EFFECTS OF IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTSACHIEVEMENT IN ESSAY WRITING IN LOKOJA EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

This study examined the effect of immediate feedback on senior secondary school two (SSSII) students
achievement in essay writing. Two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Quasi-experimental
design involving a pretest-post-test, non-equivalent non-randomised comparison with experimental and control
groups was used in the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,735 senior secondary school two
(SSSII) students from four co-educational secondary schools in Lokoja Education Zone of Kogi State. A
purposive sampling technique was used to draw four schools out of these schools. The schools were randomly
assigned to experimental and control groups. Intact classes of the four schools were drawn for the study giving
a total of four intact classes. Students in the intact classes constituted the sample of 173 used for the study. The
treatment group was taught and assessed essay writing using the immediate feedback mode of assessment while
the control group was taught and assessed the same essay writing using the delayed feedback mode of
assessment. Data were collected using Narrative Essay in English Language Achievement Test (NEELAT). The
instrument was validated by experts from both Arts and Science Education Departments, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka. The reliability index of 0.93 determined through Kendell’s coefficient of concordance was obtained.
The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested
using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The major findings revealed that
immediate feedback technique significantly improved the achievement of students in Essay writing, Gender was
not a significant factor influencing students’ achievement in Essay writing. It was recommended among others
that, teachers should make use of immediate feedback as a mode of assessment in teaching essay writing while
curriculum planners should incorporate the use of immediate feedback in teaching essay writing in the next
review of curriculum.