An Empirical Investigation Into Why Nigerian Secondary School Students Are Apprehensive Of Their English Grammar Classes

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An Empirical Investigation Into Why Nigerian
Secondary School Students Are Apprehensive Of
Their English Grammar Classes
Adejoke Jibowo (PhD)
avjibowo_at_yahoo.com
IATEFL, ABERDEEN, U.K. 18-22 April, 2007
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Abstract

• Secondary school students learning English, an L2
  in Nigeria often show some signs of being afraid,
  anxious or fearful more especially when it comes
  to grammar classes.
• The anxieties or apprehension they show,
  sometimes lead to better or worse performance in
  the language, depending on the magnitude of the
  apprehension.
• A way of reducing students apprehension perhaps
  is finding out the reasons or causes of the
  apprehension and the probable links between it
  and students demographic characteristics.
• The knowledge and understanding of this would
  enhance English language teachers better
  preparation for their grammar classes.
• This study was conducted on 300 secondary school
  students selected from two states in Nigeria.
• Findings showed that students are truly
  apprehensive of their grammar classes. Reasons
  for this phenomenon are the inherent nature of
  the language, its grammar, student and
  teacher-related factors.

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INTRODUCTION

• English language often generates strong emotions
  of fear worry and anxiety on the part of L2
  learners
• The relevance of this topic helps in
  understanding the pedagogy of the language
  profession.
• Experience and observations supports the notion
  that students are apprehensive of English
  Language and grammar class in particular.

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Apprehension and Communication
Basic theories about the reasons people
experience fear or anxiety about communication
are

• Excessive activation.
• Inappropriate cognitive processing.
• Inadequate communication skills.

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Research Questions

• 1. Are Nigerian secondary students apprehensive
  of their English grammar classes?
• 2. What reasons are responsible for the subjects
  apprehension of their English grammar classes?
• 3. Will each of the identified demographic
  characteristics have any significant relationship
  with subjects responses?

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Methodology

• This study is of a descriptive survey type of
  research design
• Random selection of 300 secondary school students
  from two states in Nigeria
• A 15 item structured questionnaire was used.
• Analysis of data was carried out using simple
  percentage and t-test at 0.05 level of
  significance.

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Results

• The descriptive analysis shown in table 1 reveals
  subjects affirmation of the statement secondary
  school students are generally apprehensive of
  their English Grammar classes. The percentages of
  QT and T (put together) is greater than that of
  UT and QU (put together).
• Reasons for students apprehension, as revealed
  by this analysis are teacher-related factors,
  method and materials, inherent nature of teaching
  the language and its grammar and student-related
  factors
• The analysis shown on table 3 shows that the
  intervening variable status, level of study, type
  of school, location and gender had no significant
  influence at (P 0.005) on the subjects
  responses.

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Some peculiarities of English Language

• Three of these peculiarities are
• Phonological
• Grammatical
• Lexical
• These are explained by juxtaposing English and
  Yoruba Languages

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Grammar learning and teaching

• Grammar is central to the teaching and
  learning of languages. It is also one of the more
  difficult aspects of language to teach. Many
  language teachers take grammar to be strictly a
  set of word forms and rules of usage.

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• As part of the ways of helping the L2 learners
  overcome their usual apprehension of grammar
  classes, the communicative competence model of
  grammar teaching is desirable.
• Students are said to appreciate and gain much
  from the rest instruction, thereby reducing their
  apprehension.
• The major goal of grammar teaching is to enable
  learners to carry out their communicative
  exercises. To achieve this goal, students need
  overt instruction that connects grammar items
  with communication context.
• They do not need to master all aspects of
  grammar, only those that are relevant to the
  immediate communication situation need be taught.

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• Under the communicative competence grammar
  teaching approach, Overt Grammar Instruction
  (OGI) takes place.
• By this, learners are able to apply their
  critical thinking skills to language learning.
• Unlike the traditional model drills, the
  communicative competence model has the
  distinctive features teaching in context all the
  necessary forms of grammar progressively

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CONCLUSION

• Nigerian secondary school student sample used
  for this study affirm through their self-report
  of internal feelings and reaction that they are
  generally apprehensive of their English language
  grammar classes. Four reasons
• inherent nature of the language and its grammar
• inadequate teaching personnel, poor teaching
  methods and materials
• lack of appropriate motivation
• students fear of being ridiculed in the class
  and fear of failure at the overall language
  examination were identified.

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Suggestion

• It is therefore being suggested, by the data
  presented that overt grammar teaching is
  necessary and that the communicative competence
  model appears a way of effecting intervention in
  the matter. If the teacher-related factors are
  well handled, the other problems are likely to be
  greatly reduced.