English language achievement among Ethiopian public secondary school students: Associated factors

Abstract

This study investigated attribution related factors in English language performance among grade nine students (n=147) in Ethiopia. Three public secondary schools were selected from Adama town using census sampling techniques. Sixty attribution items (that is, had 30 items of perceived reasons for success, and 30 items for perceived reasons for failure) were developed by the research team. The degree of influence for each item was scaled on a 5 point Likert scale ranging from unimportant to highly important. A reliability test of the attribution survey showed a value of 0.80 Cronbach Alpha. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA), and linear regression analysis were carried out to investigate the association between students' English language performance and attribution related factors. PCA of 30 items on attribution for success and PCA on 30 items for failure were reduced into 8 items and 7 items respectively. Following the PCA, a linear regression analysis revealed that among the 8 variables, only 3 variables: student effort, language ability, and a good teaching practice, accounted for overall English language achievement. A significant regression equation was found F (8, 64) = 36.687, p