Impact of Language Laboratory for Effective Teaching and Learning of Oral English in Junior Secondary School (a Case Study of Enugu North Local Government Area)
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The aim of this research is to highlight the impact of the language laboratory on effective teaching and learning of the English language.
- To find out if there are enough language laboratories available for effective teaching and learning of the English language in secondary schools.
- To find out the major inputs of the language laboratory on the effective teaching and learning of English language as it affects the teachers of the language in secondary schools.
- To find out the major impact of the language laboratory on the effective teaching and learning of the English language as it affects the teacher trainee of the language in secondary school.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In this chapter, the review of literature is organized under the following subheadings:
- Mother tongue interference
- The teaching methods and the qualifications of English teachers.
- Types of language laboratories.
- The availability of language laboratories.
- The impact of the language laboratory on student’s performance.
The language laboratory is not, of itself, is any way a revolutionary device in the pedagogical sense. It is merely a more efficient way of making available to students to spoken form of sounds of the language in a form which he or she can initiate in comparative privacy and which provides flexibility.
Stevens (1979) rightly pointed out that language is a learned activity. If we accept the theory that learning is over learning anything less is of no use, if we obey the dictum to get the forms by heart and practice them over and over again, day after day, until they become entirely natural and familiar, then drill work which is essentially done in the laboratory seem inevitable for effective language learning.
In 1958, in America, the National Education Act was passed providing for the establishment and strengthening of language laboratories and the training of teachers in the use of laboratory techniques.
There are problems that actually led to the inception of the language laboratory. It did not just evolve. The language laboratory was built to help alleviate the problems second language learners encounter. One of these problems is the interference of the mother tongue. The interference of the mother tongue has hampered the learning of the foreign language a great deal. With the language laboratory this problem can be curbed or reduced to a great level.
Mother Tongue Interference
A child’s mother tongue is his first language. The language spoken by his immediate community, ubakwe (1910) sees the mother tongue as a child’s first learned language, the language of his heart, home and friendship. This is the language in which he learns to express himself.
It is universally accepted that a child learns best in this mothers milk. That is why Jerome Brunner emphasized the importance of mother tongue. He said that:
It is extremely important for school children to grasp the way of using language in a more expanded form in which they can talk about things, bring up associations and identify an object in its connotation.
The child in his pre-school years acquires the linguistic principles of the language of immediate environment and consequently in the first three years of primary education this language is used as a medium of instruction in the first three years of the primary school in Nigeria.
A conscious study of related literature reveals a number of impacts the language laboratory has on an effective learning of the English language as second language. The languages; the language laboratory is there to help pin point and correct the errors brought by the interference’s of the mother tongue muses.
The structure of the Igbo language however, differs from that of the English language. It creates problems for the Igbo child who finds it difficult to adapts to the second language when it is introduced as a means of instruction. Lado (1957) pointed out that the errors and difficulties that occur in our learning and use of a foreign language are caused by the interference of our mother tongue whenever the structure of the foreign language differs from that of the mother tongue we are expect difficulty in learning and error in performance.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURE
The researchers discussed the:
- Research design
- Population of the study
- Instrument for data collection
- Validation of instrument
- Methods of data analysis
Research Design
This simple survey design was employed in this study to determine the impact of the language laboratory on effective teaching and learning of English language in secondary schools.
Area of Study
The study was carried out in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Population of the Study
The population of this study was the English language teachers in schools in Enugu North. There were 25 teachers in number and there was no sampling.
The English language teachers comprise the research subjects.
Instrument For Data Collection
A structured questionnaire which was developed by the researchers was used in collecting the data for this study.
The questionnaire consists of four (4) section and was designed to obtain information from English language teachers in some secondary schools in Enugu North.
Validation of Instruments
The researchers used structured questionnaire for data collection.
The instrument was validated by three English language specialist: two from UNN and one from Enugu North High School.
Based on the result of the validation exercised, certain items were amended before the questionnaire was finally administered on the English language teachers in different secondary schools.
Administration of Instrument and Data Collection
The questionnaire was personally administered on (25) twenty five English teachers in secondary schools in Enugu North of Enugu State.
The questionnaire was collected, organized and analyzed. Out of the (25) twenty was returned.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS/AND RESULT
The purpose of this chapter is to present and analyse the data collected. The essence is to provide the information based from which discussions and suggestions can be made therefore in the proceeding chapter. For an orderly report, the researchers have presented the analysis of data and the results in turns. There are our research questions. The data was collected and the results presented in specifiable.
Research Questions 1
What qualification do you have?
CHAPTER FIVE
Discussions, Conclusion, Implications, Recommendations And Summary
This chapter deals with the discussion of the findings, conclusion, educational implication of the finding, recommendations and the summary.
Discussion of the Findings
What qualification do you have?
Research question one raises the issue of whether or not there are enough qualified teachers do teach English language. Table 1 shows the data got from the questionnaire. The analysis of the data shows that there are more N.C.E holders (teachers) than other categories of teachers. Since N.C.E. is the maximum qualification indicated, the question of unqualified teachers to teach the English language is underlined. The researchers are of the view that there are no qualified teachers to teach the English language using the laboratory. According to the stipulation of the National policy on Education, N.C.E teachers are trained to teach the junior secondary (1-3). In addition, there is need for the teachers to be perfect models in this respect. The researchers expect that every secondary school teacher has to help learners understand spoken English without difficulty and to express themselves in English fluently, correctly and intelligibly.
Every school used in this study has some qualified English teachers but not enough to meet the teaching of the English language using the language laboratory in our secondary schools.
Do you use any of these materials in teaching the English language? Research question 3 was put to determine whether there are instructional materials available to the teacher for teaching English language. To gather some data relevant to this question, some instructional materials were listed for the respondents to indicate the one available to them. The data collected was organized on a frequency/percentage table. Table 3 shows that the teacher as a model ranks first on the list, followed by the use of textbooks, libraries, models, charts, only very few respondents claimed that they use Radio sets, cassette tape recorders, television set and sound film.
The finding further revealed that none of the schools used in this study had a language laboratory or a language room. This perhaps can be attributed to lack of finance and awareness on the part of the society at large. Ubakwe (1973) pointed out the necessity of using instructional materials to make the teaching and learning of oral English more meaningful. He said that the growth of technology especially in the area of electronics had provided more precise tools for studying the sounds of a language, laboratory is an essential, if not indispensable, requirement for effective teaching of modern languages. On the contrary, while the researchers accept that the use of instructional materials mentioned on the list should be encouraged, they believe that the use of the radio should be more sparingly, they believe that the uses of the radio should be more sparingly, this is because most speakers on the radio, especially, in our local stations are not experts of spoken English and sometimes mislead students who take them as models.
Modern audio-lingual theory stresses a listening-speaking, reading-writing sequence in a foreign language instruction. The importance of ear training in developing speaking proficiency receives particular emphasis. For example, ear training facilitates speaking and this cannot be done without the use of language laboratory where era phones and other language devices are installed.
In view of the fact that the teachers as models is the most commonly available instructional material, it becomes imperative that the language teacher must be competent in every aspect of the speech work in order to be a real model.
Table 4.4 shows the frequency and percentage of the response got on the method. Analysis of the data reveal that the greatest percentage. (70) of the respondents use the direct method and the reading method. 20% use audio-lingual and 40% use experimentation. Lecture method has the percentage of 55 while the grammar translation method ha the percentage of 75.
What are the Worst Problems Encountered in the Teaching and Learning of English Language Without the Language Laboratory?
Table 2 on the questionnaire was designed to elicit information regarding the worst problem encountered in the teaching of English language. Without the language laboratory, the data collected through the questionnaire was used in building table 4.1
Analysis of the data on the table shows that mother tongue interference have been identified by the respondents as the worst problem encountered by the teachers in teaching English language without language laboratory. It is not surprising that mother tongue interference is seen by many as a great obstacle in the teaching of English language especially the spoken aspect since English is not the only language spoken but a second language. There is no doubt that the phonemes in the Igbo language are different from those in the English language. Thus in learning English the child comes across certain phonemes that do not exist in his mother tongue. This argument is in line with Kanu (1975) writing on the problems of phonological interference for the Igbo speakers, he concluded, that sounds which existed in Igbo and at the same time in English to not create problems for the Igbo speakers learning English and that sounds which exists in Igbo create problems for the Igbo speaking students learning English.
However, other problems identified by the respondents include lack of adequate equipment, lack of interest on the part of the student, lack of exposure of the use of standard English, lack of competence in communication lack of experienced teachers to handle the language laboratory and insufficient time allotted to the teaching of English language.
Since only 40% of the respondents indicated respectively that lack of interest on the part of students and insufficient time are the worst problems. It means that if the problems outlined can be taken care of and materials provided, interest and time factor would not pose a problem for the teacher.
do you use any of the following methods in teaching English language?
Research question 4 was asked to find out methods predominantly used by English teachers in teaching their lessons. The respondents were asked to indicate the teaching method used. Table 4 shows the data obtained from the responses.
The direct method is commonly used by teachers this corresponds with Francis (1978) observing that the direct method was one of the most widely known and one of the most functional methods of teaching a second language in that the meaning was taught by making a direct connection in the mind of the learner between what he saw and what he said and later between what he thought and what he said. In order words no use is made of the learner’s language. Therefore, direct method makes learning meaningful because it relates language functions to more concrete objects and situations.
Another method that is greatly preferred by the teachers is the reading method. This method ineffective of teachers will use it appropriately. When properly used in emphasizes three out of four aspects of the basic skills in language learning namely listening, speaking and reading.
Most teachers use the grammar translation method and the lecture method which should be discouraged totally in the teaching of English language.
Very few teachers use the experimentation method and audio-lingual method which should be greatly encouraged because of their inherent advantage in involving the student in language learning.
CONCLUSION
The problems posed by the language laboratory on effective teaching and learning especially in the learning of a second language are many.
From the data collected and analysed the following conclusions can possibly be made with particular reference to schools in Enugu North Area.
The another tongue interference is seen by the teachers as the greatest problem in the teaching and learning of English language though other problems were indicated by te respondents.
The schools studied have limited number of the qualified teacher to teach the English language.
The highest instructional material available to teachers is “the teacher as a model”. None of the schools could afford to provide such facilities as a language laboratory and language room.
Most teachers use the direct method and reading method in teaching English language.
Educational implications of the findings
According to Stevens (1979) “language is a learned activity”. The implication of the above statement is that for anybody to be a good teacher of English language he must be a good speaker of the language to make an effective impart on the students in the learning of the English language. If qualified teachers are not sufficient it will constantly affect the students adversely especially in the spoken aspect of English language as seen in Enugu North.
It is known that good materials will have a good effect on students performance. The research show that instructional aids are lacking. Regrettably this does not make for effective teaching and learning of English language.
RECOMMENDATIONS
With regard to these findings, the following recommendations are made:
- That the Government and Educational planners should provide facilities for training more English teachers in secondary schools using the language laboratories. And besides English language teacher should not only have the intellectual knowledge of the subject matter……. Must also posses language usage and have a problem in their vocal systems. They should know the methodology for imparting the knowledge.
- The Government and Ministry of Education should make provision for refresher courses during long vacation to bring the languages teachers in tune with modern methodology.
- The researchers also recommend that efforts should be made to ensure a blend of experimentation with the direct method or that two or more methods be adopted in the teaching of English language. No angle method is recommendation in isolation.
Suggestions for Further Research
The researcher, hereby, recommend the following areas for further research to;
- The study could be repeated in about five years time to find out the extent of improvement.
- A comparative study of the performance of students who are taught with the language and those taught without the language laboratory.
- the impact of competence in communication.
SUMMARY
The aim of this research to find out the impact of the language laboratories on the teaching and learning of English language in secondary school in Enugu North.
To this end, the researchers made use of the teachers response to the four structured questionnaires evenly distributed to some selected schools. They were analysed and interpreted. There was no sampling but the use of percentage.
The researchers eventually came out with the findings that is no language laboratory in Nsukka Urban Area. Therefore, the impact the language laboratory will have on the effective teaching and learning of English language if installed will be tremendous.
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