EFFECT OF DICTATION TECHNIQUE ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN ABAKALIKI EDUCATION ZONE OF EBONYI STATE

This study investigated the effect of dictation technique on the achievement on students in English listening comprehension in Abakaliki Education Zone of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Five research questions and five null – hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study design was quasi – experimental. The sample for the study consisted 182 JSS2 students from two co – education schools in Abakaliki Education Zone. The experimental group comprised 100 male and female students from schools in rural and urban areas. The control group comprised 82 male and female students from schools located in rural and urban areas. A multi – stage random sampling technique was used. First to draw the two co – educational schools and two intact classes from each of the schools, and to assign schools to experimental and control groups. Both the experimental group and control group were given the same English listening passage but the difference is that while those in the experimental group were taught English listening comprehension with dictation technique, those in the control group were taught English listening comprehension using the lecture method. The instrument used for data collection was English Achievement Test (EAT) which was marked over fifty. The EAT was validated by three experts. The instrument was trial tested on twenty students from Afikpo Education Zone, Ebonyi State. The data obtained from the trial tests were used to calculate the reliability of the instrument using Kuder – Richardson’s formula. It yielded an index of 0.74. Mean was used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses as P < 0.05. From the results the experimental group had significant higher achievement score in English listening comprehension than their counterparts who are in the control group. Also, gender had a significant effect on the achievement of students in English listening comprehension but school location did not. In addition, interaction effect between treatment and gender was not significant as well as the treatment and school location was not significant. Based on the findings, it was recommended that English language teachers should adopt dictation technique in teaching English listening comprehension. Different tasks which can aid extensive English listening comprehension activities should be employed from primary schools to junior secondary school being the foundational classes. The curriculum planners should also include the use of dictation technique in the next review of curriculum.