, people are displaced in a crisis as they are forced to live the volatile settlements to safer places, sometimes to camps set up for internal displaced persons (IDP). As the population is displaced, natural school programs and activities are disrupted. Most times they make shift settlements battle with more germane issues of survival to include food and health services, meaning that education becomes a luxury they can hardly afford. Even when there is some sort of education arranged for the displaced people, there is the effect of trauma to be dealt with as the children, sometimes, may have witnessed the taking of lives of their family members and relations. In fact the list of these problems seems inexhaustible.
These problems can only be sufficiently dealt with, if they are properly understood. In the area of language for instance the re-settling of the displaced persons among other things causes people of different linguistic background to be mixed together, soon enough the mixed population will begin to borrow words from the “new” languages that have been introduced.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
This study is primarily concerned with establishing what relationships there are between crisis and the choice of English words among secondary school students in Riyom local government area of plateau state. The objectives of the study are:
1. To find out if crisis has affected learners choice of English words in conversations.
2. To determine the extent to which crisis has affected learners’ choice of English words in Riyom local government area.
3. To identify any new words used by the learners in their interactions.
1.3 Research Question
1. Does crisis affect the choice of English words by students in their conversations?
2. To what extent has crisis affected the learners’ choice of English words in their conversations?
3. How many new words, occasioned by crisis, have appeared in the students conversational English?
1.4 Significance of the Study
This study can serve as a document that will be used as a particular reference in academic situations. It is therefore the main concern of the researcher to develop a comprehensive document that can be used as a good reference material.
This study will help language teachers to become aware of the extent of the influence of crisis on their students’, and thereby make deliberate choice about the methods and techniques to employ for their optimal student/teacher performance.
Furthermore, the entire population of Riyom Local Government Area, the government and educational planners and administrators will find the study particularly useful, in that, it will present them with empirical findings on how crisis can affect language learning.
1.5 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This research seeks to investigate the effect of crisis on the choice of English words by secondary school students. The study is not on crises generally and its effects on the people per se, but strictly on its effect on language.