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EFFECT OF PEER TUTORING TEACHING STRATEGY AND ATTITUDE ON

STUDENT'S ACHIEVEMENT IN GEOMETRY

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 EFFECT OF PEER TUTORING TEACHING STRATEGY AND ATTITUDE ON
STUDENT’S ACHIEVEMENT IN GEOMETRY

Dr. IJEH, Sunday B.

08108604204
sbije@gmail.com
Delta State University, Abraka
Abstract

This research was carried out to investigate the effects of peer-tutoring teaching strategy and
attitude on secondary school students’ academic achievement in Geometry. Three research
questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design adopted was a
quasi-experimental research design. Two hundred (200) students from four selected schools in
Delta Worth Senatorial District were used as research sample. The simple random sampling
technique was used to select the sampled schools. The experimental group was exposed to
peer-tutoring, while the control group was taught with conventional method. Geometry
Achievement Test (GA T) and interview were used to collect data for both pretest and
posttests. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained using descriptive statistics. The data
were analyzed using t-test and by categorising the responses of the participants according to
the theme of the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of
the study are that students taught with peer-tutoring strategy performed significantly better
than those taught with conventional teaching method and that gender has no effect on their
mathematics achievement scores. It was recommended that Government agencies whose
responsibility it is to design and revise the curriculum for secondary schools, should incorporate
the use of peer tutoring in teaching.

KEYWORDS: Peer-tutoring, Attitude, Achievement, Geometry, Strategy, Method.

Introduction

The teaching and learning of mathematics has undergone a significant shift in thinking about
the nature of student learning and the conditions under which teaching takes place in order to
promote students’ achievement in mathematics. Research in the teaching and learning of
mathematics has indicated that students learn best if they repeat instruction as acquired from
their teacher or other instructional technique several times. Constructivism is one of the
theories behind this type of learning as far as teaching and learning of mathematics is
concerned (Gan, 2008). Thus, teaching and learning has shifted from designing instruction from
the behavourist to the cognitivist and now to the constructivist (Cooper, 2008). According to
Tukur, Nuruiwahida and Madya (2016), the lecture teaching approach usually involves
introducing the topic or concept by explanation or brainstorming about the topic and then
giving work examples. This is followed by more explanations and discussion or question and
answer session. At the end students are given homework to do on their own to be submitted
depending on when the teacher wishes the students to do so. In this kind of teaching approach,
students may not be able to construct their own, understanding or knowledge since they are
not actively engaged in the teaching-learning process. Thus students are not able to think
creatively, innovatively and critically, since they were passive in the lesson activities or merely
received information from their teacher. In addition, students may not be able to keep with the
teaching pace. Hence, in order to enhance students’ achievement and promote active
participation, the teacher needs to adjust the teaching styles and strategies adopted during the
teaching and learning of mathematics from teacher-centered to a more active learning
approach.

One of the possible teaching approaches which may not permit the students’ passive
involvement in teaching and learning is the peer-tutoring teaching approach. Further, the kind
of attitude that students exhibit in the course of using this approach is another issue that needs
to be investigated, in an attempt to enhance students’ achievement in the teaching and
learning of mathematics in general and geometry in particular.

Peer-tutoring is systematic and peer-mediated. It is a teaching strategy in which students are

paired together to practice academic skills and content. This teaching approach is very helpful,
especially in a class with students of diverse characteristics in learning. The peer-tutoring
teaching approach encourages higher rate of students’ participation, which results in a better
academic achievement. It also creates better opportunities for paired students to practise
specific skills, which lead to better retention and deep understanding of a topic by teaching it to
another student (Anslem, 2010). The paired students can be of the same or different abilities
and/or age range, hence their attitude to learning may differ in the course of using this
approach for teaching and learning.

Peer-tutoring consists of a variety of instructional strategies which include cross-age tutoring

(CAT), peer-assisted learning (PALS) and reciprocal peer-tutoring (RPT). In using these
approaches for teaching, variations exist among them but the underlying theory is consistent.
That is, peer interaction can have a powerful influence on academic motivation, interest and
achievement (Wental, 2006). Various studies such as Miller and Miller (2008), Razia (2012),
Tukur et al (2016), Ullah et al. (2018) have suggested that socialization experiences can occur
during peer-tutoring and can benefit the students by motivating students to learn and build a
stronger relationship among the peers. When students understand the benefit of peer tutoring
and have the necessary materials that can make them effective tutors and tutees, they make
greater achievement than those who are not given any instruction on how to work together
(Fuche, Fuchs, Hamlett & Durka, 2007).
Attitude is predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain
idea, object, person or situation. Attitude influences an individual’s stimuli such as choice of
action and responses to challenges, incentives and rewards. There are three components of
attitude: affective, behaviour and cognitive. While the affective component refers to the
emotional reaction that one has towards an attitude object, the behavioural component refers
to the way one behaves when exposed to an attitude. The cognitive component refers to the
beliefs, thoughts and attributes that we would associate with an object. The cognitive
component is that part of attitude that is concerned with knowledge of a person. The three
components may influence students’ way of learning as well as their achievement in geometry,
either positively or negatively.

During teaching and learning, students pass through different stages during which they can
develop both positive and negative attitudes in the topic or subject they were taught. If the
students have negative attitude towards a topic or subject, they may perform poorly in that
subject or topic. This is because attitude has a powerful influence on learning. According to
Mohammad and Syed (2008), attitude towards mathematics, of which geometry is apart, plays
a crucial role in the teaching- learning process in mathematics. The way Geometry
(mathematics) is presented during a lesson affects the attitude of the students in the topic.
Mohammad and Syed (2008) noted that the methods of teaching involving non participatory
teaching strategy make the learning of the subject boring and abstract. Hence there is the need
to explore a teaching approach that could enhance learners’ participation in lessons and
improve their achievement in the subject.

The modern conception of the nature of mathematics is the result of a long and slow evolution.
The Babylonians knew many mathematics facts as early as 200BC but mathematics did not
become deductive science in the modem sense until much later in the sixth century BC.
Pythagoras made the first great step forward by introducing proofs in Geometry into
mathematics. It is the subject of abstractions that concerns itself with factual truth about the
physical universe. For example, Euclid (300BC) in his element gave the classical formulation of
Greek Geometry, a branch of mathematics that enables man to make prediction based on
observation about the physical world. However, Branch (1997) and Olateru (2006) indicated
that Geometry ideas are useful in representing and solving problems in Geometry other areas
of mathematics and real-life situations.

Geometry is a branch of mathematics that is concerned with surveying, measurement, area and
volume. Among the notable accomplishments, one finds formula for length, area and volume
such as Pythagoras theorem, circumferences and area of circle, area of triangle, volume of a
cylinder, sphere and a pyramid. However, with the knowledge of Geometry, one can
understand every aspect of mathematics, the queen of science and the king of all subjects.
According to Arora (2016), academic achievement generally refers to the degree or level of
success or proficiency attained in some academic work. The author further stated that
academic achievement encourages the students to work hard and learn more. Othman,
Sernarak and Leng (2011) viewed academic achievement as the extent to which a learner is
profiting from instruction in a given area of learning. Empirical studies have shown that peer-
tutoring and student attitude significantly improve students’ academic achievement (Razia,
2012; Arora, 2016; Tukur et al., 2018). Peer-tutoring does not only improve students’ academic
achievement but also students’ retention and attitude towards different subjects. Therefore,
this study attempted to determine the effect of per-tutoring teaching strategy and attitude on
students’ achievement in geometry.

Statement of the Problem

This study focused on an existing problem which includes the persistent poor performances in
mathematics at both junior and senior secondary school levels. Over the years, the Chief
Examiners Report on students’ performances by the West African Examinations Council and the
Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination performance has indicated a downward trend
in the performance of students in mathematics and particularly in geometry (2010,2011 and
2017). Betiku (2001) noted that geometry is one of the topics in mathematics that are most
poorly taught and widely hated by students at the secondary school level. To improve learners’
performance in this topic and in mathematics generally, the WAEC Chief Examiner’s Report
(2015) recommended that the performance in mathematics could be improved through the use
of meaningful teaching approaches in mathematics that can encourage students’ active
involvement, participation and stimulate their interest in the topic. This, therefore, calls for the
need to reverse the predominant traditional method of teaching to a more efficacious strategy
such as the peer-tutoring instructional strategy for teaching geometry. The statement of the
problem, therefore, is: what are the effects of peer-tutoring teaching strategy and attitude on
secondary school students’ achievement in geometry?

Hypotheses

The study was guided by the following hypotheses:

HO1: There is no significant difference in academic achievement of students taught geometry

using peer-tutoring teaching and conventional teaching strategies.

HO2: There is no significant difference between male and female performance in Geometry
when taught using the peer-tutoring teaching strategy.
HO3: There is no significant difference in the attitude of students between those who are
taught geometry using peer tutoring and those taught using conventional teaching
method.

The scope of the study is the effects of peer tutoring teaching strategy and attitude on
students’ achievement in geometry. The research work was limited to the analysis based on the
achievement test, and attitude questionnaire. The topics covered are geometry and
geometrical construction. The study was limited to junior secondary school students in Delta
North Senatorial District.

Methodology

The study adopted a quasi-experimental pretest, posttest, non-equivalent control group design
which entails the use of non randomized group where the researcher cannot randomly sample
and assign subjects because intact classes were used to administer the treatment. The format
for the research design is shown below:

This type of research design enabled relevant information to be collected from the respondents
through the use of Geometrical Achievement Test and attitude questionnaire. The population
for the study was all the ss Class II students in one hundred and sixty junior secondary schools
in Delta North Senatorial District. The total number of population was 8310 (Delta State Post
Primary Education Board, 2018). Forty secondary schools were selected out of which one
handed and sixty (160) junior secondary schools in Delta North Senatorial District. Fifty students
were selected from Junior Secondary Class II (JS II) of each school making a total of 2000
students from the 40 schools.

There were two research instruments for the study; namely,

i. Geometry Achievement Test

ii. Attitude questionnaire.
Geometry Achievement Test is a test designed to measure the knowledge and proficiency of an
individual or student in a topic that has been learned or taught in geometry. The GAT covers the
circles and theirs properties, circle theorems and applications Peer-tutoring Teaching strategy is
a flexible, peer-mediated strategy that involves students serving as academic tutors and tutees.
Typically, a higher performing student is paired with a lower performing student to review
critical academic or behavioural concepts.

Conventional (lecture) teaching method is concerned with the teacher being the controller of
the learning environment. Power and responsibility are held by the teacher and they play the
role of instructor (in the form of lectures) and decision maker (with regard to curriculum
content and specific outcomes). Attitude questionnaire consists of series of questions that can
be used to determine student attitude to learning based on the teaching approach used by
their teacher.

The instruments used in the study were all validated by two experienced lecturers in
Mathematics Education and one lecturer from the Department of Measurement and Evaluation
in Delta State University, Abraka. The panel was requested to ascertain if the instruments
contained the appropriate information that was necessary to determine the effects of peer.
tutoring teaching strategy and attitude on students achievement in geometry. Their responses
showed a unanimous agreement that the instruments contained the necessary information that
could be used to determine the effects of peer-tutoring teaching strategy and attitude on
achievement in geometry.
For reliability of the instruments, instruments reliability was done with some of the schools
outside the sampled schools for the study. A test-retest was used at two weeks interval. The
result of the test was analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient statistics.
The correlation coefficient was found to be r = 0.82 for the achievement test and r = 0.79 for
attitude questionnaire which establish the reliability of the instruments. In terms of the
interview schedule, the responses of
the participants were identical and consistent with regards to the items selected. Thus the
reliability of the instruments was assured.

In the first week, the researcher visited the sampled schools for introduction and explained the
purpose of the study to them. Pretest was then administered to all the students involved, both
the control and experimental group. Peer-tutoring was used to teach the experimental group
while the control group was taught using the lecture teaching method. The teacher in charge of
mathematics in each school took over the control group for conventional teaching, while one of
the students in peered groups who was trained on how to use peer-tutoring teaching strategy
took charge of the peer-tutoring. At the end of second week, five lessons were taught in each
class, using the peer tutoring and conventional lecture teaching methods.

On the first day of the third week, posttest was administered on all the students that were
exposed to the peer-tutoring teaching strategy and the lecture method. The marks obtained
from the tests were analysed and the average and standard deviation were computed.

The statistics used for data analysis was the mean score and standard deviation (SD), while the
t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.

Presentation and Analysis of Data

The pretest result subjected to t-test at 0.05 level of significance shows that the value oft-cal. =
1.05 is less than the value oft-critical = 1.96. Therefore, this implies that there is no significant
difference between the control group and the experimental group in their entry behaviour of
the start of the treatment.
Hypothesis Testing
Table 2: The Posttest Analysis Comparing Students’ Academic Achievement using Peer-
tutoring and Lecture Teaching Method

From Table 2 above the calculated value of t = 7.35 is greater than the critical value of t= 1.96 at
0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. It is then clear that the
academic achievement of students taught mathematics using peer-tutoring with a mean score
of 63.3, is significantly higher than those taught using conventional method, with a mean score
of40.8
Table 3: The t-test Analysis Comparing Male and Female Students Academic Achievement
using Peer-tutoring
From Table 3 the calculated value oft 0.129 is less than the critical value oft = 1.96 at 0.05 level
of significance. This lead to failure to reject the null hypothesis; which stated that there is no
significant difference in male and female academic achievement in mathematics when taught,
using the peer-tutoring method.
Table 4: The t-test Analysis Comparing Students Achievement using Peer-tutoring and
attitude

From Table 4, the calculated value oft-7.35 is greater than the critical value at the 0.05 level of
significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. This means that the academic
achievement of students taught with peer-tutoring teaching strategy with a mean score of 68.5
is higher with positive attitude towards the learning of geometry, than the lecture, with a mean
score of 22.5.
Discussion of Results
The results showed that students taught with peer tutoring had mean score higher than those
taught with conventional teaching method. The experimental group performed better than the
control group. The hypothesis earlier posited was tested and the null hypothesis was rejected
as the sample t-test revealed a statistically reliable difference between the mean of the
experimental group and control group respectively. The factors that cause this include: mode of
instruction, freedom of speech, mode of interaction and flexibility of the lesson. This finding
also revealed that there is no significant difference in male and female academic performance
when taught using peer-tutoring. That is. peer-tutoring method of instruction is effective in
teaching both male and female students in order to enhance their academic achievement in
geometry.
The research also revealed that peer-tutoring is more effective in student retention when
taught mathematics than the conventional (lecture) teaching method of instruction. The
findings of this study are in agreement with the findings of Tukur et al (2018) who found that if
students worked with a peer-tutor or some form of cooperative learning, all participants will
have a higher self-concept and satisfaction. Hence their attitude towards the learning ofthe
given topic will change.
However, Mathes et al. (2003) in disagreement with this noted that both group of students,
peer-tutored arid direct instruction make gains in mathematics. Nonetheless, students that
were taught with conventional (lecture) teaching method made higher learning gains than
those who participated in peer-tutoring.

Coleman and Vaughn (2000) (as cited in Rivera, Otaiba & Koorland, 2006), also noted that
teacher-directed instruction is a positive means in gaining results in student learning. However,
Mathes et al., (2003) and Tukur et al (2018) found that students also made significant learning
gains by assisting one another with learning, especially when teachers were pre-occupied with
other students during small group instruction. The attitude of the students to learning changed
in a more positive direction towards the learning of the topic, especially when they worked
together in a fi.rrn of co-operative learning. The social interaction and relationship established
by students during peer tutoring provided more opportunities for students to be encouraged in
the learning of the subject and develop a more position attitude towards learning the subject
(Tukur et at., 2018).

Conclusion
From the results obtained, peer-tutoring teaching strategy and attitude have positive effect on
students’ achievement in the teaching and learning of geometry. Peer-tutoring seems to be one
of the most effective teaching strategies that can motivate student participation in teaching
and learning and improve their positive attitude towards the learning of geometry. Peer-
tutoring enhances students’ active participation in teaching and learning. Furthermore,
socialization and individualized instruction are encouraged, thereby providing better
opportunity to improve students achievement in geometry.

Therefore, if peer-tutoring is effectively utilized, it will produce greater positive attitude and
impact on participants’ achievement in a subject such as geometry. It makes for better
understanding of the topics and encourages collaborative group problem-solving abilities, as
well as group reading habit. Students will be compelled to use their study time judiciously, in
order to improve their achievement in the subject.

Recommendations
The study thus recommends that:
 Seminars and workshops should be organized to educate teachers on the use of peer-
tutoring teaching strategy;
  Teachers occasionally should encourage students on how to use research activities in
problem-solving;
 Intensive training and retraining of teachers is proper in implementation of peer
tutoring in secondary schools;
 Government agencies whose responsibility it is to design and revise the curriculum for
secondary schools should incorporate the use of peer-tutoring in teaching: and
 Inspectors who monitor tutoring sessions should also provide a reward system to
reinforce behaviour and participation in peer-tutoring activities for learning.

The tutor and tutee’s relationship is ongoing, developmental and reciprocal; it also motivates
individuals who want to learn and grow cognitively. To realize the programme benefits of peer
tutoring, tutors require strong interpersonal skills, including: relationship building,
communication and team-building; and tutees should practice their skill in giving corrective
feedback to tutors.
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