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A study of factors affecting English oral attainment of secondary school students in the express stream
Author
Lu, Rose Soo Ying
Supervisor
Lim, Shirley S. L.
Abstract
This research aims primarily at investigating the oral competence of Express Stream students studying English as the first language in Secondary schools in Singapore. The main aim to see if the students' oral competence, as measured by oral attainment, is affected by the selected variables under study in this research. The secondary aim is to see if the quality and quantity of student participation in classroom discussion reflect oral competence. it also hopes to see if Oral attainment is correlated to Written attainment.
The specific objective of the main (macro) study was to determine the extent to which certain selected variables contribute to the variance of English Oral Attainment of secondary (Express) students in Singapore. The variables hypothesized to make a contribution were socio-economic status, gender differences, exposure to English, use of English, learner participation, motivation and tuition. English Oral Attainment refers to attainment in the school's English Oral Examination.
The main study operated within the theoretical framework that there is a close association between English Oral Attainment and out-of-school variables and that learning a language is more an "acquisition" process than a "learned" process. This being so, use of the target language in interpersonal communication, extensive exposure via the media and reading, an acquisition-rich environment, a personal interest and involvement are central to attaining oral competence in the language.
The sample for the main study consisted of 211 Secondary One (Express) students, between thirteen and fourteen years of age, of both sexes, from the same school. A neighbourhood school was selected as the majority of the student population in Singapore is enrolled into neighbourhood schools.
The measuring instruments employed were a self-administered, Likert-type, questionnaire to measure the variables, exposure to English, use of English, learner participation, motivation and tuition. Data for father's level of education was obtained from the demographic page of the questionnaire.
English Oral Attainment, the dependent variable, is measured by the English Oral grades which were obtained from the school's internal English Oral Examination held at the end of the year.
Pearson's Product-moment Correlation, Partial Correlation, Multiple Regression, Stepwise Regression and Anova were utilised for data analysis. The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was employed to facilitate the analysis of the data.
The predictor variables in the study, learner participation, exposure to English, use of English and Motivation, accounted for a total combined variance of 24.1% in English Oral attainment. The variable that best predicted oral attainment was learner participation. It contributed 16.7% of the combined total variance of 24.1%.
Four of the seven hypotheses investigated were supported. The hypotheses that were supported were, that exposure to English, use of English, learner participation and motivation contributed positively to English Oral attainment. The hypotheses that were not supported were, that socio-economic status as measured by father's level of education, gender differences and tuition made a difference to English Oral attainment.
The specific objective of the micro study was to explore further and, hopefully, substantiate the significant finding that learner participation contributes positively to English Oral attainment (Hypothesis 5). The finding of the macro study that learner participation was the strongest predictor of English Oral attainment propelled the micro study. It specifically focused on whether the quantity and quality of student participation contributed to English Oral attainment. Another area of interest was to determine whether English Oral attainment was correlated to English Language attainment. English Language attainment refers to attainment in the school's English Written Examination held at the end of the year. To achieve all these, a micro study of one class of Secondary One (Express) students was undertaken.
The micro study was carried out with one class of 39 Secondary One (Express) students who were part of the sample for the macro study. The students were videotaped while they were engaged in classroom discussion. The analysis of this study was based on the transcripts of the videotape. Pearson's Product-moment correlation was used for data analysis.
Pupil Talk accounted for 82.7% of total Talk and this clearly indicated that Pupil Talk is of a relatively high quality. This simply means that the students demonstrated a relatively high level of oral competence. The level of oral competence , quantified in the total number of Student Initiate Acts, was significantly correlated to English Oral Attainment at r = 0.60 (p = 0.0001) and English Oral attainment was found to be significantly correlated to English Language attainment.
The findings of this research give insight into the English oral competence of Express Stream students who are learning English as the first language. Among other findings, learner participation stood out as the most important factor in acquiring English oral proficiency. This findings will be useful to English language teachers, administrators and educators in the field of language education.
The specific objective of the main (macro) study was to determine the extent to which certain selected variables contribute to the variance of English Oral Attainment of secondary (Express) students in Singapore. The variables hypothesized to make a contribution were socio-economic status, gender differences, exposure to English, use of English, learner participation, motivation and tuition. English Oral Attainment refers to attainment in the school's English Oral Examination.
The main study operated within the theoretical framework that there is a close association between English Oral Attainment and out-of-school variables and that learning a language is more an "acquisition" process than a "learned" process. This being so, use of the target language in interpersonal communication, extensive exposure via the media and reading, an acquisition-rich environment, a personal interest and involvement are central to attaining oral competence in the language.
The sample for the main study consisted of 211 Secondary One (Express) students, between thirteen and fourteen years of age, of both sexes, from the same school. A neighbourhood school was selected as the majority of the student population in Singapore is enrolled into neighbourhood schools.
The measuring instruments employed were a self-administered, Likert-type, questionnaire to measure the variables, exposure to English, use of English, learner participation, motivation and tuition. Data for father's level of education was obtained from the demographic page of the questionnaire.
English Oral Attainment, the dependent variable, is measured by the English Oral grades which were obtained from the school's internal English Oral Examination held at the end of the year.
Pearson's Product-moment Correlation, Partial Correlation, Multiple Regression, Stepwise Regression and Anova were utilised for data analysis. The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was employed to facilitate the analysis of the data.
The predictor variables in the study, learner participation, exposure to English, use of English and Motivation, accounted for a total combined variance of 24.1% in English Oral attainment. The variable that best predicted oral attainment was learner participation. It contributed 16.7% of the combined total variance of 24.1%.
Four of the seven hypotheses investigated were supported. The hypotheses that were supported were, that exposure to English, use of English, learner participation and motivation contributed positively to English Oral attainment. The hypotheses that were not supported were, that socio-economic status as measured by father's level of education, gender differences and tuition made a difference to English Oral attainment.
The specific objective of the micro study was to explore further and, hopefully, substantiate the significant finding that learner participation contributes positively to English Oral attainment (Hypothesis 5). The finding of the macro study that learner participation was the strongest predictor of English Oral attainment propelled the micro study. It specifically focused on whether the quantity and quality of student participation contributed to English Oral attainment. Another area of interest was to determine whether English Oral attainment was correlated to English Language attainment. English Language attainment refers to attainment in the school's English Written Examination held at the end of the year. To achieve all these, a micro study of one class of Secondary One (Express) students was undertaken.
The micro study was carried out with one class of 39 Secondary One (Express) students who were part of the sample for the macro study. The students were videotaped while they were engaged in classroom discussion. The analysis of this study was based on the transcripts of the videotape. Pearson's Product-moment correlation was used for data analysis.
Pupil Talk accounted for 82.7% of total Talk and this clearly indicated that Pupil Talk is of a relatively high quality. This simply means that the students demonstrated a relatively high level of oral competence. The level of oral competence , quantified in the total number of Student Initiate Acts, was significantly correlated to English Oral Attainment at r = 0.60 (p = 0.0001) and English Oral attainment was found to be significantly correlated to English Language attainment.
The findings of this research give insight into the English oral competence of Express Stream students who are learning English as the first language. Among other findings, learner participation stood out as the most important factor in acquiring English oral proficiency. This findings will be useful to English language teachers, administrators and educators in the field of language education.
Date Issued
1997
Call Number
PE1074.8 Lu
Date Submitted
1997