This thesis which is quasi-experimental study focuses on the effect of selected variables upon students’ performance in shorthand transcription at Federal College of Education (Technical), Bichi, Kano State. The study has six major objectives. They include ascertainment of whether or not syllabic intensity, familiarity of a passage or otherwise and length of dictation have effect upon students’ performance in shorthand transcription among others. To help achieve these objectives, a total of 14 research questions were asked and 14 null hypotheses formulated for the study. Two levels of students - NCE I writing at 60 wpm and NCE II writing at 70 wpm were used. The population comprised 262 students offering shorthand in the institution and a sample of 160 comprising 98 NCE I and 62 NCE II students were used.
The instruments for data collection were 10 different shorthand passages. The instruments were validated and tested for reliability through a pilot study. The sample was randomly divided into experimental and control groups.
The two groups were taught for 4 weeks before administering tests which lasted for another 3 weeks. T-test statistic and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Six of the hypotheses were rejected and 8 not rejected. The major findings were that syllabic intensity, familiarity of a passage or otherwise and length of dictation all affect students’ performance in shorthand transcription. And based on these findings and conclusions reached, 12-point recommendations were made. They include a call for adopting syllabic intensity of 1.4 in all shorthand examinations, employment of preview as a viii teaching device to help students cope with difficulty of unpreviewed, unfamiliar passage and sustained dictations during class periods among others.
