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AN APPRAISAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND MATERIALS IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGER STATE.

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Abstract

As teachers of language subjects in our tertiary institution (Federal College of Education, Kontagora in particular), it is disturbing to find that the quality of students admitted from our secondary schools into the NCE programme is low. This is what had prompted this team to look into this appalling phenomenon via a research work titled “An Appraisal of Language Teachers and Materials in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Niger State. Six research questions were answered reasonable, while two hypotheses were tested through percentage computation, T-test and analysis of variance respectively. The population of the study included language teachers and students in public senior secondary schools in Niger State. On the whole 200 schools were randomly selected from the three senatorial zones comprising 25 Local Government Areas of Niger State. A Quantity-and-quality-of-language-teachers-and-materials survey questionnaire was drafted for teachers and validated to yield a reliability ind

CHAPTER ONE

AN APPRAISAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND MATERIALS IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGER STATE.

• Background of the Study

Language, arbitrary in nature, is said to be a combination of sound, noises, signs and symbols, verbal and non-verbal, engineered towards communication and education of man. It is as old as man and a vital instrument of his identity. From the inception of creation, language has been an indispensable tool in all human endeavors and an ally towards growth and development. Through language, nations learn to be at peace with their neighbors. Therefore, man’s civilization and enlightenment progressed in all scope and ramifications of existence. Consequently, the discovery of the importance of languages has made nations over the ages to nurture and promote it. Therefore, language is prioritized in the philosophy of education and in the formulation of policies on education of most countries.

Item 10, section 1 of Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (N.P.E) 4th Edition (2004), is sub-headed ‘The importance of language’ and it states thus:

1. Government appreciates the importance of language as a means of promoting social interaction and national cohesion; and preserving cultures. Thus every child shall learn the language of the immediate environment. Furthermore, in the interest of national unity it is expedient that every child shall be required to learn one of the three Nigerian languages: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
2. For smooth interaction with our neighbours it is desirable for every Nigerian to speak French. Accordingly, French shall be the second official language in Nigeria and it shall be compulsory in primary and Junior Secondary Schools but non-vocational Elective at the Senior Secondary School.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that item 10 of the N.P.E embraces language as custodian of Nigerian cultures, which engenders citizenship awareness and unity amongst Nigerians.

Efforts of the Nigerian Government towards the actualization of the N.P.E provisions are seen through the commendable positive achievements of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) nationwide. Modern structural constructions and renovations as well as material provisions to schools, are major landmarks in the development and growth of education in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, over the years, final examination results of Public Senior Secondary Schools such as in S.S.C.E and W.A.E.C, do not reflect these efforts. Rather, they mostly frustrate government endeavour, as students’ performance in language subjects drop, particularly in English. However, it will be hasty to point an accusing finger at the implementer or the end users of the N.P.E. without a proper assessment of the situation, hence the need for this project which is; An Appraisal Of Language Teachers And Materials In Public Senior Secondary Schools In Niger State. This assessment task could be likened to the cleaning of the mythological Aegean stable-arduous and Herculean. Yet, there is a saying that the best way to eat an elephant is in bits. This research proposes to do an appraisal of language teachers and materials in public senior secondary schools in Niger State. It will ascertain to which extent language teaching policy has been prioritized, implemented and accomplished in public senior secondary schools in Niger State.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

This research proposes solutions after the recognition of the following problems.

1. Lack of qualified language teachers in public senior secondary schools
2. Lack of proper organization and sufficient delivery of lessons of teachers in public senior secondary schools;

• Lack of adequate planning of topics; thereby leading to teachers inefficiency;

1. Lack of adequate qualitative teaching materials; thereby leading to loss of interest and poor performance of students.

 

1.3       Scope of the Study

1. The study is limited to Niger State amongst the 36 states in the nation.
2. The appraisal is limited to language subject teachers amongst other subject teachers.

• It covers all language subjects taught at public senior secondary school level (i.e. Arabic, English, French, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba).

1. It is limited to public senior secondary schools in Niger State.
2. The appraisal is limited to materials used in teaching language subjects

 

1.4       Purpose of the Study

1. An adequate appraisal of language teachers and materials in public senior secondary schools in Niger State will furnish the government with valid, reliable and current data with which to formulate future educational policies and embark on future academic projects.
2. This research will assist the government in knowing and monitoring the impact it has made so far through the N.P.E provisions on language studies.

• An accurate assessment of the problem will facilitate the proffering of solutions to ailing areas of language studies in the state.

1. An adequate appraisal of language teachers and materials in public senior secondary schools in Niger State will help to discard various false hypotheses and assumptions about language studies in Niger State.
2. The findings will be useful to researchers as a resource material for related research works in teaching and learning of languages in Niger State and Nigeria in general.

Keywords: Pedagogy, Evaluation, Instructional materials, Language Policy, Motivation.

 

1.5       Research Questions

The research should be able to answer the following questions:

1. To what extent are the public senior secondary schools implementing the N.P.E provisions in language study in Niger State?
2. What ratio of qualified language teachers are available in public senior secondary schools in Niger State?

• How sufficient are the language teachers in public senior secondary schools in Niger State?

1. What is the quantity of recommended language text-books and other teaching materials in public senior secondary schools in Niger State?
2. To what extent are language teachers in public senior secondary schools in Niger state motivated?

1.6       Research Hypotheses

Since there is the need to test the result from our research instrument, the following hypotheses were formulated.

Hypothesis I: There is no significant difference in the quality and quantity of language teachers between rural and urban public senior secondary schools in Niger State.

Hypothesis II: There is no significant difference in the quality and the quantity of the available teaching materials between rural and urban public senior secondary schools in Niger State.

1.7       Analysis of Priority Areas for Sectorial Development.

The development of this educational sector has been arrested by such problems as  ignorance of the NPE provisions on language studied, lack of data on the sufficiency of qualified language teachers in public senior secondary schools in Niger State, lack of data on the availability of qualitative and quantitative language text books and other teaching materials in public senior secondary schools in Niger State and lack of data on the types of incentive and the level of motivation given to language teachers in public senior secondary schools in Niger State. This fact finding research, via extensive field work will ascertain the true nature and extent of the aforementioned problems and provide also unprecedented raw data with which to solve these problems and for further future research in this sectoral development.

Federal Government of Nigeria’s vision 2020 aims at the betterment of communication and social interaction amongst various ethnic groups, language is obviously a significant tool in achieving these aims. Therefore, the pattern of language studies in senior secondary schools as well as the availability of resources are very essential. The languages taught in senior secondary schools under the N.P.E provision includes:

• English Language
• French Language
• Arabic Language
• Hausa language
• Igbo Language
• Yoruba Language

This research will focus its attention on the availability of resources in the teaching of these languages in senior secondary schools, as observation has shown that there are poor performances of students in public examinations in these languages. Chief Examiners of NECO and WAEC in 2005 reported that reading culture amongst students in these languages is in serious decline and at its lowest ebb. Therefore, as part of the recommendations, school authorities are advised to employ qualified language teachers and retrain those in the service. Fully equipped and functional libraries should be provided and teachers should be motivated adequately to read extensively.