Assessment Of Teacher Made Test, Teaching Methods And Academic Performance Of Senior Secondary Students, Business Education Students

Assessment Of Teacher Made Test, Teaching Methods And Academic Performance Of Senior Secondary Students, Business Education Students

Abstract

The study examined Effects of teacher made test and teaching methods on business education Students’ Academic Performances in Senior Secondary Schools specifically in Benue State, Nigeria. The study analysed two teaching method predominant among business education teaching and was conducted with four objectives to: determine the effect of using peer teaching on the performance of Business education students in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria; determine the effect of using discovery method of teaching on the performance of Business education students and the effectiveness of Teacher made test on academic achievement mean scores of secondary school students in Business education. The study adopted quasi-experimental design using a total of five thousand, four hundred and eighty-five (5,485) Business education students as the population of the study, while two hundred and fourteen (214) senior secondary school, students II were used as sample size and sampling technique used was purposive sampling; Business education teachers should use peer-teaching method to teach concepts of production since it improves Business education students‟ academic performance than using conventional method to teach in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria, also teacher made test should be encouraged since it has been found to enhance Business education students’ academic performance than using conventional test method to teach in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria and discovery method of teaching should be given more consideration by Business education teachers in teaching basic Business education analysis as it was found suitable and effective in teaching Business education than the use of conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria among other recommendations.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Education is an instrument for economic, political, and scientific development of all nations. This could be the reason why the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2009) emphasized in the National Policy on Education the proper use of teaching methods in all stages of education, from primary to tertiary education. Secondary education is provided to children aged between 12 – 17 years to prepare them for entry into higher institutions of learning. The focus is on cognitive development by introducing them to scientific concepts and to specially prepare them to think for themselves, respect others and respect the dignity of labour.

Education also provides knowledge, skills, effects changes in attitudes and character, and also serves as conduit through which changes and development in societies are brought about. These come as a result of using appropriate methods of teaching to teach. Teachers, especially Business education teachers, should be knowledgeable, creative, competent and dedicated. They are expected to be the prime movers of change, as they are the agents of change. Teachers whose students meet these criteria exhibit good use of a range of pedagogies appropriate for the content of instruction; habitual reflection on their teaching and students responses; changing the learning environment accordingly; develop a strong sense of ethics, professionalism and commitment to teaching learning process; always willing to improve the pedagogy earlier used; make teaching learner centered rather than teacher-centered and knowledge of the relevant subjects matter.

Teaching is the major way of imparting values, skills, norms and knowledge to learners especially students , therefore , teachers should teach to the needs and aspirations of the students, using suitable methods of teaching that are available. The students fail because the teacher fails to teach appropriately to their needs and understanding goes a British cliché on accountability in education. Teaching and education are two sides of the same coin. The success or failure of the education system rests squarely on the shoulders of teachers who should wake to more dedicated performance of their duties through continued improvement of their competences. Indeed, students‟ failure show poor teaching methods used by some teachers, while the standard and quality of education reflects the stand and quality of the teaching workforce.

According to West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Examiners Report (2016), for the past six years the failure rate of students cut across all subjects, that 75% failure was recorded in skill subjects. This obviously includes Business education and other subjects like Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Technical Drawing while
25% failure was recorded in other subjects like Government, Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Religious Studies and Geography to mention but few. This failure rate is massive and grievous. This may be attributed to the methods of teaching employed by the teachers.

Business education is one of the skill subjects that is been offered in senior secondary schools. Agbo, Ejembi and Oodo (2013) see skill subjects as subjects that require logical and critical reasoning in the teaching and learning process. Both the students and teachers need to have apt attention and understanding towards the subject in order for teaching and learning to be effective. This implies that, skill subjects require students exposure to enough practical by the teacher to enable them have basic understanding of the subject matter. Business education education is seen as an area of study needed to equip the learners with knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary for efficient re-allocation of scarce resources to satisfy the unlimited wants. This means that Business education does not only study the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services but also the skill and knowledge of Business education education help both the individual and the nation to use minimum input to achieve maximum output. It also makes the individual and the nation to be functional and rational in areas of requirement for occupational competences and economic self-reliance. Every business establishment, be it governments‟ offices, parastatals, private companies, banks and other financial institutions, the importance of Business education analysis cannot be over-emphasized. This is because students‟ practical experiences in teaching and learning process should match the role Business education plays in the economy.

Teaching is an act that involves a cluster of activities that a trained teacher may be engaged in during a specific time or period, either in or out of the classroom. Varieties of methods have been employed in teaching from the earliest times. Teaching among other things call for the employment of methods or procedures which are geared towards enabling the learners to learn. Teaching methods that will improve students‟ academic performance go beyond an employment of ways, approaches, avenues, procedure and certain kinds of activities by the teacher and the learners working interactively with a view to inducing , inspiring and facilitating learning for the purpose of accomplishing set behavioural objectives. The idea behind teaching methods also involve the use of appropriately selected curriculum resources, content and learning experiences, motivational strategies, an application of learning theories and a demonstration of knowledge of developmental psychology in the teaching – learning process. All these various ideas mean that teaching is a complex way of guiding the learners through a variety of selected experiences to bring worthwhile change in behaviour.

The cluster of activities should be tailored to the needs and aspirations of students via effective methods to produce intended outcome. Business education teachers should be mindful of this fact by creating conducive learning environment by employing other motivating elements such as riddles and jokes, short stories to mention but just few to make students happy and develop interest in order to perform well. Factors that influence the choice of teaching methods include objective of the unit of an instruction; nature of the learners–level of intelligence and rate of assimilation; present knowledge level of the learners; nature of subject-matter for teaching; the number of students present in the classroom; availability of educational resources materials and the duration or period of the teaching assignment.

It is in line with the above notion that a feasibility study was carried out by the researcher to see whether peer-teaching and discovery methods are being used by Business education teachers in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria, and they were found not used by Business education teachers in the study area which appears to be one of the reasons for low students‟ academic performance in Business education.

In teaching and learning process, teachers should be trained in doing evaluation learning in order to evaluate the learning outcome of students. Bachman (2004) says that evaluation which involves in making value judgments and decisions can be best understood as one possible use of assessment, although judgments and decisions are often made in the absence of information from assessment. Thus, evaluation is an important aspect of teaching-learning process in which the teachers judge a whole aspect, such as: the materials, the methods, the techniques, and the objective of its school.

Regarding the evaluation, one of the ways to evaluate is by taking the test. This test can be a teacher-made test or standardized test. In teacher-made test, the teachers who make the test should know and master the principles and the steps that must be done in making the test. By mastering them, the teachers will get clear instructions about the general systematic framework of evaluation. In an attempt to address the lingering issues highlighted above and anticipated to have marred the performance of Business education students in the study area, the present study was however being conceived. It is therefore, expected that the teaching and learning of Business education should be with the most appropriate teaching methods. Appropriate methods of testing and teaching will increase students‟ participation, interest, creativity and enhance their performance in Business education. Therefore, the study seeks to investigate effect of teacher made test, teaching methods and academic performance of Business education students with the primary purpose of equipping the students and teachers’ ways to improve on their performance in Business education in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The outcry of some parents, guidance, teachers and students over the poor academic of Business education students in both their internal and external examinations in Benue State and beyond, calls for other stakeholders in education to map out measures to curb this ugly menace in our schools. According to West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Examiners Report (2016) for the past six years, the failure rate of students cut across all subjects, that 75% failure was recorded in skill subjects. This obviously includes Business education and other subjects like Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Technical Drawing while 25% failure was recorded in other subjects like Government, Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Religious Studies and Geography. The persistent and massive failure of students in their West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations in Business education over the years has become a major concern for parents, teachers and other stakeholders in education in Benue State. Students‟ persistent poor performance in Business education has been partly ascribed to inadequate teachings, teacher-centered method of teaching and poor usage of instructional materials. Giving the precise test can be done by constructing the good test. It is not too easy to construct because there are some requirements or characteristics that must be fulfilled to make a good test. Validity is one of general consideration in the test evaluation that is always important. It is important because it can give some information whether the test measures what is supposed to measure and whether the test measures consistently and accurately. Arthur Hughes (2003) mentions that validity has four specifications. Those are face, content, construct, and criterion related validity. They are simply considered to be convenient categories for accumulating evidence to support the validity of an interpretation. Content validity is often addressed in academic where test items need to reflect the knowledge actually required for a given a topic. The poor performance of secondary school students in Business education may be as a result of the persistent use of the traditional method of instruction as one of the major shortcoming affecting the learning and higher achievement in Business education.

Business education as a subject is inclusive in the mass failure in O‟level examination especially in Benue State. The poor performance of students especially Business education students is an issue of concern to parents, teachers and stakeholders in education within the State. Students‟ persistent poor performance has been partly ascribed to methodologies used by some of the Business education teachers to teach the various concepts of the subject (Abutu, 2014). This means that, inadequate teaching, influence of peer group on the part of students, use of lecture method of instruction employed by some of the Business education teachers are the major shortcoming affecting the learning and higher achievement in Business education.

Students are poorly equipped without the necessary skills, knowledge and attributes with which examinations require. These are some of the evidences of the present weak and poor performance of Business education students in Benue State. Also, according to Egwu (2014), Business education students perform poorly in their external examinations because majority of the Business education teachers in senior secondary schools are still ineffective in the use of participatory approaches to instruction like peer teaching, discovery, discussion, dramatization, field-trip, debate and demonstration to implement Business education curriculum at senior secondary school level. Peer-teaching and discovery are learners‟ centered methods of teaching which if used effectively will enhance students participation better than the conventional and other methods of teaching Business education in senior secondary schools. Consequent to this, the researcher intends to examine the effect of teacher made test and teaching methods on the academic performance of Business education students in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to find out the effect teacher made test, teaching methods and academic performance of teaching Business education at senior secondary schools in Benue State. This study therefore, set out to achieve the following objectives to:

1. Determine the effect of using peer teaching on the academic performance of Business education students in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria;
2. Ascertain the effect of using discovery method on the academic performance of Business education students in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria;
3. Determine the difference in the academic performance of students taught Business education using peer-teaching method, discovery method of teaching and those taught using conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria.
4. Determine the relationship between teacher made test and academic performance

1.4 Research Questions

The following questions were answered in the course of this study:

1. What is the effect of peer-teaching on the academic performance of students taught Business education in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria?
2. What is the effect of discovery method on the academic performance of students taught Business education in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria?
3. What is the difference in the academic performance of students taught Business education using peer-teaching, discovery method of teaching and those taught Business education using conventional method of teaching in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria?
4. What is the relationship between teacher made test and academic performance of students taught Business education in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria?

1.5 Organization of the Study

This study is organized into five chapters. Chapter one included the background of the study, research problem, research objectives and questions as well as limitation of the study. Chapter two contains the literature review. Chapter three includes the methodology and study area. Chapter Four contains the results and discussion of key findings of the study. Chapter Five finally looks at the summary, conclusions, and recommendations based on the findings.

1.6 Basic Assumptions

The present study was based on the following assumptions which include:

1. Most Business education teachers in the secondary school do not make use of peer teaching and discovery teaching methods in secondary school in Benue State;
2. Most teachers are employed to teach Business education without considering their area of specialization, educational qualifications and training;
3. Most teachers do not use appropriate testibg methods to teach Business education concepts; and
4. Learning by doing could enhance and motivate students to improve on their academic performance in Business education.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The present study is being conceived with a view to ascertaining the contributions of Business education teachers in their students‟ academic performance. It is expected therefore, that the findings of this study would in no small way contribute to improving the Business education students‟ performance in Benue State and beyond. This study would be beneficial to the following stakeholders through the contributions it would offer them. They include teachers, head-teachers, principals, school administrators, students, parents, curriculum planners, policy makers, governments and examinations bodies such as West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Board for Technical Education (NABTEB).

Teachers, especially teachers of Business education will benefit immensely from the outcome of this study because it could be used to inform them whether peer-teaching and discovery methods are appropriate to the teaching and learning of Business education which will improve the academic performance of Business education students in Benue State. It will also assist them in grooming themselves and to be acquainted with the knowledge and skills relating to innovative teaching methods.

The head teachers will benefit from the findings of this study by guiding and showing the need to encourage their classroom teachers to utilize students centered method of teaching such as peer teaching, discovery, demonstration, project and other appropriate methods that can be used to improve the academic performance in our primary schools.

Benefit from the findings of this study by having the knowledge of the various teaching methods in the teaching and learning of Business education in senior secondary schools and it would also serve as an avenue for government to encourage teachers, school principals and head teachers by making fund available for them to attend workshops, seminars and conferences in order to update their knowledge in the teaching and learning process.

1.8 Scope of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of teacher made test and teaching methods of teaching on the academic performance of Business education students in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. The study covered the three (3) senatorial zones namely; A, B and C with sixty-four (64) senior secondary schools.
The respondents for the study were Business education students in senior secondary II (SS II) from four (4) senior secondary schools due to the experimental nature of the study and the choice of SS II students was informed by the fact that they were not preparing for any terminal or external examinations. The study is limited to investigating the performance of students taught Business education using peer-teaching, discovery method and those taught using conventional method of teaching. The study will focus on but not limited to basic concepts of Business education like population, budget, production; theory of cost, comparative cost advantage, demand and supply. Other variables of interest in this study include concept of peer-teaching, discovery method and academic performance.

1.9 Limitations to the Study

There were few limitations to this study which might affect the generalization drawn from the findings of this study. The limitations are as follows:

1. Time: there was no enough time to cover beyond the study area; and
2. The current curriculum approved by the Federal Ministry of Education in public schools restricted Business education to only students offering commercial or art subjects. Therefore, the subjects (SSII students) used in the study do not involve students in the sciences, which might have affected the result of this study.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction

This chapter covered summary, conclusions, recommendations, contributions to knowledge, limitations to the study and suggestions for further studies.

5.2 Summary

The need for improving performances of students at all levels of the Nigerian educational system cannot be over-emphasized. The Federal Ministry of Education in Adanu (2014) identifies the role of Business education amongst others to include rational decision making as regards to scarce means and unlimited human wants. In view of the declining level in performances amongst students of Business education calls for different approaches in methodology towards improving academic performances. The methods of teaching and learning process have been partly blamed for these declining performances. Peer-teaching and discovery methods of teaching are seen as learner-centered approach to instruction make the students to influence the content, activities, materials and pace of learning. It thereby places the learners in the center of the learning process and facilitates independent learning (Abu, 2015). The objectives of teaching Business education is to produce graduates that possess knowledge in basic Business education concepts and principles that can make them function in their own country towards national development and to apply such to solve economic problems in their society and as well as in other countries.

However, the WASSCE candidates‟ performance revealed that these objectives are not being achieved due to inadequate knowledge of the subject matter, inability of the candidates to draw and label diagrams; construct graphs as well as solve simple calculations in Mathematical aspects of Business education. These problems as perceived could be as a result of the teaching methods adopted on the part of some teachers. Employing the use of peer teaching and discovery methods of teaching to teach Business education concepts might be of immense benefit in alleviating such problems.

To effectively carry out the study, quasi-experimental procedure was undertaken. Four senior secondary schools offering Business education at the senior secondary school level were selected from urban and rural location of Benue State. The schools were divided into two experimental and two control groups. Experimental group one was taught the subject using peer-teaching method, experimental group two was taught the subject using discovery method of teaching while the control groups were taught the subject using conventional method of teaching. Variables investigated among others were peer teaching, discovery method of teaching and academic performance. Data on academic performance were collected from the three groups before and after the experiment. The study was structured into five chapters. Chapter one introduced the main theme of the study including a general background of the study, the statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions and hypotheses; scope of the study, its significance and limitations. Chapter two was a review of related literature including empirical studies on peer-teaching method, discovery method of teaching along with the conventional method. Chapter three concentrated on the research methodologies which include the research design, study population, sample and sampling technique, instrumentation: its validity and reliability among others along with statistical procedure used to analyze the data collected. In chapter four, the statistical analysis of the data from the experiments were presented in line with the research questions and hypotheses. Six null hypotheses were tested in the study; and all the hypotheses were retained.

The test of hypotheses one and two, the difference in pre-test and post-test performance of Business education students taught using peer-teaching method on the students‟ academic performances. The test indicated that there was significant difference in the pre-test and post-test performance of Business education students using peer-teaching in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. The two null hypotheses were therefore, retained. Hypothesis three, stated that there is no significant difference between the performance of students taught concepts of division of labour using peer- teaching method and those taught using conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria, was tested and the results showed that there was no significant difference between the performance of students taught concepts of division of labour using discovery method and those taught using conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria, thus, the null hypothesis three was also retained.

In the test of hypothesis four, which stated that there is no significant difference between the performance of students taught concepts of production, using discovery method and those taught using conventional method was tested and found out that there exist significant difference between the performance of students taught the concepts of production using peer-teaching method and those taught using conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Therefore, the null hypothesis four was retained. Hypothesis five stated that there is no significant difference in the performance of students taught concepts of population using peer-teaching method and those taught concepts of population using conventional method of teaching in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. This hypothesis was test and found out that there was no significant difference between the performance of students taught the concepts of population using discovery method and those taught the concepts of population using conventional method of teaching in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. The null hypothesis five, therefore, was retained. Hypothesis six stated that, there is no significant difference in the post-test performance of students taught Business education using peer-teaching, discovery method and those taught using conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria.

This hypothesis was tested and it was discovered that the performance of students taught Business education using discovery method was better than those taught using peer-teaching and conventional method of teaching.
This result indicated that there is difference in the performance of students taught Business education using discovery method was more substantial than the other methods. The null hypothesis was therefore, retained.

5.3 Conclusions

Based on the analysis of the data collected from the experiments and tests of the study‟s hypotheses, the following conclusion was drawn: students who were taught using peer-teaching method do not performed significantly better than their counterparts who were taught Business education using conventional method; but that the use of peer-teaching method significantly increases the rate of acquisition of independent learning skills among students; students who were taught concepts of budget, population and division of labour using discovery method of teaching performed significantly better than students who were taught concepts of budget, population and division of labour using conventional method; the use of discovery method of teaching significantly increases the rate of acquisition of analytical and critical thinking among students; the use of peer teaching method significantly reduces the amount of time required by students to accomplish Business education tasks than the use of the conventional method of teaching; and there is no significant difference in the academic performance of urban and rural students who were exposed to both peer-teaching and discovery teaching methods.

5.4 Recommendations

The researcher with due consideration to the findings of this study recommended as follows:

1. Business education teachers should make use of discovery method of teaching since it was found suitable for teaching-learning and capable of yielding positive students‟ academic performance and students‟ creativity than using conventional method of teaching in senior secondary schools in Benue State,
   Nigeria;
2. Business education teachers should use peer-teaching method to teach concepts of production since it improves Business education students‟ academic performance and creative abilities than using conventional method to teach in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria;
3. Peer-teaching method should be used by Business education teachers to teach the concepts of division of labour, since it has been found to enhance Business education students‟ academic performance and creative abilities than using conventional method to teach in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria;
4. Discovery method of teaching should be given more consideration by Business education teachers in teaching basic Business education analysis as it was found suitable and effective in teaching Business education than the use of conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria;
5. Business education teachers should use discovery method of teaching to teach the concepts of budget since it has been found to be effective and to improve students‟ academic performance than the use of conventional method in
   senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria; and
6. The use of discovery method of teaching should be encouraged among Business education teachers to teach the concepts of population, since it has been found useful and effective to improve Business education students‟ academic performance than conventional method in senior secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria.

5.5 Suggestions for Further Studies

Based on the findings of the study, the following suggestions were made:

1. Similar study should be carried out in senior secondary schools in other parts of the country;
2. Similar study should be conducted in Chemistry at senior secondary school level; and
3. Similar study should be conducted in junior secondary school level.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the teacher-made assessment strategies?

Teacher-made assessment strategies 1 assessment for learning, 2 formative assessment, 3 informal assessment 4 formal assessment 5 Assessment of learning 6 summative, Summative assessments provide information about how well students mastered the material, whether students are ready for the next unit, and what grades should be given (Airasian, 2005).

How are students’ assessment test scores derived from the lecturer?

A sample of 109 undergraduate students from the College’s Department of Economic and Business Sciences was used for the study. Using the inferential statistics course, students’ assessment test scores were derived from the internal class test prepared by the lecturer.

What is the value of teachers’ assessment?

Teachers’ assessment can provide information about learning processes as well as outcomes. • Freedom from test anxiety and from practice in test-taking means that assessment by teachers gives a more valid indication of pupils’ achievement.

What is a teacher-made test?

Teacher-made test is one of the most valuable instrument in the hands of the teacher to solve his purpose. It is designed to solve the problem or requirements of the class for which it is prepared. It is prepared to measure the outcomes and content of local curriculum.