Effect of Language of Instruction, School Location and Gender on Pupils’ Attitude and Achievement in Environmental Education in Cameroon

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of language of instruction, school location, and gender on pupils’ attitude and achievement in environmental education in Cameroon. It sought to find out the relative effect of French and English as languages of instruction, rural and urban location of schools, and gender (male or female) on pupils’ attitude and achievement in environmental education. The study adopted the quasi experimental design specifically, the non randomised pre-test- post test control design. Thirteen research questions and their corresponding hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population for the study was 31,996 pupils comprising 15,966 boys and 16,030 girls from 134 primary schools in Fako Division. The sample for the study was 291 class six pupils pupils (153 girls & 138 boys), from the nine sample schools. Multi-stage sampling consisting of the stratified, simple random, purposive and cluster sampling techniques were used for the selection of the schools and classes for the experiment. An Environmental Education Achievement Test, (EEAT) and an Attitude Scale (ATS) were designed and used for data collection. Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using means and standard deviation and Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Means and standard deviation of scores were used to answer the research questions, and the null hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA. The results revealed that pupils taught environmental education in English had a higher achievement scores than those taught in French; Pupils from rural schools achieved better than the pupils from urban schools; male pupils achieved better than the female pupils. Results also indicated that English pupils have more positive attitudes towards environmental education than the French pupils; urban pupils had more positive attitudes towards environmental education than their rural counterpart; and female pupils had more positive attitudes towards environmental education than males. There was no interaction effect between language of instruction and location; language of instruction and gender and school location and gender on pupils achievement in environmental education. The results however revealed that there was a significant interaction effect between language of instruction and school location on pupils’ attitudes towards environmental education. No significant interaction effect was seen between language of instruction and gender and school location and gender on pupils’ attitude towards environmental education. Lastly, it was discovered that there is a significant interaction effect between language of instruction, school location and gender on pupils’ achievement in environmental education. Based on the results, it was recommended amongst others that more emphasis should be placed on teachers’ communication skills in the planning and designing of teacher training programs and that curriculum planners should consider locations when developing syllabuses. One of the recommendations was for teachers and educational authorities to encourage the female pupils to take their lessons in environmental education seriously so as to improve their achievement and that parents should help encourage children at home so they can develop more positive attitudes towards environmental education. It was also recommended that workshops be organised regularly for the teachers in Fako Division to acquaint them with the necessary skills for the effective teaching of environmental education concepts.