The Effect of Creative Instructional Strategy and School Type on Primary School Pupils’ Performance in Literacy in English

Abstract

The absence of quality and creativity in the performance of primary school leavers was one of the problems that gave rise to the preparation of the current primary school curriculum in Nigeria. The achievement level of Nigerian primary school children had been poor and unacceptable. It is believed that implementing teaching strategies that have the potential of improving achievement levels and creative literacy among the school children is what the schools require. This study, therefore, focused on the effect of engaged learning strategy, school type (Public or Private), and gender on the achievement of primary school pupils in literacy in English. The study was a quasi- experiment with pretest, posttest control group design. One public and one private school having equivalent status were randomised into each of the two study conditions. Data for the study was collected using highly reliable, researcher designed reading, writing and spelling tests. The results showed that teaching strategy was significant [F (1, 39) =10.266, p < 0.05]; School type was significant [F (1, 39) = 16.355, p < 0.05]; Gender was significant [F (1, 39) = 8.143, p < 0.05]; and three-way interaction was significant [F (1, 39) = 4.195, p <0 .05]. The results reveal that: Engaged learning facilitated literacy achievement above teacher verbalisation; Private school system facilitated literacy achievement more than public schools; males achieved much higher than females. These results and disentangled interactions were discussed and explained. Engaged learning strategy was recommended for use in the primary schools in preference to teacher verbalisation.