Effect of Integrative Language Teaching Approach On Secondary School Students' Achievement and Interest in English Grammar

ABSTRACT

The study was designed to empirically investigate the effect of Integrative Language Teaching Approach (ILTA) on secondary school students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. It also determined the influence of gender and location on students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. The achievement and interest of students taught with ILTA were compared with those of students taught with the Form Based Approach (FBA). Ten research questions and ten hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental design was used. Specifically, the nonrandomised control group design, involving eight intact classes was used. The sample for the study consisted of 296 SSS II students from four co-educational secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area, which was the area of the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used, first to draw the four co-educational schools and two intact classes from each school, and to assign schools to experimental (ILTA) and control groups (FBA). Two instruments, namely the English Grammar Achievement Test (EGAT) and the English Grammar Interest Inventory (EGII) were developed and validated. The internal consistency of EGAT was computed and found to be 0.95 using Kuder Richardson’s formula (K – R 20), while that of EGII was 0.71 using Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient Method. Before treatment commenced, the EGAT and EGII were administered as pretest to the two groups in each of the sampled schools. The treatment lasted for one month. After the treatment session, the same instrument, with numbers re-arranged, were administered to the subjects to obtain the post-test scores. The data obtained were used in answering the research questions and testing the hypotheses. The research questions were answered using mean scores, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that ILTA had significant effect on students’ achievement and interest in English grammar, but gender did not significantly influence students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. Location was a significant factor in students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. The results also showed that there was no significant interaction effect of instructional approach and gender on students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. However, while there was significant interaction effect of instructional approach and location on students’ achievement in English grammar, there was no significant interaction effect of instructional approach and location on students’ interest in English grammar. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the study provided empirical evidence of the efficacy of ILTA in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in English grammar. By implication, if teachers of the English language adopt ILTA and practise it in their various schools, students’ achievement and interest in English grammar may improve. It was, therefore, recommended among others that government and other professional bodies should organize workshops, seminars and conferences to educate and sensitize the serving teachers on the use of ILTA in teaching English grammar.