Effect of communication techniques on learners’ academic performance in selected nine years basic education schools, Rubavu District, Rwanda

Abstract

This study examined how communication techniques affect students’ academic performance in nine-Year Basic Education (9YBE) in Rubavu District, Rwanda. It aimed to achieve four main objectives: to examine the effect of verbal communication used by teachers on learners’ academic performance, to evaluate the effect of non-verbal communication applied by teachers on learners’ academic performance, to assess the effect of written communication utilized by teachers on learners’ performance, and to analyze the effect of multimedia visual aids practiced by teachers on learners’ academic performance in 9 YBE schools in Rubavu District. The research used Social Constructivism and the Transactional Model of Communication as the guiding theoretical frameworks. A correlational research design was chosen, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study involved five selected 9YBE schools in Rubavu District, with a total of 2,097 participants and a sample of 336, including 276 students, 50 teachers, 5 study directors, and 5 school leaders. Purposive and stratified sampling techniques were used, following Yamane’s formula to determine the sample size. Data collection included structured questionnaires with Likert-scale options, one-on-one interviews, and document analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical methods, with descriptive statistics summarizing the numerical data and inferential statistics drawing population-wide conclusions. Analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 2022 for numerical data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The results showed important connections between different communication techniques and students’ academic performance. Verbal communication explained 72.7% of the differences in performance (R² = 0.727, p = 0.002), indicating a strong positive effect. Non-verbal communication accounted for 72% of the differences (R² = 0.720, p = 0.003), also showing a significant impact. Written communication had an even stronger relationship, explaining 82% of the differences (R² = 0.820, p = 0.004), highlighting its important role in helping students succeed. In contrast, multimedia visual aids only explained 32.6% of the differences (R² = 0.326, p = 0.0005), suggesting a modest effect and indicating that some students might have limited access to different types of multimedia aids. The study concluded that verbal, non-verbal, and written communication techniques significantly influence learners’ academic performance in 9YBE schools in Rubavu District, with written communication showing the strongest impact. In contrast, multimedia visual aids had limited effectiveness due to infrastructural and training challenges. It recommends the Ministry of Education to focus on teacher training in verbal, non-verbal, and written communication skills, improve access to teaching resources, and promote structured teacher-student-parent interactions, while cautiously integrating multimedia tools through targeted pilot programs.