The concept education suggests development of valuable knowledge and skills in a society. Hence, Osuji [1] considers the educational system of a society to be a complex social mechanism designed to instil in those subjected to it specific skills and attitudes deemed useful and desirable in society. Due to the importance of education, there has been the view that one who ceases to learn ceases to exist although the one may be living. According to Ukeje [2] to exist is more than to live because it means being in the world and at the same time with the world. In contrast to someone who is only alive, someone who exists possesses the qualities of transcending, distinguishing, communicating, and engaging with those who are existing.

In recent times education bodies have relatively given much attention to teaching strategies as it affects the education system and classroom instruction but not much has been achieved in terms of practice and implementation by teachers in the classroom [3]. There has been consistent decline in the performance of students in public examinations conducted by the Basic Education Examination Council (BECE) in Social Studies over the years [4]. Research findings have recognized unsuitable teaching strategies and methods among the factors as been accountable for the poor state of Social Studies performance among students [5]. In this context, given the possible connection between Social Studies performance, and methods, it is therefore clear on Social Studies teachers to devise and explore teaching methods among others factors that are effective and result- oriented for improving students’ performance and understanding of Social Studies subjects, [3].

Reciprocal peer tutoring was developed by Heggie and Clement and tested on children with academic needs. The RPT technique places students in groups of two or more and teaches them how to cooperate to prompt, monitor and evaluate one another, while working toward group goals. The pupils alternate between the roles of tutor and tutee in groups. Pupils work  together in the  groups toward group goals. The pupils alternate between the roles of tutor and tutee in groups. Pupils work together in the groups to achieve established goals or rewards that are contingent upon group performance (Esteve, 2015). Peer tutoring can simply be put as student being instructed by another student. The student who instructs is called the tutor, while the student who receives instruction is called the tutee [6]. 

Devil's advocacy technique is where an individual is allowed to become the critic in the proposed decision. Human [7] asserts that a devil's advocate is a person who offers opposing viewpoints and solutions to issues, frequently questioning prevailing group norms. Playing devil's advocate in a school context refers to taking the other side of the most common contention. Although adopting the devil's advocate strategy may not persuade the pupils, it does force them to broaden their thinking on the subject.

There are numerous factors that contribute to students' academic success. One of the factors is teachers' instructional strategies and students' ability to think critically while learning. Teachers use instructional strategies to help students become strategic learners [8]. Using appropriate instructional strategies, students can be motivated and assisted in focusing their attention. This is the basis of this study.

RQs 

• Is there any effect of reciprocal peer-tutoring on Social Studies students’ academic performance? 

• Is there effect of devil advocate strategy on Social Studies students’ academic performance? 

Hypotheses

• There is no significant effect of reciprocal peer-tutoring of Social Studies students’ academic performance

• There is no significant effect of devil advocate strategy of Social Studies students’ academic performance

The quasi-experimental design was utilised for the study. The design allowed the researcher to assigned students to experimental (treatment) and control groups based on their intact classes. Experimental (treatment) group I comprised Social Studies students exposed to Devil’s advocate teaching strategy, Experimental group II comprised Social Studies students instructed with reciprocal peer-tutoring strategy, while the lecture or control group comprised Social Studies students that were instructed with the lecture method.  The study population 22,813 upper basic 8 Social Studies students from the three senatorial districts of Delta State. The study sample comprised of 262 students using the random sampling techniques.

The study instrument was the Social Studies Performance Test (SSPT). It consisted of two sections A and B. Section A was demographic data, while Section B consists of 30 multiple-choice questions.  To generate data for the study, a pretest a week before the commencement of the treatment was administered on the students. The same test was re-administered to the students. The experimentation lasted 4 weeks. Statistical mean was used in analysing the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to analysing the hypotheses at 0.05 significant level.

RQ1

Is there any effect of reciprocal peer-tutoring on Social Studies students’ academic performance?

Table 1 shows the mean of the pretest and Post-test of peer tutoring instructional strategies. It shows that the mean score for the pretest was 11.82, while the posttest mean was 17.20. With respect to control group strategy, the pretest mean was 10.90, while the posttest score of 12.00 was obtained. The mean gains for instructional strategy showed that students expose to peer tutoring instructional strategy had a higher performance gain of 5.38.

Table 1: Mean of Pretest and Post-test on Effect of Reciprocal Peer-Tutoring on Social Studies Students’ Academic Performance.

RQ2

Is there effect of Devil’s advocate strategy on Social Studies students’ academic performance?

Table 2 presents the mean scores of Social Studies student students instructed with the devil’s advocate strategy at the pretest and posttest.  It shows that Social Studies students instructed with the devil’s advocate instructional strategy had a pretest mean of 11.69. In the posttest however, had 16.75 as mean. The mean difference shows an effect in performance of Social Studies student instructed with devil’s advocate instructional strategy.

Table 2: Mean of Pretest and Post-test on Effect of Devil’s Advocate Strategy on Social Studies Students’ Academic Performance

H0₁

There is no significant effect of reciprocal peer-tutoring of Social Studies students’ academic performance.

Table 3 shows the result Social Studies students instructed using the peer tutoring strategy. The table shows that the F calculated value of 13.71 is more than the F-critical ration of 3.07 (F_0.05 (2,98) = 3.07). Based on this, the null hypothesis (Ho₂) is hereby rejected. This indicates that there is a significant effect of peer-tutoring strategy on Social Studies student performance.

Table 3: Summary of ANCOVA Test of Significant Effect of Reciprocal Peer-Tutoring on Social Studies Students’ Academic Performance

P < 0.05 

H0₂

There is no significant effect of devil’s advocate instructional strategy on Social Studies students’ academic performance.

Table 4 shows the effect of devil’s advocate strategy on Social Studies students’ performance. It shows that the F calculated value of 27.366 is higher than the F-critical ratio of 3.09 (F_0.05 (2, 89) = 3.09). Based on this the null hypothesis (Ho₂) is hereby rejected. This indicates a significant effect devil’s advocate on the performance of Social Studies students.

Table 4: Summary of ANCOVA Test of Significant Effect of Devil’s Advocate on Social Studies Students’ Academic Performance

P < 0.05

Result of hypothesis one exposed that there is significant effect of peer-tutoring instructional strategy on the performance of Social Studies students. This finding gives credence to that of Tella [8] who reported that peer-tutoring can be that instructional strategy with a great promise for achieving the complex academic and social desires of students with varied abilities in regular classes without affecting others in the class, believing that when students supplement teachers’ efforts to help assist low achievers in large class sizes which is typically in the country’s educational settings. This finding also corroborates with that of Solomon and Crowe [9], examined a peer-tutoring model from the view points of the student tutor. Results revealed and reported that students could not cope with basic facilitation skills and had difficulty in separating the role of student from that of tutors. This finding contradicts the views of Kumar and Bindhu [10] who reported a no significant effect of peer-tutoring teaching strategy on students’ performance.

Result of hypothesis two indicated that there is an effect on devil’s advocate strategy on Social Studies student performance. This finding concurs with the study of Imo [11] who observed that students instructed using the devil’s advocate teaching method performed academically better than those instructed using lecture method teaching strategy. This finding also corroborates with that of Kasi [12] who pointed out the effectiveness of the devil's advocate strategy in negotiations context.

The study has established that peer-tutoring instructional strategy enhances students’ performance more than lecture method. The study also confirmed that the devils’ advocate instructional strategy boosts students’ performance. The study affirmed that peer-tutoring and the devils’ advocate instructional strategies could boost the performance of Social Studies students’ academic when utilised.

Recommendations

• Social Studies teachers should adopt the peer-tutoring instructional strategy in Social Studies teaching to foster interactive learning

• Government should train Social Studies teachers on the utilisation and implementation of this innovative instructional strategy in classroom teaching

• Government should provide enriched learning environment to facilitate the implementation of innovative instructional strategy like peer-tutoring and devil’s advocate

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9. Solomon, D. and R.E. Crowe. An Examination of Readiness for Self-Directed Learning and Personnel Variable at a Large Midwestern Electronics Development and Manufacturing Corporation. Doctoral Dissertation, Florida Abstracts Online, 2011.

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