WELCOME TO KENTERPRO:
EFFECTS OF DRILL AND PRACTICE ON THE ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LANGTANG NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Many students learning English consider writing to be the most challenging language skill to master. Teachers also face difficulties in developing their students’ writing capabilities. Typically, teachers set aside two or three periods for writing tasks because it takes time to produce essays. The teacher usually writes a topic on the whiteboard and spends a few minutes explaining to the students what they should write about regarding the topic. The teacher then instructs the students to start writing and to submit the finished product at the end of the lesson or the following day. The composition is then marked, and the teacher corrects any errors. After that, the teacher returns the books, makes a few remarks concerning the students’ performance, instructs them to do any necessary corrections, and gives them a new writing assignment (Raimes, 2017).

There are various language learning strategies or techniques that can be incorporated into classroom teaching and learning sessions. Language learning strategies, such as the drilling technique, can help limited learners in writing. By practicing drills, students can become familiar with the formats of essays, especially descriptive essays. This type of essay is one of the easiest topics for learners because they can describe a person, place, or thing using the adjectives they have learned. It has become essential for learners at all levels to write and understand their written texts. Actually, most teachers have been using this technique without realizing it in their teaching and learning processes. According to Blasingame & Bushman (2015) as cited in Wilder & Mongillo (2017), most language teachers use this drilling technique or strategy to help their low proficiency students pass their English papers. They have been using this technique for years without knowing the specific terms to describe it. English language teachers usually use this technique in teaching writing because low proficiency students need to be drilled to ensure they can write a few sentences during their examinations.

Typically, students attend classes for their first exposure to course materials, and drills provide a platform for consolidating student learning through interactive discussion and problem-solving activities. Teaching, especially in large classrooms, is typically a one-way communication from the teacher to the students. In contrast, drills provide a forum for two-way communication between the instructor and students. As drills allow interactive discussions on course topics via drill questions and problem-solving activities, drills play a crucial role in consolidating students’ course-specific knowledge.

According to Tella (2017), drills are based on the principles of programmed learning or instruction. Drills involve a sequence of tasks, exercises, or words repeated over and over until they can be performed faultlessly. Drills and practice are interactive and help students remember the concepts they have been taught previously (Widmayer & Alayne, 2017). English language learning strategies, such as the drilling technique, can help limited learners in writing. By doing drills and practicing, students can become familiar with the formats of essays given by their teachers, especially in descriptive essays. This type of essay is one of the easiest topics for learners because they describe a person, place, or thing using the adjectives they have learned. It has become essential for learners at all schooling levels to write and understand their written texts.

In fact, most teachers have implemented this technique without realizing that they are using it in their teaching and learning process. According to Wilder & Mongillo (2017), most language teachers use the drilling technique or strategy to help their low proficiency students pass their English papers. They have used this technique for years but did not know the specific terms to describe it.

Usually, English language teachers use this technique in teaching writing because, throughout the years, low proficiency students have had to be drilled to make sure they can write a few sentences during their examinations. However, as Heward points out, drill and practice can be conducted in ways that render it pointless and a waste of time. Research has shown, however, that when properly conducted, drill and practice is a consistently effective teaching method. For example, a recent meta-analysis of 85 academic intervention studies with students with learning disabilities found that interventions that included systematic drill, repetition, practice, and review produced the largest effect sizes regardless of the practical or theoretical orientation of the study (Blasingame & Bushman, 2017).

Drills, when used in combination with practice, provide instruction in such a way that each lesson has a series of frames or branches. Additionally, the use of drills and practice for instruction brings several benefits as a teaching and learning medium, including self-paced and self-directed learning, the exercising of various senses, and the ability to represent content in a variety of media.

In a study, Momoh-Olle (2019) found that males generally outperformed girls in retention tests in English, while Ngwoke (2018) found a similar result in linguistics. Students’ interest, achievement, and retention in any learning activity are sustained by the active involvement of the learner in all aspects of the learning process. Ogwo and Oranu (2017) and Ngwoke (2018) emphasized that unless the teacher stimulates students’ interest in learning, students’ achievement will be minimal. Hence, it is essential that English teachers use teaching methods that ensure students’ active involvement in learning and provide a suitable learning environment to improve achievement and stimulate interest in English.

Drills are a form of specialized learning that involves qualified coaching, and the use of micro-computers or other methods to provide students with guidance, assistance, and motivation to learn efficiently and effectively. According to Rusman (2018), learning drills are a way to train students on the lesson material that has been given, and they are implanted through certain habits in the form of exercises. With continuous practice, these drills become embedded as habits, increasing the speed, accuracy, and completeness of the task. They can also be used to repeat training material, further increasing speed and efficiency.

Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of drill and practice on the writing achievement of Junior Secondary School students in Langtang North, specifically in English.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The learning outcome of every student depends largely on the type of teaching methods, strategies, and instructional techniques employed by the teacher during instruction. In Junior secondary schools, traditional teaching methods such as lecture, demonstration, and field trips are often used for teaching English Language, but these are referred to as conventional and are teacher-centered rather than student-centered. Such methods discourage creativity and limit students from thinking beyond what is presented to them by their teachers, resulting in passive learning and apathy towards learning. This lack of effective methodology is a major reason for low academic achievements of students in junior secondary schools.

Traditional teaching methods do not adequately equip teachers with contemporary views of students’ intelligences and their vast learning capabilities. Therefore, these traditional teaching methods used by teachers may be responsible for the low academic achievement in English language. To address these problems, it is necessary to determine the effect of drill and practice on the writing achievement of students in English in Junior Secondary Schools in Langtang North.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

 The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of drill and practice on the academic achievement of students in writing in junior secondary school in Langtang North. Specifically, the study will seek to:

1. Determine the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drills and those taught without it in organization.
2. Determine the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drill1s and those taught without it in use of punctuation.

iii. Determine the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drills and those taught without it in idea generation.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions was formulated to guide this study:

1. What are the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drills and those taught without it in organization?
2. What are the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drills and those taught without it in use of punctuation?

iii. What are the achievement scores of students taught English Language with writing drills and those taught without it in idea generation?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The benefits that occur from this study are many, specifically, the findings will be beneficial to students, teachers, ministry of education, curriculum planners and researchers.

The findings of this study if found to have positive effect and implemented will also be of benefit to students’ participation and interest in the class room writing activities. There will be improvement in students’ achievements in writing through the use of drill and practice and connection to real world of work. This in turn will enable students to pass their external examinations in English Language writing.

Teachers will benefit from the result of this study in that they will use the standardized instrument to evaluate the students in writing, rather than the teacher-made test. English Language teachers’ work will become easier and interesting as they will be playing supervisory roles whereby student centered interactive instruction will be used to secure and sustain the attention of the students in learning writing in English Language. The knowledge of drill and practice if found effective will help the teachers to improve their instructional delivery to bridge the gap in achievement in English Language writing.

Ministry of Education will benefit from the findings of this study. Effectiveness of drill and practice, will no doubt influence the decision of the Ministry of Education on the need to incorporate writing drills as a teaching method in teaching English writing. Furthermore, findings will also sensitize the Ministry to organize conferences, workshops and seminars to train English Language teachers on the use of writing drills and practice to improve their instructional delivery.

The result will be of immense benefit to the English Language curriculum developers because they will find it valuable especially in the provision of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of drill and practice in the teaching of English Language.

Finally, when this study is completed, it will serve as reference materials to future researchers who would want to carry out research on similar topic. It will add to the already existing body of literature on effects of drill and practice on the writing skills of secondary school students.

1.6. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

            The study covers effects of drills on the performance of students in writing in Senior Secondary Schools. The study is restricted to selected secondary schools in Langtang North Local government Area of Plateau State. In content, the study shall cover punctuation, idea generation and idea organization. Despite the fact that the study is restricted to the selected Local Government Area, its findings will be generalized to other parts of the state and country as a whole.

1.7. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

            The Behaviorist Learning Theory, introduced by B.F. Skinner in the 1950s, has been applied in various fields, including language learning. According to this theory, learning occurs through the establishment of connections between stimuli and responses. In the context of drill and practice in language learning, this means that repetition of exercises and tasks can strengthen these connections, leading to more efficient and effective language learning. The behaviorist theory emphasizes the role of reinforcement and feedback in shaping behavior, and this can be applied to language learning through the use of positive reinforcement and corrective feedback during drill and practice activities. Positive reinforcement can take the form of praise or rewards for correct responses, while corrective feedback can help learners identify and correct errors in their language use. These reinforcements and feedback can help learners develop more accurate and fluent language production.

Moreover, the behaviorist theory suggests that learning is best achieved through a step-by-step process, with each step building on the previous one. In language learning, this means that drills and practice activities should be carefully designed to follow a logical progression, with increasingly complex exercises and tasks as learners progress. This can help learners develop a solid foundation of language skills and knowledge, which they can then apply in more advanced language activities.

Overall, the behaviorist theory provides a solid theoretical framework for the use of drill and practice in language learning. By emphasizing the importance of repetition, reinforcement, and feedback, this theory can help language learners develop accurate and fluent language skills in a structured and systematic way.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Drill: is a classroom technique used to practise new language. It involves the teacher modelling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it.

Practice: is the act of rehearsing a behaviour over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it.

Teaching Methods: It refers to the general principle, pedagogy and management strategies used for classroom instruction.

Conventional Method: is concerned with the teacher being the controller of the learning environment. Power and responsibility are held by the teacher and they play the role of instructor (in the form of lectures) and decision maker (in regards to curriculum content and specific outcomes).