Reasons Behind the Low Achievement of Students in the First Four Grades in the English Language in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Schools

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the main factors and reasons for the low achievement of the first four grades’ students in the English language in the schools of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi from the point of view of teachers. The study sample consisted of 120 male and female teachers from private schools affiliated with the ministerial curriculum, and the sample was selected in a relative random way. A questionnaire consisting of (66) paragraphs was designed, and after the questionnaire was subject to the psychometric characteristics, it was distributed to the male teachers of the study sample, and a female teacher. The descriptive survey method was used in this study, and to answer questions, the study used arithmetic averages, standard deviations, frequency, percentages, the (T) test, the single variance analysis test and the scheffé test for dimensional comparisons. The results of the study show that the students’ low achievement  in the first four grades in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s schools can be attributed to three main reasons (reasons related to the school, reasons related to the teacher, and reasons related to the student). The results also showed that the level of low academic achievement in the English language was average, that there were no statistically significant differences according to the gender variable, in both fields of teacher-related and school-related reasons, and that there were obvious differences according to the gender variable in favor of male students in the field of student-related reasons.  The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in teachers' responses based on the variable of academic qualification in both fields of student-related and teacher-related reasons, but that there were statistically significant differences in teachers' responses due to the qualification variable in the area of school-related reasons, and in favor of teachers with doctoral degrees.