TEACHERS’ COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Effective communication methods are essential for the survival and efficient operation of any company, including private schools. It will be challenging to carry out administrative and academic tasks in the school without effective communication techniques. In the professional engagement of teachers, communication is essential. This is due to the fact that it will foster a greater understanding between educators and learners, which will improve academic achievement in private schools.
Thus, a strong communication network within the school aids in directing and enhancing teachers’ professional involvement and dedication to the system’s primary goals (Sareen & Kumara, 2011). Teaching learning skills in the classroom is one way secondary schools can implement communication tactics. It has to do with expressing an intention with the goal of bringing about a desired change in the learners’ performance and entails teachers and students exchanging experiences. In the classroom, where instruction and learning take place, communication methods are useful tools for raising students’ communicative competence. In addition to enhancing full and meaningful engagement between instructors and students, effective communication is the real instrument and cornerstone upon which the important and indispensable functions of both educators and learners are based.
It is noteworthy that a large number of issues coming from the educational system are caused by a lack of communication throughout the whole institution. Thus, the development of effective communication methods that support students’ academic performance in the classroom is a prerequisite for both good teaching and learning. Effective communication techniques facilitate learning for students and foster a supportive environment in the classroom. Students who communicate well academically perform better academically overall and develop the capacity to learn strategically, create meaning for themselves, and become more conscious of their own thought processes. It increases chances for deeper learning, supports students in reaching their objectives, and fortifies the bonds between them and their professors.
Additionally, it aids in the understanding of many communication techniques by the students, fostering a pleasant overall experience in their academic achievement through kinetic, tone of voice audibility, facial expression, symbols, electronic, visual, and spoken communication. Because they are ultimately in charge of converting educational policies and principles into actions based on practice during interactions with the students, teachers have been shown to have a significant impact on students’ academic performance. They also play a critical role in educational attainment (Afe, 2012). Teachers are essential to both teaching and learning. It makes sense that the definition of a successful teacher is one who, while carrying out his duties as a teacher, achieves the intended outcomes.
In terms of ineffectiveness of communication flow, Ekundayo and Alonge (2010) found that there is wide communication gap between the students of private secondary schools and teachers because the school management denies the students the opportunity of being part of policy making in related matters of their welfare. Ineffective communication strategies can result to poor instructional delivery, poor management, poor motivation of students and teachers. It can lead to communication breakdown in the school.
Poor specification of function is also a source of communication problem in the school system, poor communication can have drastic effect on students’ academic performance and cordial relationship among the teachers and students, lack of adequate information in private secondary schools lead to frustration with low morale. All these will have adverse effect on school climate. When communication gap occurs in a school, the different units of school management tend to operate in isolation and perhaps in conflict with the other components to the detriment of the overall objective of the school.
According to lezotte (2016), this situation is likely lead to a breakdown in communication in a school and consequently leads to confusion and frustration of teachers and school authorities. Considering the observed deterioration in the academic performance, attitude and values of secondary school students in private secondary schools, one wonders if the high failure rates and the failure of the students especially in external examinations is not a reflection of the instructional quality in the schools. Therefore, the ineffectiveness of teachers in classroom interaction with the students could be responsible for the observed poor academic performance of students and the widely acclaimed fallen quality of education in Nigeria.
Teachers’ effectiveness has been accepted as a multi-dimensional construct since it measures a variety of different aspects of teaching such as; subject mastery, effective communication, lesson preparation and presentation. The influence of teachers’ teaching effectiveness on the learning outcome of students as measured by students’ academic performance has been the subject of several studies. The studies suggest that effective teaching is a significant predictor of students’ academic performance.
Therefore, effective teachers should produce students of higher academic performance. Poor academic performance of students in Nigeria has been linked to poor teachers’ performance in terms of accomplishing the teaching tasks, negative attitude to work and poor teaching habits which have been attributed to poor motivation (Ofoegbu, 2014) It has also been observed that conditions that would make for effective teaching such as resources available to teachers, general conditions of infrastructure as well as instructional materials in private secondary schools in Nigeria are poor.
The prevailing conditions would definitely show a negative or positive influence on the instructional quality in private schools, which may translate to either good or poor academic performance, attitude and values of secondary school students. The quality of the teaching force in schools is the key to raising students’ performance.
Consequently, Lassa (2010) claimed that education cannot be provided by just anybody. It requires a teacher who plans and delivers the lessons or instruction in such a way that objectives can be achieved. Collaborating this, Owolabi (2010) stated that government should find all possible means to retain veteran and experienced teachers who are still willing to serve so that they can contribute their wealth of experience to improve the system. Although teachers’ strong effect would significantly influence students’ academic performance, other factors such as socio-economic background, family support, intellectual aptitude of students, personality of students, self-confidence, and precious instructional quality have been found and also influence students’ examination scores either positively or negatively.
Communication can be defined as the process through which people, acting together can create, sustain and manage meanings through the use of verbal, non-verbal signs and symbols with a particular context. Communication as a relational process during which sources transmit messages using symbols, signs and contextual cues to express meaning and influence behaviour. Again communication from the view of Nakpodia (2010) is the ingredients which make organization. It is the vehicle through which the basic management and administrative functions are carried out.Similarly, Keyton (2011) saw communication as a process of transmitting information, messages, ideas, knowledge, experience, intellectual ability and common understanding from one person to another. In
other words, communication is the transfer of thoughts from one person to another by post-telephone, tele-printer and messages by other means.
Communication strategies can be verbal, visual, written, kinetic, symbol, electronic communication. Verbal communication is the type of communication strategy which involves talking to one another, face to face interaction between the teachers and the students, students to students, teachers and students and so on. It is the most effective and significant means of classroom interaction among teachers and students in knowledge acquisition. It allows for immediate feedback such that the teacher teaching can be reinforced with simple language, voice inflection and a combination of such other physical devices. This method of communication strategy should be encouraged in the classroom for effective learning and to enhance students’ academic performance.
Written communication is a communication strategy that is practiced in private secondary schools that equally promote students’ performance in the classroom. It occurs when the teacher presents his facts and figures on the chalk board while explaining things to the students. It includes chalkboard summary, writing of questions for students, giving assignment and giving students short note to copy in the classroom. In doing this, the teacher needs to write in a clear and simple language. The hand writing must be legible and his writing on the chalk board must be from left to right hand side. Equally, the teacher needs to check the students note books from time to time in order to ascertain that correct information is written by the pupils as given by the class teacher.
Symbol communication refers to communication that involves a shared message between the sender and receiver. Examples include speech, signs, language, writing, pictures andtactile communication. Symbol is anything one says or does to describe something, and is something that can have an array of many meaning.
Electronic communication is any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, or electronic communication is the meaningful exchange of information at a distance by technological means, particularly through electrical signals or electromagnetic waves (Wayne et al., 2013).
In kinetic communication the real intention of the communicator is shown through body gestures as the eye contact, facial expression, postures, dress, and even physical setting of the classroom (Nwankwo, 2014). This para-linguistic make nonverbal communication to be more effective than verbal and written form of communication.
Visual communication is equally an effective communication strategy in the classroom. It involves the use of relevant pictures in conveying teacher’s message to the students. The use of teaching aids as pictures, overhead projectors, multisensory communication system and other instructional materials.
A good understanding of the strategic communication could avail the classroom teacher the opportunity to pass his/her pedagogical knowledge and skills across to the students in the classroom with ease. This strategy occupies a central position in the classroom daily interactions as learning only takes place when pupil (student) understood the message of the teacher through the teaching. The three fundamental element of effective communication in the classroom are: The communicator (teacher), the message (the impacted knowledge), and the receiver (students) (Salami, 2010).
The teacher serves as a source of the message, who is obliged to teach certain concept for students to understand and learn in the classroom. The instructional method indicates the teacher teaching approaches to ensure that learning takes place, the approaches includes among others, the instructional materials, the method of teaching adopted and most essentially the language and style of passing his/her lessons across to the students. The receivers are the students who are taught to learn and acquire knowledge in the class. This can only take place when effective communication strategies occur. The reaction from the students who are observable in their behavior, serves as a feedback to the teacher. When the students respond positively or knowledgably to the teachers’ questions or evaluation, then the effective communication strategies has taken place.
In the view of Salami (2010) teaching involves a kind of communication that has an impression in the mind of the learners in such a way that he or she accepts the desirable new experience. It enables the skillful or professional teacher to develop the students through certain subjects in the school curriculum in order to facilitate student’s overall development in the school. Certain specialized knowledge and skills are required by the teacher.
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