An investigation into the poor perfomance of grade twelve pupils in summary in selected high schools of chipata district

The main purpose of the study was to establish the reasons for the poor performance of pupils in selected high schools of Chipata District in summary. Specifically, the study was based on the premises that performance of pupils in English, and summary in particular, is a result of several variables. Among these variables are the teaching strategies that pupils are subjected to in their learning of summary, the teaching and learning materials and the teachers’ and pupils’ attitudes towards summary. The investigation was carried out through an examination of the mentioned variables in selected high schools in Chipata District.
The data were collected by administering a number of research instruments: The first one was a summary sample test. The second part involved conducting structured and unstructured interviews with teachers and pupils. The third one involved checking the different documents that were used in teaching and learning of summary.
Through the analysis of the answers that the pupils gave to the sample test, the teaching strategies, the teaching and learning materials and the attitudes of the teachers and the pupils towards summary, this study has shown that among the reasons for the poor performance in summary include, the fact that pupils are not taught the necessary summary skills and theories in these schools, negative attitudes of both teachers and pupils towards summary and lack of appropriate teaching and learning materials.
The findings suggest that summary skills and theories should actually be taught with the due attention that they deserve. This calls for the teacher-trainers, the teachers and the Ministry of Education officials to review the teaching of summary strategies; the writers of teaching and learning materials who may include curriculum developers and book publishers to re-write their materials, and lastly, the teachers and the pupils to change their negative attitudes towards summary to start looking at it as an important learning area that ought to be learnt with pleasure.