EFFECT OF EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION ON THE ATTITUDE OF LOWER BASIC PUPILS TOWARDS ENGLISH GRAMMAR USAGE IN SELECTED LOCAL DISTRICT

EDUCATION IN LAGOS STATE

Lawani, Lucy Abiola

School of Education

National Open University, Victoria Island, Lagos

E-mail: llawani2000@yahoo.com, lucylawani@gmail.com

Abstract: Fluency is one of the skills necessary in studying second language. There is need to expose pupils to teaching strategy for effective communication in which students need to pay attention to relevant elements in the learning environment; to be able to translate mental conceptions into actions and be motivated to do so. But the strategy has not been adopted in the teaching Usage of English Grammar. This study, determined the effects of Explicit strategy on pupils’ attitude towards Usage of English Grammar in basic Schools in Lagos state. The pretest, posttest, control group, quasi-experimental design with 2x2x2 factorial matrix was adopted. 183 Basic 5 pupils from nine Basic schools in three randomly selected educational district of Lagos State were used for the study. Five instruments used were: Teachers Instructional Guides for the treatment and control groups; Pupils Attitude Scale (r = 0.81), and Assessment Sheet for research assistants. Two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analysed using ANCOVA. Treatment had significant main effect on Pupils’ attitude towards Usage of English Grammar (F_(1,168) = 25.83; p<0.05). Explicit group had higher adjusted posttest attitude (= 52.44), with the control group trailing behind (= 36.18). Explicit strategy effectively disseminated the attitude of learners exposed to it than those exposed to conventional strategy. The Explicit strategy inculcates right attitude towards Usage of English Grammar through improved initial performance level and higher pupils’ thinking activities during and after observation.