DIGITAL INSTRUCTIONAL APPLICATIONS AND STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN ORAL ENGLISH: A FOCUS ON SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study focused on the effect of digital instructional application on senior secondary students’ performance in Phonics in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The focus involves the effect of Elsa Speak, a digital instructional application, on senior secondary students’ performance in Oral English. The quasi-experimental research design was used for the study. The population consisted of 14,533 senior secondary school 2 students in Ekiti State. Using multistage sampling procedure, fifty pupils each were randomly chosen from two senior secondary schools in Ikere and Ado Ekiti. Furthermore, the Equivalent technique was utilized in distributing fifty male and female pupils into the experimental and control groups respectively. The instrument tagged Oral English Performance Test was used for data collection with 0.72 as reliability coefficient. Data was collected with the Oral English Performance Test (OEPT). Data was analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The two hypotheses were tested as 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed significant effect of Elsa Speak, a digital instructional app on the young learners’ pronunciation of isolated and connected speech in English. However, the study revealed that gender had no significant effect on the students’ performance. Recommendations based on findings included the need for a relearning programme of teachers in charge of phonics, among others.