Effects of Code-Switching Instructional Strategy on JSS Two Basic Science Students’ Achievement and Retention in Bauchi Metropolis, Bauchi State

The study investigated the effect of the code-switching instructional strategy on the academic achievement and retention of students in basic science in Bauchi Metropolis, Bauchi State, Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design. A sample size of one hundred and thirty-seven (137) students was drawn from two randomly selected schools in the metropolis. The study was guided by two research hypotheses. The experimental group received the treatment (code-switching between English and Hausa languages). The instrument for data collection was the Basic Science Achievement Test (BSAT) administered as a pretest, post-test, and post-post-test. The BSAT consisted of 20 structured items (open-ended questions) on respiration and excretion, with a Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of 0.75. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t-tests. The data was first tested for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Independent sampled t-test results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in favor of the experimental group on post-test achievement scores. Further analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the retention scores of students in the two groups in favor of the experimental group. These results indicated that code-switching improves students’ achievement and retention significantly. This study therefore recommends that the code-switching instructional strategy be adopted by basic science teachers in order to foster students understanding and consequently their achievement.