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EFFECTS OF TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION ON THE WRITTEN COMPOSITION OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL II STUDENTS IN JOS NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background to the Study

English Language is the language Nigerians inherited from the British. Human language is the most remarkable tool that man has invented, which has been used to ensure survival, express ideas and emotions, tell stories, remember the past and negotiate with one another. According to Adewale (2016), lower animals make varieties of communicative sounds and gestures but none of them has evolved a communicative system, as powerful and flexible as human language. The study and the use of English Language is take serious among students and the school authorities of various higher institutions of learning, examination bodies such as West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recognize the great importance of English Language for their candidates and make it compulsory in their examinations.

According to Osaat (2014) a competent teacher is a person who is professionally qualified and trained to teach, having the necessary qualities or skills and showing adequate skills in the teaching process. Other competencies required of teachers include knowledge of subject-matter, pedagogy, skill processes, resourcefulness, behaviour motivation and evaluation. In the opinion of Ivowi (2002) a competent teacher attends conferences, workshops and seminars, has a good classroom control, effective communication skills, adequate knowledge of the subject, utilize a variety of teaching methods or strategies and show enthusiasm for teaching.

English teachers’ competence needs to be very high to make meaningful teaching and learning take place. Teachers are considered the builders of a nation, considering the fact that once the educational foundation of a nation is cracked, the nation is doomed. English teachers are responsible for facilitating students’ learning at the same time moulding students’ behaviour which culminates into character. Thus, they ought to be competent morally, academically and pedagogically in order to produce learners with good character, quality skills and knowledge in composition writing. According to Khan (2016) if the teacher shows positive professional attitude towards students from all the perspectives such as maintenance of personality, knowledge, communication and management during the class while teaching composition writing, then students will be easily motivated towards their academics performance. This implies that teachers’ competence must relate to academic professional preparation, professional growth, classroom interaction and evaluation.

A highly effective English Language teacher can produce enriching effect on the daily lives of children and their lifelong educational and career aspirations as teachers. Their success in the classroom depends very much on his preparedness for the instruction process. According to Apkan (2002) professional competence is both academic and pedagogical. Academic competence is the teachers’ knowledge of his subject, observing such principles as teaching from known to unknown, concrete to abstract and from simple to complex. On the contrary, according to Onwioduokit and Ikwa (2003) it has been observed that most of the present teachers of English in secondary schools are not professional teachers nor have they even undergone a teacher training programme. Sometimes, those who teach this subject are graduates of other disciplines, contrary to what they are teaching. Also, many of those teaching are not education graduates. The teacher is the main aid to learning process by making use of methods, styles and techniques as additional aids. Where a teacher is deficient in a particular topic, the tendency is to dodge the areas of deficiency while the learner is bound to suffer. Keegan (2016) affirmed that a beautiful building and expensive equipment will not lead to effective learning without the qualified teacher putting them into good use and making students to participate in the experimental procedures.

According to Yoshida (2015), characteristics of a professional teacher includes verbal ability, content knowledge, pedagogical knowleddge, certification status, ability to use a range of teaching strategies skillfully and enthusiasm for the subject which brings about successful teaches. However, the reverse is the case, considering students’ poor performance in English Language, particularly in composition writing.

Composition writing is regarded as the most difficult component of English Language curriculum for students which is also an important proponent of not only English Language but other content subjects. Adas and Bakir (2013) state that writing is an intricate and complex task, it is most difficult of all language skills to acquire. They also argued that many students understand English Language but most of the students face the problem of communicating their ideas effectively due to lack of adequate stock of vocabulary, creativity in writing and several other factors. English Language Ordinary Level Paper 1 consists of two essays, one free composition and one guided essay. These results in students having several sittings of writing the examination but failure rate has hindered students from moving to upper academic professional levels because of failure in English composition writing.

A good composition is made up of an introduction, body and conclusion. According to Dawson (2009), wrote extensively on essay introductions. He posits that introductions should be good. According to him, opening sentences should capture the readers’ interest and ignite in them a desire to read on. Sentences need to be fresh and original. Furthermore, Dawson and Yon (2008) noted that some writers in their work of narratives use the flashback technique. The writer should be clear and gripping in his research as it is apparent that most students at ordinary Level write essays which are devoid of the above. Dawson and Yong (2018) suggest that both students and teachers should be knowledgeable of such aspects to improve their knowledge of composition writing.

Characterization is an important component of composition writing as such, Dawson (2009) stated that narratives should have characters that are realistic and convincing. Clear characters do not confuse the examiners and even the students themselves when they use some of the character roles as the story progresses. Students do not use clear characters in their essays. Also, orthography is another important area in essay writing. A good composition should have correct spelling, punctuations and properly ranged sentences with recommended word division. As such, teachers are encouraged to instill in the students’ minds the importance of these aspects.

            It is in line with the above discussion that this study seeks to examine the effects of teachers’ professional qualification on the written composition of senior secondary school II students in Jos North Local government Area with a view of finding out possible solutions where necessary.

• Statement of the Problem

A teacher’s primary role is the transmission of knowledge and skills to the learners. Therefore, a teacher would need to demonstrate efficiency in this primary role. Indeed, teacher’s academic background, training and professional competence are at stake here. There is deficiency and poor academic performance of students and this could be traced to lack of teachers’ competence, poor application of teaching aids or learning resources in the classrooms. The present state of teaching in Nigeria indicates that many people who teach in secondary schools are not professional teachers. This might be one of the reasons for the poor performance of students in English Language, particularly in composition writing. Thus, the question which teachers should ask themselves is that do I have the academic or professional competence to teach the content meaningfully? It against this background that the researcher intends to investigate the effects of teachers’ professional qualification on the written composition of senior secondary school II students in Jos North Local government Area.

• Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of teachers’ professional qualification on the written composition of senior secondary school II students in Jos North Local Government Area. Other specific objectives of the study are to:

1. Find out to what extent teachers’ qualification affect students’ performance in composition writing in senior secondary schools.
2. Ascertain the level of influence of English teachers qualification on students’ ability to construct meaningful sentences in composition writing in senior secondary schools.
3. Provide probable ways of solving the ugly trend of using unqualified teachers to teach English Language in schools.
   • Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. To what extent is teachers’ qualification responsible for students’ performance in composition writing in English Language in Senior Secondary Schools?
2. To what extent do English Language teachers influence students’ proficiency in composition writing in secondary schools?
3. What are the probable ways of correcting this trend of having unqualified teachers teach English Language in schools?
   • Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have formulated to guide the study:

H0₁: There is no significant difference between teachers’ who undergo professional development and those do not on student academic performance in English Language.

H0₂: There is a significant difference in teaching output between qualified and unqualified teachers on students academic performance in English Language.

1.6 Significance of the Study

            This study is significant at this time because many people have blamed students’ poor performance in English language especially at external examinations without actually looking at the teachers moulding these students. It is true that students these days spend much of their time on social media but the teachers of English Language need to be scrutinized. Are they qualified to teach the subject? This study will lay bare other causes of students’ dismal performance in English language and encourage the selection and employment of only qualified teachers to teach subjects, especially English Language in secondary schools.

1.7 Delimitation of the Study

            This study is centered on the effects of teachers’ qualification on the written composition of senior secondary school students. Geographically, the study is limited to students of secondary schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State. Because of time and financial constraints, this study will limit itself to four (4) selected schools in the Local government and whatever findings gotten from the research will be used to generalize for all senior secondary schools in the state and even beyond.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Qualification: Qualification as used here refers to teachers’ academic and professional competence in teaching subjects.