IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v7y2023i3p358-367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

English Language Proficiency: A Predictor of Academic Performance in Biology

Author

Listed:
  • John Nartey Kanamitie

    (SDA College of Education, Ghana)

  • John Nketsiah

    (Accra College of Education, Ghana.)

  • Kennedy Asenso

    (SDA College of Education, Ghana.)

Abstract

English language is used as the medium of teaching in Ghanaian schools from Basic to the tertiary levels. Students at all stages of education are taught the content of school subjects through the use of the English language. As a result, how well students perform academically is mainly determined by their proficiency in English language. This paper therefore examined the relationship between English language proficiency and academic performance in Biology. The study employed a hybrid of ex-post facto and correlational research designs to determine the extent at which science students’ performance in English language correlates with their academic performance in Biology. Secondary data in the form of Terminal examination scores and 2019 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results in English language and Biology were analysed for 157 science students in four selected Senior High Schools in the Central and Western Regions. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to assess the degree of correlation between English language proficiency and academic accomplishment in Biology. The study observed that there was a positive correlation (r = 0.379, 0.479, 0.443 and 0.345) between English language performance and academic achievement in Biology in the terminal examination scores. The WASSCE scores revealed a positive and strong correlation (r = 0.825, 0.719) between English language and Biology. Based on these findings, it was recommended that since English language is extensively used in education as a whole, science teachers should teach language across the curriculum. That is, they must lay special emphasis on contextual proficiency more than on general proficiency in the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) when the need arises.

Suggested Citation

  • John Nartey Kanamitie & John Nketsiah & Kennedy Asenso, 2023. "English Language Proficiency: A Predictor of Academic Performance in Biology," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(3), pages 358-367, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:3:p:358-367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-7-issue-3/358-367.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/english-language-proficiency-a-predictor-of-academic-performance-in-biology/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Kuehnle & Michael Oberfichtner, 2020. "Does Starting Universal Childcare Earlier Influence Children’s Skill Development?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 61-98, February.
    2. J. N. Hooker, 1994. "Needed: An Empirical Science of Algorithms," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 201-212, April.
    3. Kingsley Nyarko & Nuworza Kugbey & Collins Courage Kofi & Yaa Adubea Cole & Kobina Impraim Adentwi, 2018. "English Reading Proficiency and Academic Performance Among Lower Primary School Children in Ghana," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(3), pages 21582440187, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jessen, Jonas & Schmitz, Sophia & Waights, Sevrin, 2020. "Understanding Day Care Enrolment Gaps," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Forthcomi.
    2. Miriam Gensowski & Mikkel Aagaard Houmark & Cecilie Marie Løchte Jørgensen & Ida Lykke Kristiansen, 2022. "Effects of Extending Paid Parental Leave on Children's Socio-Emotional Skills and Well-Being in Adolescence," Working Papers 2022-23, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    3. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2024. "Do Economic Preferences of Children Predict Behavior?," IZA Discussion Papers 16834, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Laura Breitkopf & Shyamal Chowdhury & Shambhavi Priyam & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Matthias Sutter, 2024. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2024_09, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    5. Jonas Jessen & Christa Katharina Spieß & Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Centre‐Based Care and Parenting Activities," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(6), pages 1356-1379, December.
    6. Mastrolilli, Monaldo & Bianchi, Leonora, 2005. "Core instances for testing: A case study," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 51-62, October.
    7. Greta Morando & Lucinda Platt, 2022. "The Impact of Centre‐based Childcare on Non‐cognitive Skills of Young Children," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(356), pages 908-946, October.
    8. Hideo Akabayashi & TIm Ruberg & Chizuru Shikishima & Jun Yamashita, 2023. "Education-Oriented and Care-Oriented Preschools:Implications on Child Development," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2023-009, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    9. Pablo Moscato & Luke Mathieson & Mohammad Nazmul Haque, 2021. "Augmented intuition: a bridge between theory and practice," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 497-547, August.
    10. Barschkett, Mara & Spieß, C. Katharina & Ziege, Elena, 2021. "Does Grandparenting Pay off for the Next Generations? Intergenerational Effects of Grandparental Care," IZA Discussion Papers 14795, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Laura Schmitz, 2022. "Heterogeneous Effects of After-School Care on Child Development," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2006, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Felipe Campelo & Elizabeth F. Wanner, 2020. "Sample size calculations for the experimental comparison of multiple algorithms on multiple problem instances," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 851-883, December.
    13. Kühnle, Daniel & Oberfichtner, Michael, 2020. "Cash-For-Care, or Caring for Cash? The Effects of a Home Care Subsidy on Maternal Employment, Childcare Choices, and Children's Development," IZA Discussion Papers 13271, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Amini, Mohammad M. & Racer, Michael & Ghandforoush, Parviz, 1998. "Heuristic sensitivity analysis in a combinatoric environment: An exposition and case study," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 604-617, August.
    15. Vuong, Quan-Hoang & La, Viet-Phuong & Nguyen, Thanh-Huyen T. & Nguyen, Minh-Hoang & Vuong, Thu-Trang & Vuong, Ha-My & Ho, Manh-Toan, 2021. "Impacts of parents and reading promotion on creating a reading culture: Evidence from a developing context," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Nicholas G. Hall & Marc E. Posner, 2001. "Generating Experimental Data for Computational Testing with Machine Scheduling Applications," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 854-865, December.
    17. Laura Breitkopf & Shyamal Chowdhury & Shambhavi Priyam & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Matthias Sutter, 2024. "Do Economic Preferences of Children Predict Behavior?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10988, CESifo.
    18. Pablo Moscato & Michael G. Norman, 1998. "On the Performance of Heuristics on Finite and Infinite Fractal Instances of the Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 121-132, May.
    19. Raymond R. Hill & Charles H. Reilly, 2000. "The Effects of Coefficient Correlation Structure in Two-Dimensional Knapsack Problems on Solution Procedure Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 302-317, February.
    20. Fink, Andreas & Vo[ss], Stefan, 2003. "Solving the continuous flow-shop scheduling problem by metaheuristics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(2), pages 400-414, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:3:p:358-367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.