Ife PsychologIA, 21(2), September 2013

Copyright Ife Center for Psychological Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

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Socio-Economic Status Difference In English Language Comprehension
Achievement of Pupils with Intellectual Disability


Tolu Eni-Olorunda
Department of Home Science and
Management,
Child Development & Family Studies
Option
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
E-mail: toluenny@yahoo.com

Adediran O. A
Department of Educational Psychology,
Emmanuel Alayande College of Education,
Oyo




The study examined achievement in English Language comprehension of pupils
with intellectual disability. The study adopted a pretest, posttest, control group,
quasi-experimental design. Ten pupils each were purposively selected from three
special schools. They were assigned to two experimental groups (audio-taped
and individualized instruction groups) and control. Three instruments were
used: Slossons Intelligence Test ( = 0.86), Socio-Economic Status Scale ( =
0.86), English Language Comprehension Achievement Test ( = 0.79). Three
hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data were analyzed
using descriptive statistics, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Duncan post
hoc. The experimental groups were significantly higher in their comprehension
score that in the control group (F(3,26) = 37.14; p< 0.05). It further showed that
each of the three possible pairs of instructional groups was significantly different
from one another. The individualized group had the highest performance score
(x =28.50) followed by audio-taped group (x = 23.12) and the control group (x =
13.98). There was no significant main effect of socio-economic status in
comprehension achievement of people with intellectual disability. However, the
mean score of pupils from low socio-economic status (x = 22.62) was better than
those from high (x = 22.14) and medium socio-economic status (x = 20.83).
There was no significant interaction effect of treatment and socio-economic
status on English Language comprehension of pupils with intellectual disability.
F(3,26) = .969; p > 0.05). Pupils, special teachers, curriculum planners and future
researchers would find the two strategies useful in the enhancement of English
language comprehension of pupils with intellectual disability.
Key words: English language comprehension achievement, Intellectual
disability, individualized instructional strategy, Audiotape instructional strategy,
Socio-economic status, Gender.

Comprehension implies readers ability to
grasp the pattern of thinking intended and
structured in the authors writing. English
language reading comprehension is an
exercise aimed at improving ones
understanding of a language either written
or spoken. It is very important as it
requires knowledge not only of the meaning
of the words but of their relationships in
sentences, paragraphs and passages. In
this sense, comprehension is rooted in and
synonymous with intelligence, the ability to
make a thorough logical analysis of
conceptual or cognitive relationship.
(Jindrich, 1998). Alimi and Adeosun (2001)
posited that understanding is the most
salient issue in comprehension exercise.
Accordingly, questions on English
Language comprehension are to test pupils
degree of concentration, assimilation, their
logical reasoning and how they can infer
and use writers ideas as a basis to form
new ideas. All these are tests of
understanding.
English Language comprehension has
been a serious challenge to all pupils
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irrespective of their intellectual competence
in schools and this no doubt has posed a
serious concern to stakeholders in
education including the curriculum
planners, teachers and Ministries of
Education. Previous studies have been
conducted on several intervention strategies
in this regard by many scholars, yet,
comprehension deficit still persists. The
issue now is that if the regular pupils are
having a serious challenge in English
Language comprehension exercise because
of high level of intelligence that is required,
how much more will the challenges be for
pupils with intellectual disability.
It is on this note that the researchers
adopted the use of audio-taped and
individualized instructional strategies with
special attention to pupils socio-economic
status to enhance English Language
comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability.
Looking at the efficacy of audio-taped
instruction, Makinde (1988) posited that
audio-tape has several advantages for the
delivery of learning as it stimulates effective
learning, reduces isolation, improves
feedback, present practical steps, enliven
instructional mode, bridges communication
gap between the teacher and the learners
and sustains motivation. Bradley (1998)
used the audio-tutorial methods to teach
390 students of Botany and discovered that
the students response to the audio-tutorial
experience were significant.
Igbafe (2002) reported the experiment
carried out by Oesthock and Ackers in
1973. In the outcome, it was reported that
when audio-taped medicated course was
evaluated, the high ability group reacted
more sensitively to the possibilities offered
by the audio taped medicated course. The
adoption of Individualized Instructional
Strategy was justified with the result
obtained from many researchers. For
instance, Johnson and Johnson (1982)
found it worthwhile when they compared
individual learning to group learning
experience. In the same vein, Ntukidem
(1997) reported the findings of Favell, Favell
and McGainsay that one-to-one teaching-
learning process was the most effective
strategy.
There have been various findings on the
effects of socioeconomic background and
social cognitive development of children.
Haigh (2005) compared the use of the
language among pupil with high
socioeconomic status and that of low
socioeconomic status and found that
language use with the former was more
abstract flexible, detailed and subtle,
serving more to represent things and events
not immediately tangible to represent. The
language of parents from low socioeconomic
status was found to be restricted to a
relatively small repertoire of stereotyped
phrases and expression. Such use of
language by parents from low
socioeconomic status had been argued that
it lacks the overall sequential organization
and logical progression essential for
learning expressing abstract principle so
important for academic and social well
being. Accordingly, this poor use of
language affects the school performance of
pupils from low socioeconomic status as
found in reading readiness studies.

Purpose of the Study
The specific purposes of this study were:
To determine whether audio-taped and
Individualized Instructional Strategies
would have any influence on English
Language Comprehension achievement
of pupils with intellectual disability.
To examine if socio-economic status
difference would produce any significant
effect on English Language
Comprehension of pupils with
intellectual disability.
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were tested
at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho1. There is no significant main effect of
treatment on English Language
comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability.
Ho 2. There is no significant main effect of
socio-economic status on English Language
Comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability.
Ho 3. There is no significant interaction
effect of treatment and socio-economic
states on English Language Comprehension
achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability.

Eni-Olorunda, T., & Adediran, O. A.: English Language Comprehension Achievement
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Method

Research Design
The study adopted a pretest, posttest
control group, quasi-experimental research
design. A 3 X 3 factorial matrix was
adopted with treatment at three levels
which crossed with socio-economic status
at three levels. (High, average and low).

Sample/Sampling Technique
The sample of the study was drawn from
among the pupils with intellectual disability
in three selected special schools in Ibadan
metropolis using purposive sampling
technique. The researchers used ten pupils
in each of the schools. These pupils
satisfied the criteria for participation in the
study such as their Intelligent Quotient
(I.Q) which should be between 75 80, that
the pupil were not hearing impaired and
there is willingness to participate in the
treatment programme.

Instrumentation
The following instruments were used in the
study;
(1) Slossons Intelligence Test (SIT)
(2) Socio Economic Status Scale
(SESS)
(3) English Reading Comprehension
Achievement Test. (ERCAT).

Slossons Intelligence Test (SIT)
Slossons Intelligence Test was constructed
and validated by Slosson (1961) and re-
normed in 1981. It was designed and
organized as a test of general intelligence.
SIT is a foreign test but it has been adapted
to suit African children. For example,
certain words and items were changed to
suit the culture of the testees without
altering the content validity of the test. The
test is being used in this study to screen
pupils intelligence. It was equally subjected
to test-retest by administering to pupils of
C.A.C School for the Handicapped,
Oniyanrin, Ibadan. The instrument yielded
a high content validity and a test-retest
reliability of 0.86

Socio Economic Status Scale (SES)
The instrument was developed by Salami
(2000), it was adapted and re-validated by
Dada (2004), when it was used to determine
the socio economic status of parents of
trainable children with mental retardation
with a view to enhance self help
achievements using explicit teaching and
peer tutoring instructional strategies. A
reliability coefficient of 0.73 was
established. The test was adopted and
subjected to testretest to further ascertain
its reliability among the pupils of C.A.C
School for the handicapped, Oniyanrin,
Ibadan who were not part of the sample
used in this study. Using Cronbach alpha,
a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was recorded.
The scale has 12 items; the items 1-4 in the
scale are on the pupils bio-data, the items
5-12 are based on parents occupation,
educational level, residence and types of
equipment in the house.

English Language Reading Comprehension
Achievement Test (ELRCAT)
The instrument (ELRCAT) was adapted
from the recommended English textbook
(Modular English course for primary
schools book 2) (Ayodele, Olafimihan &
Isiugo Abanie, 2007) which is used by the
regular primary 2 pupil. The text meant for
the primary four pupils with intellectual
disability was used because of their low
level of intelligence and also because they
are always frustrated and intimidated by
lengthy reading passage as contained in the
regular primary four English textbook. The
test is an achievement test. Kerlinger & Lee
(2000) had stated that achievement test
measure present proficiency, mastery and
understanding of general and specific area
of knowledge. The experimental groups and
the control group were given the test before
and after treatment. The aim was to
measure pupils prior knowledge in
comprehension achievement and also to
determine the extent to which the two
experimental groups (Audio-taped and
individualized instruction groups) and
control group are qualitatively different.

Treatment Package
Audio-taped Instructional Package (ATIP)
The package is made up of audio-taped
instruction on comprehension achievement
for pupils with intellectual disability. It was
recorded in the cassette on the subject
contents to be treated. The sound in the
audio-tape carries specific instruction
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directed to pupils who listened in order to
receive instruction, comprehend it, and
respond to questions asked from the tape.
The recorded audio-taped comprehension
package was trial-tested with experts input
on a sample of six pupils with Intellectual
disability at C.A.C. school for the
handicapped, Oniyanrin, Ibadan. The
reliability of the test was established using
Crombachs alpha coefficient. The internal
consistency of pupils score was found to be
0.76.

Description of Treatment Package
The instruments that were used as
treatment package were English Language
Comprehension Achievement Test (ELCAT)
and Audio-tape Instructional Package
(ATIP). The course contents for the methods
are the same and classroom arrangements
rules and regulations were the same for the
two treatment groups in the study. The
same amount of time was allocated for each
training programme and the same
performance tests were given at the end of
the experiment. The resource teachers
were trained for the same period of weeks,
and they were English teachers of primary
four pupils with intellectual disabilities. The
difference in treatment was what the
research brought about at the level of
instructional techniques.

Data Collection
In order to collect data for the study, there
were three phases:
Phase one was the pretest given before the
commencement of the treatment, phase 2
was the treatment for a period of eight (8)
weeks for the experimental groups, while
pupil in the control groups were taught
without any treatment. Phase three was
the post test after the treatment.

Presentation of Results
H01: There is no significant main effect of
treatment in comprehension achievement of
pupils with intellectual disability.

To test hypothesis 1, Tables 1, 2 and 3 will be presented.
Table 1: ANCOVA of comprehension achievement of pupils by treatment
Source of Variance Hierarchical Method
Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig.
Covariates pretest treatment
main effects
Model
Residual
Total
1202.948
929.247
1932.195
255.271
2187.467
1
2
3
26
29
1202.948
364.624
644.065
9.818
75.430
122.523
37.138
65.600
.000
.000
.000
Significant at p < .05

From table 4.1, the main effect of treatment
(mode instruction) on the comprehension
achievement of pupils with intellectual
disability was significant (F((3,26)) = 37.138;
p <.05). This mean that the difference in
comprehension achievement among the
pupils exposed to the audio-taped strategy,
individualized instruction strategy and
those in control group was significant.
Therefore hypothesis 1 was rejected. To find
out the mean scores obtained by each of
the three instructional groups, the multiple
classification analysis (MCA) table 2 was
presented below:

Table 2: MCA table for pupils English language reading comprehension achievement and mean =
21.87 by treatment.


Treatment
category
Predicted Mean
N Unadjusted Adjusted for factors
and covariates
Unadjusted
dev.
Eta Adjusted for factors
and covariates
beta
1. Audio-taped
2.Individualised
3.Control
10
10
10
23.12
28.50
13.98
23.12
28.50
13.98
1.0333
8.8333
-9.8667
.898 1.25
6.64
-7.89
.702
R = .940
R square = .883
Eni-Olorunda, T., & Adediran, O. A.: English Language Comprehension Achievement
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Table 2 shows that pupils in individualized
instructional group obtained the highest
mean score (x = 28.50; adj. dev = 6.64)
followed by those exposed to the audio-
taped instructional mode (x = 23.12; adj.
dev = 1.25) while those in the control group
obtained the lowest post test mean score of
x = 13.98; adj. dev = -7.89). Further, the
Duncan post hoc pairwise test was carried
out and the results are summarized on
table 3 below.

Table 3: Duncan Posthoc Test of English Language Reading Comprehension Achievement by
Treatment.
Treatment N X Audiotape instruction Individualised instruction Control
1.Audio-taped instruction 10 23.12 * *
2.Individualised instruction 10 13.98 * *
3. Control 10 13.98 * *
Pair of group significantly different at p <.05

Table 3 shows that each of the three
possible pairs of instructional groups was
significantly different from each other in
English language reading comprehension
achievement of pupils with intellectual
disability. For instance, the audio-taped
group (x = 23.12) was significantly different
from the individualised instructional group
(x = 28.50). Also, the audio-taped group
differs significantly from the control group
(x = 13.98) while the individualised
instructional group also differs significantly
from the control group. This means that
each of the three pairs of groups
contributed to the significant effect of
treatment in English language reading
comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability.

H02: There is no significant main effect of
social economic status in English
language reading comprehension
achievement of pupils with intellectual
disability.

Table 4: ANCOVA of Post Test Comprehension Achievement of Pupils by Socio- Economic
Status
Source of Variance Hierarchical Method
Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig
Covariates pretest
main effects SES
Model
Residual
Total
1202.948
16.933
1219.881
967.585
2187.467
1
2
3
26
29
1202.948
8.467
406.627
37.215
75.430
32.324
.228
10.926
.000
.798
.000
n.s = not significant at p < .05.

Table 4 shows that the main effect of
socioeconomic status in English language
reading comprehension achievement of
pupils was not significant (F(3,26) = .228; p >
.05). This means that the three Socio
Economic groupings of high, medium and
low among the pupils do not differ from one
another significantly. Hence, hypothesis 2
was confirmed. It is however, still necessary
to find out which of the level of Socio
economic status background performed
better than the others. Hence, the
computed summaries in Table 5 was
presented.







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Table 5: MCA of Post Test on Achievement in English Language Reading Comprehension by Socio
Economic Status. Grand mean = 21.87.


Socio economic
status + category
Predicted mean
N Unadjusted Adjusted for factors
and covariates
Unadjusted
dev.
Eta Adjusted for factors
and covariates
beta
SES Low
Medium
High
10
10
10
21.9000
21.8000
21.9000
22.6241
20.8346
22.1414
3.333 E.02
6.6667E.02
3.333E.02
.006 .7574
-1.0321
.2747
.089
R = .747
R square = .558

Table 5 shows that pupils from low
socioeconomic background obtained higher
post test mean score in comprehension
achievement test. (x = 22.62; adj. dev. =
.76) then, those in the high socioeconomic
level (x = 22.14; adj. dev = .27) and those
from medium socioeconomic background (x
= 20.83; adj. dev = -1.03) in that order.

Discussion
In hypothesis one, which stated that there
is no significant main effect of treatment in
English language reading comprehension
achievement of pupils with intellectual
disability i.e. tables 1, 2 and 3 indicated
that there was a significant effect of
treatment on pupils with intellectual
disability. The Duncan post hoc test of
English language reading comprehension
achievement however showed that pupils in
individualised instructional strategy group
had high mean score of 28.50; followed by
those in audio-taped instructional strategy
group with a mean score of 23.12 and the
control group had the least of 13.98. The
result further showed that individualised
instructional strategy was more effective
because it is closely connected with pupils
active engagement as the teachers
responsibility was to help each pupil with
his or her English language reading
comprehension taking cognizance of their
varied problems, needs and behavioural
characteristics. This finding agrees with
Favell, Favell and Gainsey (1978) and
Ntukidem (1997) findings which discovered
that when severely retarded pupils are
investigated in learning processes, one-to-
one teaching application or individualized
instruction was found to be most effective.
It also corroborated the findings of
Johnson and Johnson (1982) who used
thirty one participant students to
investigate the effects of group and
individualistic learning experiences on
interpersonal attraction between
handicapped and non-handicapped
students and their achievement.
Hypothesis two stated that there is no
significant main effect of socioeconomic
status in English language reading
comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability. The result presented
in Tables 4 and 5 revealed that there was
no significant main effect of socioeconomic
status in English language reading
comprehension achievement of pupils with
intellectual disability. Surprisingly, pupils
from low socio-economic status group
performed better than those in average and
high socio-economic status respectively in
the group performance. This astonishing
result as perceived by the researchers may
probably be because pupils in average and
high socio-economic status would have
been over pampered by their affluent
parents.
The F(3,26) ratio of ANCOVA in Table 4
showed no significant main effect as the
three socio-economic groups (High, average
and low) do not differ significantly from one
another. It is rather surprising, seeing
pupils from low socio-economic status
obtaining higher post test mean score in
English language reading comprehension
achievement test. (x = 22.62; adj. dev) than
their counterparts in high socio-economic
status (x = 22.14, adj. dev. = 027) and
average socio-economic status (x = 20.83;
adj. dev = 1.03) respectively. This result
corroborate the findings of Blair and Scott
(2002) who discovered that a child with
intellectual disability in a rich environment
would develop some exceptional abilities
which his handicapping condition might
deprived him of but it negates the findings
of Haigh (2005) that discovered that pupils
from low socio-economic status lack the
Eni-Olorunda, T., & Adediran, O. A.: English Language Comprehension Achievement
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overall sequential organization and logical
progression essential for learning, hence
they exhibit poor academic performance.
Although, the findings of this study
probably because of the treatment package,
astonishingly discovered that intelligence
when tapped with appropriate instructional
materials would produce a desired result
irrespective of socioeconomic status of the
pupil.
Hypothesis three stated that there is no
significant interaction effect of treatment
and socio-economic status on English
language reading comprehension
achievement of pupils with intellectual
disability. It could be deduced that the 2-
way interaction effect of treatment and
socio-economic status in English language
reading comprehension achievement of
pupils with intellectual disability showed no
significant effect F((3,26)) = .969; p > 0.05}).
Hence the three socio-economic groups
(High average and low) did not differ
significantly from one another in the post
mean score. This finding negates the
findings of Blair and Scott (2002) which
revealed a relationship between socio-
economic status and intelligence. According
to their findings, the higher the socio-
economic status, the higher the intelligence
quotient, and that there is a correlation
between social class and educational
achievement. Haigh (2005) had a contrary
finding to the present finding, as he
emphasized a significant difference among
students from different social classes,
according to his findings, lower socio-
economic status students have poor self
concept than those from higher socio-
economic status. The difference in the
finding may not be unconnected to the
efficacy of the two treatment strategies
employed in the study, audio-taped and
individualised instructional strategies. The
pupils mean scores from average and low
socio-economic status that were exposed to
audio-taped and individualised
instructional strategies had impressive post
test mean scores.

Conclusion
As revealed in the results, the use of audio-
taped and individualized instruction are
more effective in improving English
Language comprehension of pupils with
intellectual disability. This no doubt, brings
to bear a relatively new insight in research
in English Language comprehension of
pupils with intellectual disability. Therefore
its finding should be put into use not only
in English Language comprehension but
also in all aspects of English Language
curriculum. It needs to be stated that both
strategies proved superior over the
conventional methods of teaching English
Language comprehension, but
individualized instructional strategy proved
more superior in the study.

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