NKUMBA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

NAME NAKATO CHRISTINE

STUDENT NO 1900101708

INDEX NO 2019/AUG/BECD/B225881/DIST

COURSE UNIT RESEARCH METHODS

LECTURER DR. KASUJJA

QUESTION
Design a research topic of your choice in your field of specialization with two valuables ie
dependant and independant values and include the following.
a) at least three objectives of that topic .
b) Research questions.
c) Conceptional frame work.
d) Scope of the study.
e) Significance of the study.
 TEACHERS’ SOCIAL TRAITS AND PUPILS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN
SELECTED PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN WAKISO DISTRICT, UGANDA

Background

According to Adedeji (1998), pupils’ performance is a major index by which the effectiveness
and success of any educational institution could be ascertained. A lot of scholars and
researchers are of the view that the poor academic performance at the primary schools is a
product of the teacher factor, school factor, home factor, institutional factor and so on. In line
with the earlier statement, opinion leaders, commentators, professionals and educationist are
always in agreement as to the fact that indeed there is a decline in the academic performance of
primary pupils in public examinations in Uganda. Based on the statement above, some blame
the pupils for this apparent decline in the academic performance. Majority blame the teachers
for the problems in our schools. Teachers in turn blame parents and the children. They also
blame government for unattractive condition of service and poor physical facilities in some
parts of the educational system. However, it should be noted that the pupils’ academic
performance is dependent on a number of factors among which is the teachers’ professional
attitudes.

Social Traits is defined by Kose (2017) as a psychological tendency to view a particular object
or behaviour with a degree of favour or disfavour. According to Cunningham (2010), Social
Traits refers to the mental readiness for any act in the perspective of social psychology. “It
states the observable Social Traits s and believes of human beings. It tells what the thinking of
each human being is, how they respond and what they do” (Cunningham, 2010, p.48).

Teacher Social Traits, for the purpose of the present study, was defined as how accepting
teachers are of learners from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and how willing
they are to accommodate these learners’ instructional needs. Teacher Social Traits t was
operationalized as the ability to support the learners, their expertise in their social-cultural
Social Traits towards the same.
Pupils’ academic performance is defined by Ogecha (2011) as the ability to study and
remember facts, being able to study effectively and see how facts fit together and form larger
patterns of knowledge, and being able to think for yourself in relation to facts and being able to
communicate your knowledge verbally or write down on paper.

Statement of the Problem

The issues of poor pupils’ performance in examinations in primary schools have been carried out
by a lot of researchers in Uganda. The low academic performance of pupils in Uganda could be
attributed to the social traits of teachers employed in schools (Oluremi, 2020). A lot of factors
have been adjudged as the causes of poor pupils’ academic performance which are related to
teachers’ professional attitudes, chief among which are: teachers’ poor communication attitudes,
poor classroom management attitudes, poor pedagogical attitudes and poor mastery of subject
matter by teachers. It is on the basis of these problems that this study was carried out.

(a) Research Objectives

1. To establish the Social Traits of teachers in selected primary schools Wakiso district.
2. To assess pupils’ academic performance before the adoption of instruction and after its
adoption in selected primary schools in Wakiso district.
3. To establish the relationship between teachers’ Social Traits pupils’ academic
performance in selected primary schools in Wakiso District.
(b) Research Questions

1. What is teachers’ Social Traits t in selected primary schools Wakiso district?

2. What is the pupils’ academic performance in selected primary schools in Wakiso
district?
3. Is there a relationship between teachers’ Social Traits and pupils’ academic performance
in selected primary schools in Wakiso District?
(c) Conceptual Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Students’ academic performance

Teachers’ social trait

 Students’ final examination

results
 Support
 Expertise
 Social -cultural attitude

Intervening Variable

 Government policy
 Rural/Urban location
 Parental level of education
 Students’ Attitude

Source: Primary Data (2022)

the conceptual framework of the relationship between teachers’ Social Traits and pupils’
academic performance.

The independent variable of this study is teachers’ Social Traits towards is measured using
support, expertise, and social-cultural Social Traits . On the other hand, the dependent variable
is pupils’ academic performance and is measured using pupils’ final examination results
(Uganda Education Board examination). The relationship between the independent and
dependent variable is that when teachers are supported by giving them translated text books,
they will also support the pupils by encouraging them to attend classes thus causing
improvement in academic performance. In addition, if the teachers are trained, they will become
experts and therefore will be able to teach what they know to the pupils which will then
culminate into improvement in academic performance. Furthermore, when teachers begin to
differentiate the importance of culture alongside teaching, they will then appreciate that
teachhing has not come to substitute their culture rather has come to enhance it through
education and make it more interesting to practice. This will make teachers to encourage
learning even during cultural and social gathering hence promoting pupils embracement of
learning in their classroom setting.

(d) Scope of the Study

Geographical Scope
This study will be conducted in Wakiso district which is located in northwest Uganda. The
district has over 133 primary schools. However, this study will select only 15 primary schools
due to academic nature of the study attributed to time and financial constraint. The 15 primary
schools will be selected because they have only up to P7.

Time Scope
This study will cover a period of 1 year, that is, from June 2022 to June, 2023. This period will
used instrumental in completing the research process such as: proposal writing, data collection,
data analysis and thesis writing.

Content Scope
The study will focus on establishing the Social Traits of teachers in selected primary schools
Wakiso district, assessing pupils’ academic performance before the adoption of instruction and
after its adoption in selected primary schools in Wakiso district and establishing the relationship
between teachers’ Social Traits pupils’ academic performance in selected primary schools in
Wakiso District.

(e) Significance of the Study

It is believed that the findings of this study will be instrumental to the following entities:

The findings of this study will help the Ministry of Education by bringing an insight into pupils’
academic performance before and after English was adopted as the main medium of instruction
in Uganda’s primary schools. This will help the ministry to come up with measures that ensure
that the use of English language as a medium of instruction promotes and improves pupils’
academic performance.
Furthermore, it is hoped that the results of this study will be important to policy makers,
ministry of Education, and the Government of Uganda to come up with better policies that
address the limited use of English language as a medium of instruction in primary schools and
to provide adequate teaching materials, increase public libraries to promote a better culture of
reading, sensitization of all Ugandans about the value of the English language as the medium of
instruction, and organize more training about and in English.

Similarly, it is hoped that the results of this study will provide an insight to the teachers,
examiners and pupils to improve their English language vocabulary by writing, listening and
reading English and other specific books written in English of different areas of study.

In addition, the findings of this study will help teachers to change their negative Social Traits
towards the use of English language as a medium of instruction and totally embrace it since
Uganda has already joined the East African Community whose countries use only English as a
medium of instruction in all their schools except in lower junior level.

Last but not least, future researchers will find the results of this study useful as a reference
source when carrying out a related study.
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