The relationship between Family Background and Students First and Second Language Performance in Iranian High Schools

Many issues, including family background are associated to academic achievement. The main family background indicators, i.e., parental education, occupation and income, have been found to influence on the academic achievement. The relationship between students family background and their success and/or failure is well documented and shows that students from more advantaged families perform better at school. Many studies have reported a meaningful relationship between students’ family background and their academic achievement. This study aims to examine the relationship between students’ first (Farsi) and second (English) language performance and their family background. Data were collected from Farsi and English tests conducted by Ministry of Education. The researcher-made questionnaire and school files were used to obtain students family background information. The sample included students from both high and low SES families. To do so, 392 high school students took part in this research that were chosen cluster-randomly from four areas of Tehran city. Finally, 362 out of 392 questionnaires were filled out and sent back correctly. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistic utilized to analyze data. The findings of the study show that there is a statistically significant relationship between parents education level and occupation with students Farsi test performance. Moreover, father s income has a meaningful relationship with the student s performance. Furthermore, parents education has significant relationship with students English test performance and also father s occupation and income have statistical meaningful relationship with students English test performance.

کلیدواژه ها:

Family background ، First language performance ، Second language performance ، Farsi ، English ، High school students