The Effects of Instructional Materials on the Teaching and Learning of the English Language in Junior Secondary School Students in Nigeria
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY/OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of instructional materials on the teaching and learning of the English language in junior secondary school students in Nigeria.
The objectives of this study are:
- To find out what instructional materials are used by English teachers in Junior Secondary Schools.
- To identify what areas of language teachers use instructional materials
- To ascertain what stage of the lesson teachers introduce these instructional materials
- To assess the constraints to using instructional materials in schools
- To Suggest ways to improve the effective use of instructional materials
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Of the thousands of languages (estimated between four thousand and five thousand) in the world, English is the most prominent, the most important, and indeed, “the world’s most widely used language” (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1972). The emergence of English as the bride of the world is predicated on a number of factors which include political, social, commercial, religious, technological and educational. Education, which Good (cited in Lawal 2004), defines as the art of making available to each generation the organized knowledge of the past the process by which the tradition and culture of a society are passed on from one generation to another, from the old ones to the young ones, certainly plays a crucial role in the globalization of English. The English language is so pervasive that when the term “communicative competence” is evoked, especially in Nigeria, it is often understood as “communicative competence in English. The quest for improved communicative competence in Nigeria had led to the emergence of communicative skills project (COMSKIP/COMSKIPTECH) Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria in the 1980’s.
The review of relevant literature to the present study was carried out in turn as indicated below. This is to further lay a solid foundation for the study.
TEACHING AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
Teaching is the process by which trained individuals transmit education to individuals or groups. It is a dynamic activity that is associated with a medly of responsibilities, which according to Daramola (1994) include imparting appropriate knowledge so as to prepare individuals to acquire skills necessary for certain careers; developing individuals to cultivate the habit of good human relationship, creating awareness so as to bring about national consciousness and goals; and developing individuals to appreciate the benefits derivable from adequate health-care. To Jimoh (2004), to teach is to show how to do something, to give lessons to a student or a group of students, to hold classes, to provide with knowledge and insight; the aim of teaching, Jimoh maintains further is to “equip students to learn how to learn and to teach them how to think”. In essence, the goal of teaching is learning.
From the primordial times, teaching had been found as a veritable means of maintaining and sustaining cultural heritage as well as a process of transmitting skills and social values to the members of every society.
Teachers are the piston in any educational system; they are the builders and developers without whose role the society literally collapses. Teaching methods have emerged over the years to achieve functional learning. The most common of these methods are: the lecture method, the discussion method, the demonstration method, the laboratory use method, and questioning techniques. Others include field trip method, project method and question mapping techniques used especially in tertiary institutions (Daramola, 2004).
CHAPTER THREE
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
This Chapter depicts the research setting, practical issues, along with research participations, instruments, procedures of data collection, data analysis among others. This study was designed to assess the effects of instructional materials on the learning and teaching of English language in Junior Secondary Schools in Jos North Local Government.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The survey type of research design was adopted for this study, sourcing data primarily from questionnaires administered to some English teachers and students in some selected Junior Secondary Schools in the area under the study. The survey research design is suitable for the purpose of this study as it will provide a wider range of judgments and assessment in attaining the purpose/objectives of the study.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
Data necessary for carrying out the study is sort primarily from a population 120 respondents (teachers and students) from some selected Junior Secondary Schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
It consists of a total of 30 English Teachers and 90 Students drawn from 10 (Ten) Junior Secondary Schools in the area under the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section presents the Results, analyses and discussion of the data obtained from the questionnaires administered English Language teachers. The data was collected from the Teachers in five selected Junior Secondary Schools in JOS NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE by the researcher. This chapter is presented under the following headings.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATION
This research was carried out with the intention of finding out the awareness, effective usage and the role of instruction materials in English language instruction in junior secondary schools, conducted in five selected public schools in Jos north local government area of plateau state.
SUMMARY
Instructional materials are very essential for an effective teaching and learning process. They help the students to understand and retain what they have learnt in the subject, and have a good command of the language; the students become more involved in the class and helps in improving the teaching-learning experience. Besides, teaching becomes a lot easier for the teacher.
The criteria for using instructional materials include using good instructional materials which suits the topic, and the individuals’ difference of the students also put under considered.
The result of this study observed that most instructional materials and resources are not available in the schools for the teaching of English Language. The most available instructional materials are textbooks, chalkboards and cardboards etc. These were predominantly used in the classrooms.
Other instructional materials such as charts, graphs, diagrams, cartoons, posters, pictures, maps/atlases, sentences strips, flash cards, bulletin boards, etc. which are locally available and inexpensive are not provided or are insufficient, teachers lament on the challenges they face in sourcing or making teaching aids which are easy to make. Even though the ones they manage to make for themselves do not always have the required effectiveness for the lesson goals and objectives. The provisions of these materials are completely neglected in the teaching process by the concerned authorities. Audio-visual materials like television, computers, overhead transparencies, video recorders are mostly not just there at all.
This is observed in the sampled schools irrespective of the fact that audio-visual materials are very useful in teaching listening and teaching oracy skills area of language teaching. Most times English teachers relied on only textbooks, mobile phone recorders etc. where available.
CONCLUSION
The research work is gained towards knowing the effects of instructional materials in the teaching of English Language concepts in junior schools secondary schools.
Using instructional materials has made life in the teaching profession interesting having seen the role they play, although some researchers believed that the place of instructional materials in the teaching and learning process should be restricted to a particular media of the related facts that aids easy remembering by learners should be employed.
This research work reveals that both audio visual technology media as stated in the research work has great importance to Language teaching in post primary and tertiary institutions of learning.
Educational goal attainment depends a lot on the quality of teaching, teaching methods, and teaching aids. The findings of this study revealed that there are lack of instructional materials and resources necessary for the effective implementation of all areas of language teaching curriculum in the junior secondary schools in Jos North LGA of plateau State. Most teachers do not use necessary instructional materials to teach. The lack of necessary instructional materials and resources reduces the students to mere passive participants in the learning process. Consequently, there is erosion of enthusiasm in the teaching/learning process by both teachers and students.
English in Nigeria is taught as a second Language in Nigeria, the need to employ all means for its effective teaching cannot be overemphasized for a better informed and educated generation, more-over English is the official language of instruction for other subjects which further underscores the importance of students effectively comprehending all areas of English language taught. In order to achieve the national educational goals and objectives contained in the National Policy on Education.
The following recommendations are made based on the above findings.
- There is need for all stakeholders including the Federal, State and Local Governments and the Private sector to contribute financially and materially in the provision of instructional materials and resources for the teaching of English in the junior secondary schools.
- Teachers should co-ordinates their efforts in the sector of teaching with instructional materials.
- Conference, seminars and workshops should be organized to exchange ideas and documents concerning instructional materials.
- Teachers should be further encouraged to improvise and make teaching aids for themselves where possible is it’s not readily available.
- School Heads, Principals and officials of the Ministry of Education should ensure regular supervision to enhance effective use of the available instructional materials and resources in the teaching of English in the junior secondary schools.
- Teachers should mutually help each other to acquire all the materials necessary to carry out teaching with instructional materials.
- Lean resources and financial constraints prevent us from equipping all schools with the most needed instructional materials for the teaching and learning of English Language, it is thus necessary to produce specialized personal aids, there by improvise more for the use that will maximize the little teaching aids at our disposal.
- The federal ministry of education in conjunction with the state ministry of education should create a committee to be entrusted with centralizing and disbursement of research undertaken on instructional materials media for teaching by various scholars/researchers.
- The Federal Government and states Government should as a matter of urgency employ the recommendations by various researchers in the field of mathematics to ensure sustained promotion and better understanding of mathematics students. The centre should also assess the most effective methods and teaching aids needed to be developed.
- Finally M. Ishaku (2007) recommends that for effective learning to take place there must be instructional materials, funds, adequately trained teachers, workshops and engaging higher institutions in relevant research and educators in curriculum development for the provision of guidelines for identification, facilitation, promotion of prospect in the areas of institutional technology in post primary schools.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
- This researcher is of the view that any similar research work could be conducted in other parts of the state as well as in other institutions of higher learning in the country.
- there is need to use other instruments apart from the ones used in this research in the same atmosphere to determine the consistency of the conclusions arrived at this research.
- It is suggest that other students in other higher institutions should embark on project studies of importance of instructional materials to their teaching profession.
- There should be a study on the performance of students when instructional materials are used effectively in English language teaching.
- There should be a study on the effects of not using instructional materials when teaching English Language in junior secondary schools
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