FAMILY BACKGROUND AND PUPILS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

                                                       CHAPTER ONE

                                                       INTRODUCTION

1.1            Background to the Study

The family has often been regarded as the cornerstone of the society. In pre-modern and times, it has been seen as the most basic unit of social organization, and one which carries out vital tasks such as socialization, affectionate function, economic function, status transmission and enhancement (White comb, 2009). When a child’s foundation is built on sound moral values received from the family, the effect of bad influence when the child begins to interact with the outside world is reduced.

In the recent past, there has been a lot of concern about family variables in Nigeria. Agbe (2012) stressed the need for family factors in the changing Nigeria society. Each family has values which do not only determine the focus and behaviour of the family but plays important role in the stability of the home and improve teaching and learning of science among pupil in schools. Every human belongs to a family that has a set of values that he/she carries along and which influences his/her thought actions and feelings. These values involve things that are important to us. Therefore, Bassey (2011) stated that our families attach values to all sort of things like education, religion, financial, sex behaviour and social life. However, family variables differ significantly and vary from family to family, Urban to Rural, young to old.

Cultural factors, the influence of peer pressures, religion, marriage and economic variables play significant roles in the present day family factors in Nigeria and perhaps are responsible for changes in the variables may have great influence on English Language learning in pre-primary schools and Nigeria family at large. However, as noted by Okpeh (2013), the principles of right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, good and bad still remain the yardstick for deciding on positive and negative family influence on a child life and towards his/her academic achievement in school.

Psychologists and sociologist have long been aware of the importance of family variables in child development and his or her learning in schools. Gray (2009) defined family as a kinship group linked by blood and marriage and occupying a common household. It is the basis of all human societies; as such it assumes certain common and broadly social, economic and psychological obligations towards its members. Family variable influence on a child learning of English Language is significant especially when the major part of his or her life is spent in the home with the parent and other members of the family.

Nwosu (2007) observed that the amount of time one spends with a person is one of the main determinants of how significant that persons are in his attitude, values and behaviour will have on one’s behaviour and on his/her attitude towards self. In our society, one experience that a harmonious and properly oriented family variable contributes to the positive achievement in school, on the other hand, a disorganized family background might produce a crisis child (Igbo, 2012). When a parent is warm, loving, their children tend to become extroverted, warm, conscientious, composed and happy. This helps the child to form a positive attitude toward his or her academic work. But when they are neglectful, the children become over serious, retiring, aloof and anxious, leading to negative lifestyle and poor academic performance in English language learning in school (Adamu, 2010).

Odeemelam and Okafor (2012) asserted that it is the duty of the family to inculcate the expected values and attitudes into the child. Family variables is a collective terminology comprising of social class/status, economic status, family size, family structure, parents’ educational level, occupation and other factors pertaining to family life. Family background is the context of this study refers to the structure, parents’ occupation, marital status, economic status and parents’ level of education among others. It is against this background that the study sought to investigate the influence of family background and pupils’ academic performance in the English Language in primary schools in Uruan Local Government Area.

1.2            Statement of the Problem

The quality of any society depends on the nature of personalities by the family through the family background. These backgrounds keep changing from time to time due to socioeconomic, parental educational attainment, marital status, parenting styles and technological changes. Nwosu (2010) noted that the complexities of modern society have created confusion in the Nigeria family system such that even glaringly unacceptable conducts (Cheating, indecent dressing, unruly behaviour in children etc) are being tolerated or inappropriately handled to stem the web. This is contributing to the fast decay in our educational system and societal value system. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the perceived family variables in a relationship with the learning of English Language in primary schools in the present day. This will have implication for education, socialization, and harmonious living among the different families in Nigeria at large. It is on this basis that this study examines the family background and pupils’ academic performance in the English Language in Primary Schools in Uruan Local Government Area.

1.3            Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of family background and pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools in Uruan Local Government Area.

In specific terms, the study sought to:

(1)        determine the influence of parental educational attainment on pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools.

(2)        determine the influence of parental socioeconomic status on pupils’ academic performance in primary schools.

(3)        determine the influence of parenting style on pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools.

1.4            Significance of the Study

Hopefully, the study will be of important benefit to the following people in the following ways:

(1)       The study will help the school administrator to understand how family background affects the pupils in the learning of English Language in primary schools.

(2)       The study will help the parents to understand the effect of family background on pupils’ academic in English Language in school hence, improving their family conditions so as to improve their ward academic performance.

(3)       The pupils will be able to discover some of the family factors that may affect their performance in school and offset the negative effects of the changing dynamics of the family.

(4)      The finding will serve as a source of knowledge to other researchers who will conduct their studies on related areas.

1.5            Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

(1)       To what effort does parental educational attainment influence pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools?

(2)      What is the influence of parental socioeconomic status on pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools?

(3)      To what extent does parenting styles influence pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools?

1.6            Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were postulated to guide the study:

(1)      There is no significant influence of parental educational attainments on pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools.

(2)      There is no significant influence of parental socioeconomic status and pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools.

(3)      There is no significant influence of parenting style and pupils’ academic performance in English Language in primary schools.

1.7            Limitation of the Study

A number of limitations were anticipated during this study. One of the aspects of this was to determine parental financial status. As such, some respondents hesitated to provide useful information for the study due to the embarrassment of exposing their family poverty level. Also, some respondent was not willing to give their family details for fear of exposing their private life to an unknown person. There was also a problem of the researcher not being able to cover up the entire public primary school due to its large landmass.

1.8            Delimitation of the Study

There are many family factors affecting the academic performance of pupils in primary schools, but this study examines the some that are very come under family background these are the economic status of the parent, marital status, parenting styles and parental level of educational attainment.

1.9            Definition Operational Terms

Family Background: These are home characteristics or qualities that affect a personal existence, behaviour and achievement

Family: refers to the home where a child is bought up.

Parental educational level: is defined by the amount and style of help that children receive from the parent in educational problems.

Socio-economic status: refers to a person’s position in a given group. Society or culture as determines by wealth, occupations, education and social class.

Parenting style: is defined as the manner in which parents express their beliefs about how to be a good or bad parent.