THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS AND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SIMAD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS THE IN INSTITUTE OF MODERN LANGUAGES (IML).

ABSTRACT The study sought to examine The Relationship between English Language Skills And The Academic Performance Of Simad University Students The In Institute Of Modern Languages (IML) The study was guided by three objectives and these are; relationship between listening skills scores and academic performance, relationship between reading skills scores and academic performance and relationship between writing skills scores and academic performance. The study undertook a correlational research design adopting a Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Simple random sampling method was employed to select a sample size of 30 respondents out of a population of 33 students enrolled in the September in-take of 2023 determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table and an English skills-based test was administered as a research instrument. The test paper comprised questions covering the three language skills of listening, reading and writing. The study results indicate that there is a positive, significant but moderate relationship between reading skills scores and the academic performance of Somali students in IML program at Simad university in Somalia (sig=0.031, r=.345). Secondly it was found that there is a positive, significant and weak relationship between listening skills scores and the academic performance of students in IML program at Simad university in Somalia, Mogadishu (sig= .032, r = .210). Finally writing skills scores also have a significant positive, significant but moderate relationship with the academic performance of Somali students in IML program at Simad university in Somalia, Mogadishu, (sig=.025, r=.416). The study concludes that all the scores on the English Language skills positively and significantly relate with academic performance of students. However, reading skills scores and writing skills scores have a moderate relationship while listening skills scores have a weak relationship with academic performance of students in IML program at Simad University in Somalia, Mogadishu. Therefore, the ability of students to read and write has a big attachment to their performance while their ability to listen has a lesser attachment to their performance. The study recommends that there is need for the University, if possible, to organize reading lessons for the students since it impacts the performance of the students academically. There is further need for a concentration on training in English listening skills to amplify the academic performance for the students. There is need that the writing skills of students to be improved such paragraphing and mechanics of writing. Finally, the university should initiate an English language course before IML or along with program especially for students of at least six months so that their English proficiency is improved.