Research Participants
The participants of this research were primarily drawn from the linguistic class of 2011. This constituted a sample of 74 students. The students answered the survey questions covering questions about age, gender, different kinds of marks and total grade. The sample size therefore consisted of 74 respondents based on the assumptions that all answered the questions and that the answers they provide were valid for researches analysis. The participants were classified into two major categories based on their questionnaire responses. This included the English speakers as a first language, and the speakers of English as a second language. These two broad groups widely informed the direction and techniques adopted in completion of this research.
Location of study
The study was conducted within the university with the linguistics class of 2011 being the primary target. This location was chosen on basis of its accessibility and ease of data collection (Leinhardt & Leinhardt, 2009).
Research design
Design of this research was motivated by it requirements and ease of accessibility to these requirements. The materials utilized in this research were readily available within the college. This will limit the time and resources necessary to acquire data samples (Hoaglin, 1983). These included data base course description, survey questionnaires. The marks obtained in each part formed the researches internal data. The procedure involved identification of a team of four participants. The participants then identified the appropriate research questions and hence the appropriate statistics tool to use in analysis. The research questions included the following:
- How does L1 and L2 compare to the total marks scored by the students?
- Does L2 negatively affect student’s performance?
- Is L1 superior to L2 with regard to students total mark scores?
Study hypothesis
Students who learn English as their first language perform better than the counterparts who gave English as their first language. This assumption will guide the findings of this research whereby the researcher will try to establish if the student with English as their second language score higher average total marks as compared to their counterparts who have English as a second language.
Data collection
Collection of data was limited to the aforementioned sample population. Basically the data collected was aimed at assisting in study of the correlation between L1 (English as first language), and L2 (other languages as first language) to the total marks scored by students. Firstly, L1 (English as 1st language) or L2 (other languages as 1st language) were recorded into new variable to L1 speak (the whole group’s name). In this group, “1” means L1 speaker, “2” means L2 speaker. Despite comprising of a number of languages, L2 was simply recorded as non-English speakers.
Data analysis
These research questions guided the choice of the best statistical tool to use in evaluation of student performance. A quantitative research approach was adopted whereby descriptive statistics was employed. These included correlation analysis, T-test, and regression analysis (Andrienko & Andrienko, 2005; Mann, 1995).). This was done with the help of SPSS data analysis software.
Descriptive statistics will simply elaborate what obtained data reflect with respect to the research questions (William, 2006). On their basis, the researcher will be able to establish the probability of one group of students succeeding as compared to the others whereby the groups are L1 and L2
References
Andrienko, N. & Andrienko, G. (2005). Statistical Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Data. A Systematic Approach. London: Springer.
Hoaglin, D. C. (1983). Understanding Robust and Exploratory Data Analysis. : London: McGraw Hill.
Leinhardt, G. & Leinhardt, S. (2009). Data Analysis: New Tools for the Analysis of Empirical Data, Review of Research in Education, Vol. 8, pp. 85–157.
Mann, P. S. (1995). Introductory Statistics, 2nd Edition, London: Wiley.
William M. K. (2006). “Descriptive statistics”. Research Methods Knowledge Base.