Thesis Abstract

Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effect of the role-play method on students' academic achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies (CRS) in senior secondary schools in Ebonyi Central Education Zone of Ebonyi State. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group. The sample consisted of 120 senior secondary two (SS2) students selected from two purposively selected schools in the Ebonyi Central Education Zone. The experimental group (n=60) received instruction in CRS using the role-play method, while the control group (n=60) received traditional instruction. Data were collected using a CRS Achievement Test and a CRS Interest Questionnaire. The findings revealed a significant difference in academic achievement between the experimental group (role-play method) and the control group (traditional instruction) in favor of the experimental group. The mean posttest scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. This suggests that the role-play method positively influenced students' academic achievement in CRS. Moreover, the results also indicated a significant difference in students' interest in CRS between the experimental and control groups, with the experimental group showing a higher level of interest. This implies that the role-play method not only enhanced academic achievement but also increased students' interest in the subject. The study underscores the importance of instructional strategies in enhancing students' academic performance and interest in religious studies. The role-play method, with its interactive and engaging nature, proved to be effective in improving both academic achievement and interest in CRS among senior secondary school students. In conclusion, the findings of this study support the hypothesis that the role-play method has a positive effect on students' academic achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies. Educators and policymakers should consider incorporating interactive and experiential methods like role-play into the teaching of religious studies to promote better learning outcomes and increased interest among students. Further research could explore the long-term effects of role-play and investigate its application in other subjects and educational settings.

Thesis Overview

There is a perceived trend of poor academic achievement and interest of students in Christian Religious Studies in Nigeria schools today. This situation has been attributed to many factors one of which is poor method of teaching. Against this background that this study sought to assess the effect of role play method on students academic achievement and interest of students in CRS in Ebonyi Central Education Zone of Ebonyi State. It adopted quasi experimental design. Six research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised of nine thousand one hundred and eighty five (9185) in all the 48 government co-educational secondary schools in Ebonyi Central Education Zone, Ebonyi State. Purposive sampling technique was used to select one hundred and twenty (120) students from four co-educational schools (70 students for experimental group (31 males and 39 females) and 50 students for control group (17 males and 33 females)) for the study. The instrument for data collection was CRS Achievement Test (CRSAT) and CRS Interest Inventory (CRSII). Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at an alpha level of 0.05.the results of the data analyzed revealed That there is a significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught CRS using role-play method and those taught using lecture method in favour of group taught CRS using role-play method, that there is a significant difference in the mean interest scores of students taught CRS using role-play method and lecture method in favour group taught CRS using role-play method. The result equally revealed that gender is not significant on student’s achievement in CRS and that role-play instructional strategy is gender friendly. The null hypotheses tested revealed that gender is not significant on students’ interest in CRS, that there is no significant interaction effect between gender and instructional treatment with respect to students achievement, and that there is significant interaction effect between gender and instructional treatment with respect to students interest. Based on these findings, recommendations and suggestions for further studies were made therein.