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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the status of oral English instruction in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone. It was conducted in Nsukka Education Zone in Enugu State. The population of the study was all the senior secondary school English language teachers in the Education zone. There was no sampling as all the English language teaches (300) consisting of 200 and 100 from rural and urban schools were used in the study. The oral English teaching status (OETSI) was the instrument fro data collection. The instrument was a 4-point likert type scale whose value ranged from

4 to 1 point for strongly agree and strongly disagree options respectively. Both the validation and reliability of the instrument were done and reliability coefficient of 0.68 was established. After administering and obtaining data from the respondents, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used in analysis of data. Some of the major findings were that the use of game activities, poems and songs, pronunciation exercises, taped cassettes are employed by oral English teachers; that oral English is mostly taught when WAEC/NECO examinations were at hand; and that mother tongue interference and lack of oral  English teaching  materials  was a  problem  encountered by  teachers in oral English instruction. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that a unified in-service training for oral English teachers in secondary schools in area of methods for oral English instruction be provided for serving teachers and that teacher education institutions should  intensity training for students-teachers in oral English instruction.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Language is a human activity and the development of the individual depends on its usage. Ajikobi (1997) explained that one notable function of language is the record of observations, incidents and processes. Language, he continued, has also been considered as production and integral part of culture. It reflects the culture of people concerned and their world view.

Language serves as a means through which people living together structure and organise their experiences. It makes the human society what it is as it plays a leading role in  the  cultural orientation of  a person in  the  socio-cultural  group  he  belongs (Anasiudu, 2002).  As an important communication symbol, language permeates all aspects of man’s interrelationships. This could be in the aspect of verbalization or gesticulations.  Thus  for  man  to  communicate  effectively  within  the  mechanics  of human enterprise, he has to learn those rubrics of the language of communication within his environment.

In Nigeria today, it is estimated that there are about 400 languages (Agheyesi and Bamgbose in Ufomata, 1995). In spite of those languages in Nigeria, the colonization of Nigeria by the British brought an added language, the English Language. Achebe as noted in Ogbuehi (2001) observes that the English Language gave the multi-ethnic and the multilingual groups in Nigeria, a language with which to talk to one another.

Today, the English language though a foreign language, has been domesticated in the midst of  so  many  languages in  Nigeria  and  assumes the position of  a second

language (Anyanwu and Otagburuagu, 2005). It is indispensable in so many fields. Newspapers are produced in it. Parliamentary debates are held in it. Scientific thoughts and historical investigations are carried out through the instrumentality of the language. Poetry, drama and prose find their expressions in English. For all these reasons and more, one can refer to it as one of the linguistic properties of Nigerians, not a foreign language.

In Nigeria, anybody who speaks English fluently and correctly is referred to as learned, well bred and modest. And Kachru in Ufomata (1990) claims that,

Competence in English and the use of this language signify a transmutation: an added potential for material and social gain and advantages. One sees this attitude in what the symbol stands for; English is considered a symbol of modernisation, and an extra arm for success and mobility in culturally and linguistically complex and pluralistic society.pp2

The use of English in national functions has made it spread more than any of the indigenous  languages  in  the  country;  hence,  its  place  in  the  national  policy  on education. The social and integrative roles it plays in Nigeria have made it assume an undisputable position in Nigeria educational system. Baldeh (1990:3) re-affirms this when he says that,

The English language was thus institutionalized as the language of the government, education, commerce, industry, law and administration. Thus to obtain a lucrative job in the public sector, a pass in English Language Examination was a necessary pre-requisite, to be  educated  in  the  eyes  of  many  is  to  be  versed  in English language.

It is because of these roles that are being played by the subject that made the Nigerian educational system adopt it as a school subject. The aim is to help students acquire the basic elements and skills in the language and also to educate them on the easy, coherent and fully articulate method of communication in the language.

Recently, in the beginning of 80’s oral English was made a part of the secondary school English syllabus. The oral English is designed among other things to facilitate the standard of literacy and improve language development. It is expected to equip the student with the rudiments of the proper usage of English speech. This important part of the English language is taught at all levels of secondary school system, particularly at senior secondary school level, the aim being to teach students how to use the various aspects of the oral English in communication both in written and spoken form. In secondary schools oral English topics are organised in modules and each module specifies the variety of instructional materials, including instructional techniques for the teaching. It is an activity based and practical oriented aspect of the English language that is better taught using a variety of instructional materials.

Since the teaching of oral English requires appropriate materials, competent teachers, appropriate teaching methods, schools may not have all that are required for effective teaching of oral English. There is the tendency that the students sitting for oral English examination may not be adequately prepared for such exercise. Given the seemingly poor performance of students in English language examinations, and the poor language expressions or communications by secondary school leavers the examination of the status of oral English instructions in secondary school becomes imperative. When oral English is properly and adequately taught, the students acquire

basic level of learning that can enhance their proficiency in English language learning in   secondary  schools  and  as  well  as  improve  in  their  performances  in  English examinations and communication generally.

Despite the fact that both the oral and written forms of the language are very important in the study of the language, much emphasis is being placed on letter writing. In other words, less emphasis seems to be placed on the teaching and learning of the oral aspects of the language: the vowels, the consonants clusters and contrast. The grammatical uses of stress and intonation seem not to be given adequate recognition (Ufomata, 1995). Bamgbose in Anyanwu (2005) noted that because English is a world language,  Nigerians  who  know the  language  should  be  able  to  communicate  with colleagues in other countries. The use of correct pronunciation should enable the user of English to enter into business transactions with other international communities and affords the user the opportunity of taking part in international bodies like African Union (AU), ECOWAS and the likes. The use of correct pronunciation should enable a student to enter into conversation with another user of the language, and equally affords him the opportunity of writing and passing English Examination.

There has been a widespread fact that students perform poorly in the English Language in Nigeria, and going by the Chief Examiner’s of the West African Examinations Council of 1998 report as noted in (Obi, 2005), the aspect of English that records the highest degree of poor performance is the Oral English. By implication therefore, in consideration of language examinations, it has to be appreciated that the students’ performance in the subject may be a function of their proficiency level in oral aspects of the language. Although it has not been substantiated that the current poor

performance of students in senior school certificate English Examination is as a result of the inclusion of the oral English and the resultant effect of its teaching and learning process, a thorough examination of the teaching of this aspect of the English Language may have some interesting implications.

In examining the status of oral English  instruction in  secondary schools, the influence of certain variables appears relevant, particularly; the teacher’s competence, teaching methods, the availability and use of teaching materials, periods allotted for oral teaching, school location and class size. Also the problems inherent in oral English instruction as well as the strategies for enhancing oral instruction need to be examined. An adequate and meaningful understanding of these variables is desirable and necessary in the assessment of the teaching of oral English in secondary schools. For instance, the teacher has been found to be a very important factor in the implementation of any curriculum (Ume, 1982) and (Harden, 1984). This view might have prompted (Jegede,

1982) to opine that what the students know or do not know depends mainly on the teacher. As the curriculum user and implementer at the classroom level, the teacher should adequately know and understand the curricular contents and objectives, concepts and  stipulated teaching  strategies for him  to help  the students acquire meaningful, relevant and functional knowledge.

Recently, there have been concerns about the low cognitive competence of secondary school English teachers in Nigeria. Reports abound in Nigeria showing that the English teacher’s effectiveness is less than average (Eze, 1997; Ogbonnaya, 2008). More worrisome according to Umaru (2005), is the fact that teachers that did not study English Language in the university do teach English in secondary schools. According to

Offorma (2005:102), “the success of any learning programme is dependent on the quality of the teachers who implement it as no educational standard is above the quality of its teachers”. Could this be true of oral English instruction in secondary schools? Ime (1994) reported that BA English/Education results in many universities in Nigeria show that students’ attainment in an Oral English course is poor. For instance it is possible that  such  students  who  have  poor  previous  preparation  in  oral  component  of  the language upon entry into teaching English language may not teach this subject well enough because their knowledge and application of oral English and its process skills are very low. Yet such teachers are expected to teach the oral English that they may not know well enough.

Another variable whose status needs to be examined is the oral English teaching methods. Method according to Wilkins (1981:57) is “a set of materials organized into a fixed pedagogic sequence requiring the use of classroom activities which embody a certain view of language learning”. Since language teaching is a process of causing language learning, one can scarcely regard English as having been taught if it has not been learned. If the students entrusted to the English teacher are not able to use it for communication, then the teacher has failed in his role as a facilitator of learning. He will be properly disposed to execute this responsibility effectively if he possesses not only the knowledge but also the skills necessary for him to function effectively in the classroom. Baird in Ezeomeke, (2003) lends credence to this view and posits that a bad method can overshadow the teacher’s knowledge. This stance taken by Baird perhaps might have prompted Uzo (1995) to say that it is the method that determines the ‘what and how’ of any language instruction. Baldeh (1990) blames the teachers for students’

poor performance in English Language. According to him, teachers of Oral English do verbalize their oral language lessons relying only on the use of chalkboard and chalk otherwise known as “chalk and talk method” of teaching. For effective teaching of oral English to take place in secondary school, there is the need for the use of appropriate teaching methods. Teachers of oral English are expected to use methods that are activity oriented  to  enhance  students’  understanding,  retention  and  application  of  the  oral English lessons and as well as perform better in oral English examinations. Whether or not  the  secondary  school  oral  English  teachers  in  Nsukka  education  zone  utilize appropriate activity-oriented teaching methods is yet to be found.

As   explained   by   Ivowi   (2005),   the   problem   of   incongruity   between provision and expectation of teaching resources in school has adversely affected the teaching/learning process with the result that the performance of students is generally defective. Education is an expensive enterprise and for any nation to achieve her educational goals, adequate funding must be provided. Obanya (2002) believes that teaching should emphasize depth of learning instead of rote learning. How could this be achieved if the required teaching materials are not provided to facilitate the teachers’ tasks? For effective teaching of oral English in schools, equipment and infrastructural facilities such as language laboratories must be provided.

Furthermore, information on the number of periods given to the oral English teaching in the secondary school is considered necessary in this work. Nwodo (2008) is of the view that one of the factors that contributes to the students’ poor performance in English  language  examinations  lie  in  the  number  of  periods  given  to  the  English language  teaching  in  some  schools.  Opinions  abounds  that  the  number of  periods

allotted to English language in school time table is not adequate. In this study, it will be necessary to examine the periods allotted to oral English teaching in the secondary schools in Nsukka zone.

Another variable whose status needs to be examined with respect to the teaching of oral English in the secondary school is the school location. As reported by some studies, Opara s(2003) and Okebukola (1990) among others, school location has an influence on teaching of school subjects at secondary school levels. For Ali and Obioma (1986), students performed significantly higher in urban schools than their counterparts in rural schools. This study tends to find out the status of oral English instruction at secondary school levels at both rural and urban schools located in Nsukka education zone. Is the teaching of oral English more effective in urban than in rural schools or otherwise? In Nigeria situation where there are gleaming differences in relation to urban and rural schools when issues like materials and facilities for teaching, number and quality of teachers posted and provision of basic infrastructure are considered, the need to investigate the location of school as a variable in oral English instruction becomes obvious.

The class size (small, normal or large) of the oral English will be examined. The result, like other variables, may be interesting. Presently, there seems to be no research evidence to convincingly show the status of class size of oral English in Secondary schools. Particularly, the status of oral English class size in secondary schools within Nsukka education zone does not seem to have examined.

As explained by Onuigbo (2001), the problem of non-correspondence between the pronunciation of words and realization of their spellings has adversely affected the

teaching of oral English. The Igbo language for instance, is made up of words that are pronounced exactly the same way they are spelt. In other words, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the pronunciation of the word and its realization in spelling. But English spelling in a vast majority of cases is highly deceptive particularly to the second language learner. This is because its orthography is not always a guide to its pronunciation. This problem of oral English teaching is further aggravated when one realizes that some sounds in English language do not have any place in the Igbo language. For instance, sounds like /Λ/ /θ/ /∂/. These sounds present great tasks to the teachers of oral English themselves that they usually approximate them to their seeming Igbo equivalents, thereby rendering the sounds meaningless. The teachers of oral English face the problem of reconciling his own language with the language he is teaching. To teach a language well, the teacher must know something about the culture of the owners of the language but ironically, most oral English teachers have never left the shores of Nigeria and have never had the opportunity of receiving first-hand instruction from the native speakers of the English language, Otagburuagu (2005).

However, the oral English instruction in the secondary schools can be enhanced. The teachers of oral English must be good models of speech to students to emulate. Educationists accept this as a fundamental qualification of a good teacher, (Azikiwe,

1998). They must have the special training needed for adequate teaching of oral English and must do away with the theoretical method of presenting oral English instruction. Wonderful opportunity and strength should be directed to the pronunciation of English sounds particularly those of them that do not exist in our mother tongue. Government has a role to play in this regard; teachers of oral English should be sponsored to those

countries where English is spoken. Exposure to language is essential for language teachers for it triggers enormous ease for imitation and reduces interference from the previous linguistic and social phenomena. Oral English differs markedly from written English; speech is concerned with organized sounds while writing deals with inscriptions on paper. One, therefore; may wonder how a teacher can guide a learner with just books. Obviously, the book alone cannot comfortably guide the teacher in this task. Mastery of speech production is subject to effective listening and speaking. The teacher of oral English should be immersed in the community of the English  speaking people for proper mastery of the subject

Statement of the Problem

In spite of the fact that both oral and written English are important in the mastery of English language, it seems that more emphasis is placed on the teaching of written than oral English. NERDC Project (1986:ix) supports this opinion when it observes that currently, very little teaching goes on in the name of oral English at secondary school level in Nigeria. Many authors like Obanya (1981), and Vallete (1980) are of the opinion that oral English is haphazardly taught in secondary schools. What appears more disturbing, according to Oderinde in Uzo (1995) is that many teachers of oral English seem to have limited knowledge and prerequisite requirement for oral English. Similarly, WAEC Chief Examiner’s Report (1989) indicates that an area that records the highest degree of poor performance in WAEC English Examination is the oral English. Further, the issue of ineffective communication in English as prevalent in the in-school and secondary school leavers is apparent in our society. Secondary school

leavers can hardly, if at all, communicate effectively in the oral forms of English language, a situation that expresses doubt on the status of oral English instruction in the secondary  school.  Also  the  prevalent  poor  performances  of  the  secondary  school students in external examinations conducted by WAEC and NECO further helps to cast doubt  on  the  status  of  oral  English  teaching  in  the  schools.    These  reports  and observations seem  to  agree with Ufomata (1995) that oral English  teaching is not adequately addressed in the secondary schools.

Though these reports exist about the students’ performance in oral English, as well as the communication problems amongst secondary school leavers, the issue of examining the status of oral English to identify the factors that enhance or hinder the teaching have not been adequately addressed. In particular, the status of oral English instruction in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone seems not been adequately examined. Hence, this study is to investigate the status of oral English instruction in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone of Enugu state.

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of the study is to investigate the status of oral English instruction in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone.

Specifically, the study investigated:

1.  The characteristics of oral English teacher (qualifications, competence and area of specialization)

2.  The methods of teaching oral English.

3.  The materials available for oral English instruction.

4.   The adequacy of time given to oral English instruction.

5.   The influence of school location on oral English instruction.

6.   The problems associated with oral English instruction.

7.   The strategies of enhancing oral English instruction.

Significance of the study

The findings of this study will be of benefit to the language curriculum planners, Examination  bodies,  the  Government,  Language  educators,  English  teachers  at secondary schools, the secondary school students, and researchers.

The curriculum planners will find the results of this study relevant for it will provide them with information on adequacy or otherwise of the oral English contents, of the teaching materials as well as the nature of teachers that handle oral English teaching at secondary schools. This will assist the curriculum planners in review of English curriculum.

The Examination bodies like West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and others will also find the findings of the study interesting. It will highlight the state of teaching of the oral English in secondary schools and hence suggest to the Examination bodies the need to moderate the examination accordingly- in terms of the mode of instruction as well as the testing instrument for improved performance.

Furthermore, the government will find the findings of the study relevant. Information on the availability or otherwise of the required oral English teaching

materials and facilities will be shown by the study. This will assist the government in the provision of relevant and adequate number of oral English teaching materials and facilities in secondary schools.

The policy makers will find the results of this study relevant in making policies on English language teaching. It will help policy makers in organising workshops, seminars and conferences as well as in-service training for serving teachers to improve on their oral English teaching.

English language educators and teachers will also find the results of the study relevant. The study will highlight strategies for better teaching of oral English at secondary schools and thus English language educators and teachers will benefit from such information through the presentation of the findings of this study in conferences and seminars.

Equally, the secondary school students will benefit from the results of the study as the study will suggest appropriate methods for teaching oral English at secondary schools, and students being the recipient of such teaching will be enriched.

Finally, researchers in language education will find the results of the study interesting.  It will serve as a base for further research in the area of oral English teaching at the same or other levels of education in Nigeria.

Scope of the Study

The study was conducted in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. It involved the use of senior secondary school English teachers as subjects since the English teachers teach the oral aspect of the English and are competent to give information about the status of oral English instruction.

The teacher related factors (the teacher’s competence, educational qualification, area  of  specialization  and  teaching  experience)  class  size,  the  adequacy of  period allotted for oral English  teaching, the  location of the schools (urban or rural), the methods and available resources for oral English instruction will be covered. Also, the problems  associated   with   the   teaching   of  oral  English   and   the   strategies  for enhancement will also be examined.

Research Questions

The study was guided by these questions.

1.  What are the characteristics (qualification, competence and area of specialization)

of oral English teachers in the secondary schools?

2.  To what extent are the methods used for oral English instruction in secondary schools effective?

3.  Are  there  available  materials  for  oral  English  instruction  in  the  secondary schools?

4.    How adequate are the periods allotted to oral English teaching?

5. What problems do oral English teachers encounter in teaching oral English in secondary school?

6.  What  strategies  can  be  adopted  to  enhance  oral  English  instruction  in  the secondary school?

Hypotheses:

The following hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1.  There is no significant difference in the mean response of the urban and rural oral

English teachers on the problems encountered in oral English instruction.

2.  There is no significant difference in the mean response of the urban and rural oral

English teachers on strategies for enhancing oral English instruction.

3.  There is no significant difference in the mean response of the experienced and less  experienced  oral  English  teachers  on  the  problems  encountered  in  oral English instruction.

4.   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the experienced and less experienced teachers on the strategies for enhancing oral English instruction in secondary schools.


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STATUS OF ORAL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE

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