RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ INTERPERSONAL SKILLS AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between teachers' interpersonal skills and students’ academic achievement in English Language in Public Secondary Schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a Correlation research design. The population for the study consisted of 21,272 Senior Secondary SS 1I students in the 2024/2025 session from the 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample size for the study was 571 respondents which drawn from the population of 21, 272 SS II students in the 2024/2025 academic session. The study adopted stratified and simple random sampling techniques.  The instruments for data collection was a structured questionnaires by the researcher, titled “Teachers’ Interpersonal Skill Questionnaire (TISQ). This instrument was subjected to face validity by three experts, two from Educational Management and one from Educational Measurement and Evaluation, all from Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus, Anambra State. The construct validity of the instrument was also established. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliabilities of the instruments. The reliability yielded coefficients of reliability yielded coefficients of 0.80 for emotional intelligent skill and 0.81 teacher-student relationship. The average reliability coefficient showed a value of 0.82 for teachers’ interpersonal skill questionnaire which was considered highly reliable and adequate for the study. Five hundred and seventy-one (571) copies of questionnaires were administered by the researcher with six briefed research-assistants by direct administration and collected on the spot. The research questions were analyzed using Pearson product moment Correlation Coefficient while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using test of significance of Pearson product moment Correlation Coefficient. After the analysis the following findings were made; there exists a moderate positive and significant relationship between emotional intelligent skill and students’ academic achievement of students in Anambra State public secondary schools, there exists a moderate positive and significant relationship between teacher-student relationship and students’ academic achievement of students in Anambra state public secondary schools. The government and school administrators should organize regular training programs to enhance teachers' interpersonal skills, focusing on empathy, teacher-student relationship and motivation of teachers. Also, teachers' interpersonal skills should be evaluated and included in their performance appraisal to encourage them to develop and maintain good relationships with students.