CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Different authors have tried to make an intensive review about the causes of mass failure of students in English language at the secondary level across the country and beyond. Several researches on this topic were conducted in developing as well as developed countries. In developing countries some researcher showed that school factors were more important for students’ English achievement than family factors. Regarding Nigeria, there is no specific study on the issue. Therefore; further investigation is needed to determine causes responsible for mass failure of students in English language at the secondary level of Olorunda Local Government Area of Osun State. In a study conducted by Hasan (2005) on the ‘‘English Language Curriculum at the Secondary Level in Nigeria He discovers 82% of rural and urban secondary school students complain that English is not sufficiently used in the class; with an average 68% of teachers admitting that they do not arrange the practice of the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) of English language in the classroom. Another survey shows that the trained teachers are more efficient than non-trained teachers at the secondary level of the English language in Nigeria (Johnson 2001). Moreover, Stephen Krashen (2002) hypothesizes the ‘affective filter’ that consists of various psychological factors, such as anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence which can strongly enhance or inhibit second language acquisition. Snow (2004) advocates that students of any age, and in any culture will differ from one another in various intellectual and psychometric abilities. This is noticed in both general and specialized prior knowledge, in interest and motives and in personal styles of thought and work during learning. Furthermore, these differences often relate directly to differences in students learning progress. Malaka (2001) has explored the motivational problems in teaching-learning English as a secondary language at high school level with a particular