Determinants of students’ performance in Luganda language in Secondary schools in Buwekula, Mubende District

Abstract

The study was set out to find factors affecting students’ performance in Luganda language in secondary schools in Buwekula, Mubende District. In particular, this study aimed at finding out; how socio-economic status influences students’ performance in Luganda language, how the various teaching methods affect students’ performance in Luganda and also establish how school environment influences students’ performance in Luganda language. The researcher adopted a cross-sectional survey research design to help her in examining how these factors really influence Luganda language mastering, qualitative approach was much used although in some cases especially regarding computation for the descriptive statistics quantitative means were inevitable. The study targeted both male and female students in senior five and their Luganda teachers in selected secondary schools in Buwekula Sub County whereby a total of 134 students and 10 teachers were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and verbal analysis were applied and the study findings led to the following conclusions; children from high-SES homes have more books in their homes than those of low-SES environments and that Luganda language learning is much influenced by school environment where social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others can easily take place. The researcher therefore recommended that; programs which maintain student interest in learning must be developed; academic administrators should help these initiatives by recognizing and rewarding excellent teaching in general and the adoption of instructional innovations in particular. Comprehensive programs to demonstrate this type of administrative commitment should address institutional employment policies and practices, the allocation of adequate resources for instructional development, and the development of strategic administrative action plans. And again, there is the need for more rigorous research to provide a scientific foundation to guide future practices in the classroom so as to guide teachers on alternating methods of teaching for language teaching. Teachers must use a variety of methods for teaching a language and also some basic skills must be taught to learners first so that they can write essays proficiently and these include; spelling, punctuation and reading skills.