ABSTRACT

Noting the importance or parents-teachers relationship in maintaining good home-school partnership, this study sought to examine parents-teachers cooperation and its effects on the academic achievement of English language students in secondary schools in the Buea municipality. Two objectives were formulated; to investigate how parent-teacher communication influence the attainment of English language and to find out if Pidgin English and the native language influence the learning of the English language. This study was guided by Bloom’s Taxonomy (2005) by Benjamin Bloom and Social Learning Theory (1977) by Albert Bandura. The simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample for this study. The sample size was made up of 10 teachers and 20 parents selected from a lay private secondary school from the Buea municipality. The instrument used was structured questionnaire of the four point Likert Scales of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). Findings in this research work revealed that there is a communicative relationship between parents and teachers for the academic achievement of secondary school students in the Buea municipality. It was recommended that parents should speak the English language more often with the students, teachers should be encouraged to share information with parents, parents should make themselves available in school meetings and they should limit the rate at which they speak the Pidgin English and native language with the children.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

• Introduction

This chapter lays the foundation of the study by discussing the background to the study, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, hypothesis of the study, justification of the study, significance of the study, operational definition of terms.

• Background of the Study

This background has to do with the historical background, theoretical background, conceptual background, and the contextual background.

1.2.1 Historical Background

The very first Parent Teacher Association was founded on 17^th of February, 1897 in Washington. It was created as a national congress of mothers by Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst, to stand as a voice for all children, to stand as a strong advocate for public education, and to also stand as a relevant resource for families and communities. The year 2020 marks the 50^th anniversary of the integration of this association. This association is a school-based organization with a mission to make the school a better place for children to learn.

The parents-teachers cooperation improved in Africa after a series of created education bodies to combat the collapse of schools in many parts of South Africa. Some of these bodies include; Black Trade Unions, South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) created in the 1990s, and the Student Representative Councils (SRCs). The SADTU for example was created in other to put a stop to the negative attitudes of some lazy teachers towards teaching and learning. The teachers acted this way because of the political instability in the atmosphere and also because no parent confronted any tutor on their children’s education except when the child commits an offence in school and the parent is called to present themselves in the school. However, there is increase awareness amongst parents for the need to be involved in the education of their children. Studies have shown that when parents get more involved, students learn better, Bauch (1990), Beale (1985), Bond (1973) Epstein (1986) Jowett and Bangisky (1998) and Piltch (1991). Teachers also experience more positive feelings about teaching with greater parental involvement.

The Parent Teachers’ Association in Cameroon was created as a result of the bickering between most school officials and parent (Carine Eleme, 2016). This was after the independence of Cameroon. The parent teachers’ association is different in most parts of the country. The situation in the North West Regional for example is different from that of the central region. In the central Region of Cameroon, it is noted that secondary school students seems very reckless to their studies and they portray a very strange behavior towards their education. This shows that the parents of these children turn not to attend the parents teachers association even once a year, thus leading to a low quality education in Cameroon, (Bitchil 2018). In other parts of the country, especially in the southern regions of the country, parents and guidance have taken the chance and opportunity to work with teachers for positive growth of student’s education.

1.2.2 Conceptual Background

According to Stevenson and Baker (1987), Hara & Burke (1998) Marcon (1999) Hill and Craft (2003), parent involvement in a child’s early education is consistently found to be positively associated with a child’s academic performance. Students whose parents are more involved in their education have higher levels of academic performance than students whose parents are involved to a lesser degree.

According to Vasquez et al., (2016), parents can be involved in their children’s language learning in numerous ways, such as, by being autonomy (together) supportive, introducing learning activities at home (Erion, 2006), and being involved in their children’s homework (Patall et al., 2008). According to Jang et al., (2010), and Blank and De las Alas, (2009), teachers may also be autonomy (together) supportive and use modeling techniques when they are involved in their students’ studies.

Parents and teachers have the most direct and lasting impact on children’s learning and development. Parents are the first educators of their children’s educational journey. They stimulate home environment that will encourage learning as well as parental engagement in school activities which are crucial for the student’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, helping with homework or discussing school life at home, taking part in parent teachers meeting and other school activities will have positive and lasting effect on student’s language learning especially in speaking and pronunciation. Building cooperation between parents and teachers help to address student’s difficulties in school and find solutions to these difficulties. Fredrick, Blumenfe and Paris (2004) finds out that children who enjoy a close and supportive relationship with teachers are more engage of participation, particularly those that are bold and open in speaking with their teachers and peers.  

1.2.3 Theoretical Background

 This study is supported by Bloom’s Taxonomy by Benjamin Bloom (2005). Using the three domains of the theory; the cognitive domain, the affective domain, and the psychomotor domain, shows or explains individual levels of achievement of education. He recognizes that many factors outside of school affect student learning and also carried out investigations showing that teachers have potentially strong influence as well (Bloom, 1964). This theory helps in this work in that, the outside atmosphere helps in the speaking and pronunciation of the students. This theory explains how the outside factors are connected to the language learning of the students both positively and negatively.

Secondly, this study is supported by Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura (1977). The social learning theory of Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Social learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to influence human learning and behavior. This theory is necessary for this work in the sense that, learners are very good and copying what they see and hear. This theory connected to this work in that, we will see how learners learn the speaking and pronunciation of words not only by writing, but also by hearing or listening to the way the words are being pronounced to them.

1.2.4 Contextual Background

In our Cameroon context and Buea specifically, parents and teachers make sure that they are able to come up with every strategy to see that the education of the students is successfully met. The Cameroon formal education system consists of pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher education components. By the stipulation of Law N^o 98/004 of April 1998 which laid the guide lines for primary and secondary educational system is made up of two subsystems. The two sub systems are expected to co-exist, but each preserving its specific method of education and award of certificates, (section 15). The Anglophone subsystem teaches in English and the Francophone subsystem teaches in French. In the context of teaching as  Leke Tambo quotes, “For a sea captain to be able to sail a ship successfully from one part of the world to the other, he or she must have a clear idea about things like duration, wind system, the behavior of crew members and the technical working of the ship.” In this same light, the teachers and parents can successfully control and manage the academics of the students when they get fully involve in their studies through a good cooperative meeting between the two parties.

Looking at the Cameroon context, Parents-Teachers Association (P.T.A) meetings and seminars are organize to educate both the parents and teachers on how to work together for the improvement of student’s educational achievement. These organizations have been created to unite parents and teachers and to eradicate speculations made by parents about teachers and the schools and to also limit the speculations made by teachers about parents and guardians.

• Statement of the Problem

What has brought about this research work is the fact that some forms one and two students of Summerset Bilingual High School, Buea laps in their building of English language, that is, in speaking and pronunciation which possess a big problem for them in the society as the language turns out to be a second language for them need constant follow up both at home and in school and most of the parents of these children turn a blind eye to these problem as they expect the teachers to do all the work. This association will help the parents find out where their children are failing and see how they can work with the teachers to better the language speech of the children.

• Research Hypothesis

Ha₁: There is a significant relationship between parents-teachers communication and students’ attainment of English language

Ha₂: There is no significant relationship between parents-teachers communication and students’ attainment of English language

Ho₁: There is a significant relationship between the Pidgin English/native language and students’ learning of the English language.

• Research Question

1. How do parents and teachers of English language students of forms one and two communication influence their achievement of the language?
2. What causes the misuse of the English language by the forms one and two students
   • Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to identify or describe a concept or to explain or predict a situation or solution to a situation that indicates the type of study to be conducted (Becklingham, 1974). In this research work, the purpose of the study talks about the aim and objective of the study.

• Aim of the Study

The aim of this research is to find ways by which parents and teachers can come together to see how the children can improve on their language skills, how they can comfortably use their native language and the English language in different context.

• Objective of the Study

1. To investigate how parents-teachers communication influence the attainment of English Language.
2. To find out if Pidgin English and the native language influence the learning of the English language.