Formal Kindergaten Experience as a Predictor of Academic Achievement of Primary Five Pupils in English Language

This study investigated the effect of formal kindergarten education on the achievement of primary five pupils. The academic performance of pupils with and without formal kindergarten experience were compared. Their achievement was based on their performance in the English language tests. The sample consisted of one hundred and twenty pupils made up of forty eight pupils with formal kindergarten education and seventy two pupils without formal kindergarten education selected from ten public primary five classes. The sample consisted of boys and girls.The instrument used for data collection was English language achievement tests. The instruments were administered to students in their various schools. The scores obtained from the tests were analysed using the t-test to find the significant difference between the means of the two groups. The results of this study revealed that formal kindergarten education has a long term effect on the performance of primary school pupils since those with formal kindergarten education performed significantly better than those without. Another finding was that the sex of the students has no effect on the academic performance of pupils in primary school.Conclusively, it was confirmed in the study that pupils with formal kindergarten education perform better than those without in Nigerian context at least in primary school, hence this study emphasized the importance of formal kindergarten education