TITLE:
Investigating the Type of Student Engagement That Exists in English Classrooms of Public Basic Schools in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Gertrude Afiba Torto
KEYWORDS:
Behavioural Engagement, Cognitive Engagement, Emotional Engagement, English, Junior High School
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.8 No.9,
September
7,
2020
ABSTRACT: Current
studies on student engagement and achievement posited that there are three
dimensions of student engagement and there is a correlation between the three
dimensions of student engagement and achievement. Several researches conducted in Ghana have looked at aspects of student engagement. However, the
issue of poor academic performance continues to be a huge challenge. It is
imperative therefore to conduct a study to find out the type of student
engagement that exists in the public basic schools, in order to find out the
underlying factor that impedes good performance in these schools as a way of
finding solution to the challenge of poor performance. The study employed a
quantitative approach of inquiry, using 61 English language teachers in the
Cape Coast metropolis in Ghana. The data was collected by a five-point Likert
Scale questionnaire which was analysed using descriptive statistics (Means and
Standard Deviation). The study found out that, though there are traits of the
three dimensions of student engagement, the dominant dimension was the Emotional.
Thus, in Cape Coast, the three dimensions are not at play in the English
classrooms so achievement could not happen.