An Exploration of the Correlation between First Year Students’ Performance in Communicative Skills and their Performance in English in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination
Keywords:
Communicative Skills, English Language, Correlation, WASSSCE, PerformanceAbstract
This paper explores the relationship between students’ scores in English Language (EL) in senior high school (SHS) and those they obtain in Communicative Skills (CS), a course at the university level based on English for Academic Purpose (EAP). Over the years, students’ performance in CS, which is geared towards sharpening students’ language skills, has become a major concern to both students and lecturers at the University of Cape Coast. Nonetheless, current literature on CS is bereft of connecting students’ output in EL with that of CS. This study therefore attempted to bridge this lacuna by employing statistical analysis of students’ entry grades in EL and the grade they subsequently obtain in CS to extrapolate the link between their scores in EL and CS. The analysis shows that although there is a positive correlation between students’ score in EL and CS, that correlation is not significant, suggesting that other factors like students’ attitude and lecturers’ teaching style and competence may be responsible for the grades students acquire in CS. The findings have implications for further research and CS pedagogy.
References
• Abdel-Salam, T., Kauffmann, P. and Williamson, K. (2005). A casestudy: Do high school GPA/SAT scores predict the performance offreshman engineering students. ASEE/IEE Frontiers in EducationConference. Indianapolis, IN.
• Adelman, C. (1999). Answers in the toolbox: Academic intensity,attendance patterns, and bachelor’s degree attainment.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
• Afful, J. B. A. (2007). Academic literacy and Communicative Skills in the Ghanaian university: A proposal. Nebula, 4 (3), 141-159.
• Afful, J. B. A. (2005). A rhetorical analysis of examination essays in three disciplines: The case of Ghanaian undergraduate students. Unpublished PhD thesis. National University of Singapore.
• Camara, W. J., & Millsap, R. (1998). Using the PSAT/NMSQTand course grades in predicting success in the AdvancedPlacement Program. (College Board Research Report No.98-4). New York: College Board.
• Coker, W. &Abude, F. (2012). Referral trends among students of the Communicative Skills course in aGhanaian university. Retrieved online on 16/12/2014 from the ESP World website:http://www.espworld.info/Articles_36/Wincharles_Coker_REFERRAL_TRENDS.pdf
• Dzameshie, A. (1997). Towards a communicative approach to teaching English as a second language in Ghana. In M. E. KroppDakubu (ed), English in Ghana. (173-194). Accra: Ghana University Press.
• Ewing, M., Camara, W.J & Millsap, R. (2006). The RelationshipBetweenPSAT/NMSQT®Scores and AP®ExaminationGrades:A Follow-Up Study. (College Board Research Report No. 2006-1). New York: College Board.
• Gurantz, O. (2012). English articulation between the San Francisco Unified School District and theCity College of San Francisco. Stanford, CA: John W. Gardner Center for Youth and TheirCommunities.
• Kodom Gyasi, W., Nartey, T. A. & Coker, W. (2011). A preliminary report on first year university students’ basic knowledge of grammar. Current Journal of Social Sciences. 3(5): 399-405.
• Lowry, R. (2012). Significance of the difference between two correlation coefficients. Retrieved online on 20/11/2014 from: http://vassarstats.net/rdiff.html
• Muijs, D. (2004). Doing Quantitative Research in Education. Sage Publications Inc, London.
• Neuman,W.L.(2003).Social research methods.Fifth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sarantakos, S. (2005). Social research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• University of Cape Coast Students Records and Management Information Section (2010). Basic statistics. (41stCongregation). Cape Coast: UCC Printing Press.
• Wait, I. W. &Gressel, J. W. (2009). Relationship between TOEFL score and academic success for international engineering students. Journal of Engineering Education, 98: 389–398.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
