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Socio-Economic Status as Determinants of Students’ Performance in English Language in Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Received: 13 February 2019    Accepted: 10 May 2019    Published: 31 May 2019
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Abstract

This paper examined how parents’ socio-economic status determined students’ performance in English language in Tanzania secondary schools. Two research questions and two research objectives guided the study. The study was conducted in two randomly selected Regions in Tanzania Mainland. It employed a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 350 students in sixteen secondary schools. Data was collected through a questionnaire and achievement tests and was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics to get frequencies, means, percentages, as well as Pearson’s correlation and regression coefficients. It was found that students in Tanzania secondary schools had varying backgrounds in English language, which was determined by the type of primary school they had attended and the class at which they started to learn English language. The regularity of English language usage at home and school enhanced students’ performance in English language together with parents’ encouragement as well as material and moral support. It is recommended that parents’ socio-economic status should not inhibit learners’ exposure to English language learning. Also, parents, schools and government should protract English language teaching and learning through providing current textbooks as well as providing a favourable environment to learn and use English.

DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14
Published in Education Journal (Volume 8, Issue 3, May 2019)
Page(s) 110-119
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Socio-Economic Status, English Language Learning, Secondary School Students, Tanzania

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Education, University of Iringa, Iringa, Tanzania

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  • APA Style

    Gilman Jackson Nyamubi. (2019). Socio-Economic Status as Determinants of Students’ Performance in English Language in Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Education Journal, 8(3), 110-119. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14

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    Gilman Jackson Nyamubi. Socio-Economic Status as Determinants of Students’ Performance in English Language in Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Educ. J. 2019, 8(3), 110-119. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14

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    AMA Style

    Gilman Jackson Nyamubi. Socio-Economic Status as Determinants of Students’ Performance in English Language in Secondary Schools in Tanzania. Educ J. 2019;8(3):110-119. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14,
      author = {Gilman Jackson Nyamubi},
      title = {Socio-Economic Status as Determinants of Students’ Performance in English Language in Secondary Schools in Tanzania},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {8},
      number = {3},
      pages = {110-119},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190803.14},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20190803.14},
      abstract = {This paper examined how parents’ socio-economic status determined students’ performance in English language in Tanzania secondary schools. Two research questions and two research objectives guided the study. The study was conducted in two randomly selected Regions in Tanzania Mainland. It employed a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 350 students in sixteen secondary schools. Data was collected through a questionnaire and achievement tests and was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics to get frequencies, means, percentages, as well as Pearson’s correlation and regression coefficients. It was found that students in Tanzania secondary schools had varying backgrounds in English language, which was determined by the type of primary school they had attended and the class at which they started to learn English language. The regularity of English language usage at home and school enhanced students’ performance in English language together with parents’ encouragement as well as material and moral support. It is recommended that parents’ socio-economic status should not inhibit learners’ exposure to English language learning. Also, parents, schools and government should protract English language teaching and learning through providing current textbooks as well as providing a favourable environment to learn and use English.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - This paper examined how parents’ socio-economic status determined students’ performance in English language in Tanzania secondary schools. Two research questions and two research objectives guided the study. The study was conducted in two randomly selected Regions in Tanzania Mainland. It employed a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 350 students in sixteen secondary schools. Data was collected through a questionnaire and achievement tests and was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics to get frequencies, means, percentages, as well as Pearson’s correlation and regression coefficients. It was found that students in Tanzania secondary schools had varying backgrounds in English language, which was determined by the type of primary school they had attended and the class at which they started to learn English language. The regularity of English language usage at home and school enhanced students’ performance in English language together with parents’ encouragement as well as material and moral support. It is recommended that parents’ socio-economic status should not inhibit learners’ exposure to English language learning. Also, parents, schools and government should protract English language teaching and learning through providing current textbooks as well as providing a favourable environment to learn and use English.
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