EFFECT OF PEER ASSESSMENT ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ANXIETY IN IGBO LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE, ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of peer assessment on senior secondary school students' anxiety in Igbo language essay writing in Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria. one specific purpose with corresponding research question and one null hypothesis guided the study.The study adopted the quasiexperimental factorial research design, specifically, the pre-test post-test non-equivalent control group design.The population of the study comprised all the 3,357 senior secondary two (SS 2) students in all the 62 public secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone.A sample of 111 SS2 students in two intact classes was drawn for the study through multistage sampling procedure. The instrument titled: Igbo Language Narrative Essay Writing Anxiety Inventory (ILNEWAI) was developed by the researchers were used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Arts Education (Language Education Unit) and one from Science Education (Measurement and Evaluation Unit), University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of ILNEWAI yielded .89. The result showed that the instrument was reliable for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research question while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.The finding of the study showed that peer assessment has more positive effect in reducing students’ anxiety in Igbo language essay writing than the teacher assessment technique.Based on these finding, it was recommended among others, that Authorities should formally integrate peer assessment as a part of the curriculum in Igbo language essay writing in the secondary schools in Enugu State; Igbo language teachers should be provided with in-service training or professional development opportunities to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to implement effective peer assessment practices; Teachers should encourage a collaborative learning environment that promotes peer interaction and feedback in Igbo language by emphasizing peer learning and cooperative work.