ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

 Abstract

This study is on the role of Instructural materials in the teaching of English language in senior secondary schools. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Egor local government of Edo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up principals, vice principals administration, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Man learns through his senses. Some learn better by one or the other of the senses. To some, seeing believes and to others, the senses of hearing, touch, smell and taste dominate in the acquisition of knowledge. For the intended learning to take place, the teacher must communicate effectively to the learner. The best way of helping pupils to learn is to bring them face to face with the world which education intends to introduce to them. This is done by using real things in real life situations. Where real life situations are not possible, the alternative is for the teacher to use representations of real life situations. These are materials, devices and techniques that help the teacher to make realistic approach to his job. Whether real or substitute, these representations have a common goal. They help the teacher to convey the intended message effectively and meaningfully to the learner so that the learner receives, understands, retains and applies the experiences gained to reach overall educational goal (Onwuka, 1981).
In Nigeria and other countries of the world, qualified and trained teachers have always been exposed to instructional technology, which emphasizes the importance of the use of instructional materials in the teaching/learning process. More often than not, these certified professionals are found guilty of ignoring, probably as a result of inadequacy of use or an erroneous belief that their use is not as significant as it is stressed, they avoid utilization of instructional materials in their teaching/learning process with their students. This situation is further compounded by the fact that every year, more sophisticated instructional materials are being introduced for classroom teaching or learning. As a matter of fact, some of these instructional materials are very complex to use or manipulate e.g. computer. Instructional materials play vital roles in the teaching of English Language in secondary schools. Bassey (1984) conclusively elucidated the fact that instructional materials play a central role in the process of lesson planning. When teachers plan, usually their first concern is with the instructional materials and resources they have available and accessible. But according to him, teachers do not have adequate knowledge about the selection of these instructional materials. Kalaiye (1985) cited that learners need as much English language instruments for chalkboard demonstration. He concluded that the present state of affairs where English language is mainly a chalkboard and chalk affair does not make for proper understanding of the subject. Studies have associated low utilization of materials with lack of adequate knowledge of instructional materials in addition to other factors. The ability of a teacher to select these materials, depends on a great extent on the training and ingenuity of the teacher concerned (Udo, 1988).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It has been observed that the teaching and learning of English in our schools (especially in our senior secondary schools) is done without the use of instructional materials. Today, teachers are found giving abstract explanation on what necessarily should have been made easier with the employment of instructional materials. Students, on their part, do not bother to use their textbooks during classroom instruction. Many of them still do not use them after school as an additional learning resource.
The question then is, do we have most of these materials in our secondary schools for actual classroom work? It is not clear how teachers of English select and use these materials. If such materials are available in their schools; for example, over head projector, slides and film strips, the micro-projector, tape recorder and radio. Thus, the problem of this study was an investigation into the role of instructional materials in the teaching of English language.