Mother Tongue and Academic Achievement in English Language in Selected Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study examined the mother tongue and academic achievement of English-language students in selected senior secondary schools in Ekiti State. The study employed the quasi-experimental research design. The instrument for data collection was a semi-structured questionnaire. The instrument was subjected to both validity and radiality tests. Data was collected among 240 students in junior secondary schools in two selected cities in Ekiti State. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (ANCOVA) at P<0.05 significance level. Findings from the study exposed that the mother tongue had a mean score of 16.55, while those taught using the English Language and a combination of English language and mother tongue had mean scores of 17.95 and 17.06 before treatment. On exposure to treatment, students in the mother tongue group had the highest mean score of 32.20, followed by those exposed to a combination of English Language and mother tongue (mean=28.68) while those taught with English Language had the lowest mean score of 24.25. The result shows that achievement mean scores of female students in all the groups slightly outweighed their female counterparts except those taught using the English Language. That is male-mother tongue (mean=31.28), female-mother tongue (mean=33.13), male-English Language (mean=24.47), female-English Language=24.02), male-English Language+ mother tongue (mean=28.20), female-English Language +mother tongue (mean=29.15). The result shows that achievement mean scores of urban students in all the groups slightly outweighed their rural counterparts except those taught using a combination of English Language and mother tongue. That is, rural-mother tongue (mean=33.13), urban-mother tongue (mean=31.20), rural-English Language (mean=24.02), urban-English Language=24.65), rural-English Language+ mother tongue (mean=29.15), urban-English Language +mother tongue (mean=28.68). There is a significant difference in the performance mean scores of students taught using English Language, mother tongue and combination of English Language and mother tongue before and after treatments. The treatment accounted for about 32.4% (Eta2 = 0.324) of the observed variance in the performance mean scores of students. The study concluded that the mother tongue is crucial and must be considered in teaching teaching-learning process for better academic performance of students in the English language.