Socio-Structural Variations in English Proficiency among Senior Secondary School Students in Benue State, Nigeria: Interdisciplinary Evidence from Researcher-Administered Tests

Abstract

This study examined socio-structural variations in English proficiency among Senior Secondary School Two (SSS II) students in Benue State, Nigeria, using researcher-administered testing to circumvent the coaching bias and examination malpractice that compromise WAEC and NECO results. Grounded in Variationist Sociolinguistics, the study investigated how spatial location, household linguistic background and socio-economic stratification, singly and interactively, shape English proficiency. A cross-sectional, causal-comparative design was adopted, with 900 students sampled through a multi-stage stratified procedure across an 18-cell (2 × 3 × 3) factorial structure spanning Benue North, Central and South. Data were collected using the Researcher-Administered English Proficiency Test (REPT) and the Socio-Structural Factors Questionnaire (SSFQ), and analysed using a one-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and factorial ANOVA at the 0.05 significance level. Results showed that the overall mean proficiency score (44.6%) was statistically, though only marginally, higher than the 40% national minimum, t(899) = 7.728, p < .001, d = 0.26. Urban students significantly outperformed rural students, F(1, 898) = 787.801, p < .001, and proficiency rose systematically with greater household use of English, F(2, 882) = 29.121, p < .001. Socio-economic stratification was significant but non-linear, F(2, 882) = 7.034, p = .001. All two-way interactions and the three-way interaction among the factors were significant, with the three-way term explaining the most variance, F(4, 882) = 22.907, p < .001, ηp² = .094. The findings indicate English proficiency in Benue State is systematically stratified along, and compounded across, spatial, linguistic and economic lines, warranting targeted rather than uniform interventions.

Keywords: English proficiency; Socio-structural variations; Spatial location; Household linguistic background; Socio-economic stratification; Researcher-administered testing