Oral Literature as a Medium of Teaching Moral Values to Selected Schools
CHAPTER ONE
Research Objectives
The major objective of this study is to examine oral literature as a medium of teaching moral values to selected schools in Oru West local government area of Imo state. The specific objectives are;
- To determine the perceptions of teachers of oral literature as a means of teaching moral values
- To determine what forms of oral literature are used in teaching moral values in schools
- To determine the perceptions of pupils towards oral literature as a means of teaching moral values in schools
- To determine the perceptions of teachers and pupils as regards the teaching and learning of moral values using oral literature at the basic level
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
What really is education? Education is a systematic attempt towards human learning. All learning is subjective and self-related. Educational activity starts with the individual.
What can empower a nation that, in recent times, has earned the credibility of becoming an intellectual capital of the world? It is education; Education that is value-based, Education that imparts roots and also gives wings.
The fact that all good education is, in essence a process of developing the human personality in all its dimensions-intellectual, physical, social ethical and moral is undisputed and universally accepted. Good education is inconceivable if it fails to inculcate values essential to good life and social wellbeing. Value orientation is integral to all stages of upbringing, formal education, interaction between individuals and social groups.
Values are inseparable from life of the individual. Since education is an essential requirement, an integral point of education, the aims of education, content and methodology is viewed in terms of value development. Human development cannot be conceived in the absence of values. The aim of education is growth or development both intellectual and moral. Education from the value development point of view is a scientific process of developing a desirable form of thinking and ability to deal with issues related to values. Values form a significant aspect of all the areas of development.
The phrase `Value Education’ as used in the area of school education refers to the study of development of essential values in pupils and the practices suggested for the promotion of the same. Value education is education in values and education towards the inculcation of values. In its full range of meaning, value education includes developing the appropriate sensibilities _ moral, cultural, spiritual. Value education is essentially `Man Making’ and `Character Building’.
Moral or value development is a continuous, cumulative and highly interdependent process touching all the aspects of personality. Moral development is the axis on which revolves ones personality and character. Based on its nature, moral development has been studied as part of cognitive development, social learning and psychoanalytic dimensions. The outcome of the studies conducted by several development psychologists are very useful is deciding about the activities in value education for school children.
Science and technology are leading to a change and India is a part of the change. India has always led the way and we have the capability to absorb new ideas. The challenge is to see whether globalization can be integrated with our own value system and whether we can create a new model.
Concern for value education is increasing in recent years as a result of crisis of values that our society is currently experiencing. The issue has been projected as one of the national priority in the nation’s education. The National Education Policy 1986 declares that the growing concern over the erosion of essential values and increasing cynicism in society has brought to focus the need for readjustment in the curriculum in order to make the education a forceful tool for the cultivation of social and moral values.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The research project is essentially employs a descriptive survey design. Kerlinger (1986) defined a research design as a plan, structure and strategy of investigation so conceived as to collect data and obtain answers to research questions or problems (as cited in Lolig, 2005). Data obtained from descriptive research may be expressed qualitatively in verbal terms and quantitatively in mathematical terms. The quantitative method was used and this sought to establish the relationships between variables used in the study. The choice of this method was partly necessary by its ability to meet the objectives of the study, and due to constraints in terms of time and finance.
Population/ Sample
The population for the study consists of all primary basic schools in Oru West Local Government area of Imo State out of which 100 pupils and 20 teachers were randomly selected from 10 sampled schools from the population.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
The findings of the study are presented in the order of hypotheses represented in the following tables:
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusions
Going by the results of the study, teachers’ and pupils’ perception of oral literature for teaching and learning of moral values and its inclusion in the school curriculum is not encouraging. This calls for urgent attention on the part of government and education stakeholders. Researchers have drawn our attention to the educational values provided by the traditional aspects of our culture and heritage in the form of inculcation of morals, good characters such as respect for old age, loyalty to parents and institutions, honesty, devotion to duty and many other desirable qualities and the acquisition of skills through bilingual education and the development of indigenous languages that will promote entrepreneurial skills development in Nigeria (Okebukola 2012).
In this paper, effort has been made to show how oral literature can be used as a medium of teaching moral values to children, the core values embedded in Igbo oral literature (folktales) in the families (home environment) and in the classes (schools). Parents and teachers are advised to wake up to their responsibilities of inculcating moral values to their children and youths so as to curb immoral behaviour that are prevalent in the society. Finally, a story-telling teaching model for inculcating values to children and youths is suggested for teachers. Finally, Igbos (Africans) themselves must cease to regard our oral literature as primitive.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings and conclusion drawn, this study advocates that cultural revival is of utmost importance at this time when the morality and ethics seems extinct. Education is not doing enough to sensitize pupils and teachers to socialization and familiar values. The inter-relatedness of a language to its economy and literature cannot be over-emphasized; hence,
The paper therefore recommends the following:
(a) Parents should endeavour to expose their children to the folktales of their community from their early stages even after they have been exposed to formal education (schooling).
(b) The teacher training programme should prepare teachers to cope effectively with the use of oral literature (folktales/story/telling) in the classroom situations.
(c) Literature must be considered language in operation. Related texts materials should be approved to stimulate teachers and pupils interest in oral literature so as to improve their perception and build moral tendencies with language and arts at the forefront. They should be incorporated into the curricula of basic education. This is the only way of preventing the extinction of our cultural heritage and moral values.
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