IMPACT OF THE LABORATORY ON ORAL ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
ABSTRACT
The theoretical framework for this study was provided by a review of literature, which was also prepared to allow the researcher to collect sufficient data for the study. Questionnaires were used in data collection to gather information from primary sources. The research findings were presented in tabular form and analyzed using simple percentages. The study’s goal is to determine whether there are enough language laboratories available for effective English language teaching and learning in secondary schools.
Their importance stems from the fact that they provide invaluable information to the government, the Nigeria Educational Research Center, and curriculum planners. Its purpose is to assess the impact of the Language Laboratory on effective English language teaching and learning in secondary schools.
The study’s population consisted of 25 teachers, and there was no sampling. Primary and secondary data are collected during instrument administration and data collection. This research study’s information instrument. Before we used the questionnaire, it was approved by the supervisor.
Everything was obtained through hard work, and since the people interviewed by the researchers in Enugu North Local Government Area are trustworthy individuals, their contributions have assisted the researchers in carrying out the research work effectively, method of data analysis, and the researchers obtained their information from newspapers.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
In one sense, we are constantly being educated, to the point where everything that happens to us may cause some changes in the way we feel, think, act, and, of course, speak. We learn from what we hear, from our surroundings, from the people we meet, and from ideas in books or papers. In fact, everything that surrounds us and that we encounter is constantly educating us and our children.
The school curriculum is taken into account in order for the educational process to function properly. As a result, curriculum refers to a set of subjects or fields of study organized in a specific order. Curriculum, according to Puckett (1979), is the selection, organization, and administration of a body of subject matter designed to lead the pupil to the same definite life goal.
Despite the fact that so many aspects of human knowledge compete for inclusion as subjects in school curricula today, at least one modern language retains the right to a place in secondary school curricula. All those who believe that learning a modern language other than one’s native tongue plays an important role in adolescent development, a role that may be even more important today than in the past, are content with this. In theory and practice, whenever circumstances allow, the benefits inherent in such a study are beneficial to children in secondary schools.
According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, language is “the body of wards and systems of use shared by people of the same community or nation, geographical area, or cultural tradition.” Human speech, whether spoken or written, is referred to as language. Language exists wherever there is a human society. The majority of human activities require the cooperation of two or more people. A common language allows humans to collaborate in an infinite number of ways.
According to Lieberman (1984), human language is built on a biological foundation shared by other primates, and both humans and animals have innate neural mechanisms that are matched to their respective sound producing mechanisms. Nonetheless, most linguists will readily agree that only humans have language proper, and that having language gives humans a significant advantage over other species.
Out of the approximately 5000 languages spoken in the world, English is one of the most important. English was only spoken by about 15 million people around 200 years ago. Today, however, English is used by more than 300 million people, ranking second only to Chinese in terms of the number of people who speak a specific language. English is one of the world’s most influential and rapidly growing languages.
English is spoken by one-fifth of the world’s population, either as a native language or as an official language. English is the most widely studied language in the world, particularly in areas where it is not native.
Today, English is spoken in a number of countries on the American continent, including the United States of America and Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa, Australia and Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of countries in the Wes African subcontinent, and others. Despite the fact that English was the language of colonization in these countries, such as India’s colonized territories.
English is usually taught as the primary foreign language in other countries, such as Japan and China. Approximately half of all scientific and technical journals, as well as newspapers, are published in English. The spread of English is aided further by the establishment of the British Council and the United States Information
Service by the British and United States governments, respectively, with centers and libraries in various countries including Nigeria. All of these factors have made it possible for anyone who understands and speaks English and travels to major cities around the world to effectively communicate with one another.
English is a lingua franca, according to Anibueze (2007). It is the Language of Unification as a lingua franca. It is well-established in order for people of various languages to relate to one another and work together. A Hausa man, for example, can comfortably and effectively converse with a Yoruba or an Igbo man, and vice versa.
Since the days of colonialism, the English language has remained a vital tool for socialization and bureaucratic activities in Nigeria. It was only natural that the emphasis was placed solely on spoken English and not on written English or both. However, with the emergence of a new class of people, time, civil servants, and their new roles in colonial administration, the teaching and learning of the language took on a different form.
Today, English is the international language; according to Ezugu (1998), English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Many countries use it as a primary or secondary language. It is the language of education, administration, law, global trade, international diplomacy, and culture.
It is therefore worthwhile to learn this vital language, because anyone who does not will be denied access to the world’s brightest ideas and cutting-edge technologies.
In Nigeria today, English remains the language of pedagogy; students can hardly make commendable progress in their studies without adequate mastery of English, which is used to teach and assess most courses in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions.
This necessitates a system that is both rudimentary and functional in its approach.
This is significant because, according to Umaru (2005), when a student learns a new language, he frequently does not know how to express himself in writing.
Because the student communicates in a foreign language, he must begin from the beginning to learn the fundamentals of the language. It is natural then that this is the function where the various problems arising from the teaching and learning of the Language meet the need to do so properly.
According to Oluikpe (2005), the basic criteria for assessing students’ proficiency in writing and speaking are generally control of the basic grammatical categories such as punctuation, tense, number, gender, and so on. Language teaching in Nigeria had been plagued by flaws.
The primary cause of these deficiencies is our English teachers, who are not only uneducated but also unprofessional.
Even if they are somewhat trained, their education is grounded in the work. A situation in which a language teacher lacks mastery of its grammatical categories, as we see today, does not bode well for the system. Writing on these issues, Regner et al (2001) discovered that “many good teachers are adaptive rather than rigid in their approach to teaching children and only loosely base their instruction on a given method.”
Language is the official medium of communication for humans, and it is one of the characteristics that distinguishes man from animals. Signs and symbols lack international recognition and may be difficult to comprehend. Everyone cannot read pictures, paintings, or sculptures.
Language is superior to all of them because it is easily understood and widely used. Language, according to Ozohili (2007), literally means the “tongue,” a human organ used for speaking. Language is traditionally defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols through which thoughts are communicated from one being to another.
Language Learning; Humans have the ability to learn, comprehend, and think about things. He has the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. He can also investigate situations, gather information, plan, and carry out plans. Man’s high intelligence has also allowed him to evolve a level of linguistic communication that allows him to control his life. According to Theodore (2001), language learning necessitates a significant amount of time, patience, and practice. It cannot be done solely in school with a large class, but individual students must practice for a few minutes each day.
As a result, pupils and students should be encouraged to practice this language in their spare time in order to master it as required.
Methodology: The method by which the teacher presents his materials to the students and engages them in the task at hand is referred to as methodology.
In any teaching-learning situation, methodology is critical. According to Robert (2003), in order for effective teaching and learning to occur, the skilled teacher must employ a variety of methods and techniques. Despite the fact that teaching methods and techniques vary greatly, none of them can be considered the best for every teaching situation. However, it is assumed that a carefully designed teaching method can work wonders in improving learning effectiveness.
The dominance of textbooks, dictionaries, chalk boards, workbooks (which are rarely used), and posters in the teaching of English Language in secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State has been counter-productive.
There is no use of modern media such as audio and video tapes, Language Laboratories, programmed texts, flash cards, computers, magazines, or newspapers. These findings are consistent with those of Kolawole (2000), who discovered that with many problems, such as insufficient and useful resources.
The modern language laboratory is one of the most recent media that is having a significant impact on our educational scene. The language laboratory is an audio or audio-visual installation used as a teaching tool in which each student can replay one track of a tape while simultaneously recording his response on another track. He can then rewind the tape and listen to both the master track and his own response, comparing the two recordings.
1.2 Problem Description
The goal of this study is to determine whether or not the language laboratory has an impact on effective English language teaching and learning in secondary schools.
The most serious issue that second language learners face is that the language is not widely used in their immediate environment. As a result, the learner has no exposure to the language of his immediate environment, which contains many teachers in the form of people with whom he interacts on a daily basis. The second language learner must compensate for missed learning opportunities outside of the classroom.
Most teachers of second languages are not native speakers themselves. As a result, they do not speak the language fluently or intelligibly. However, they are not to blame due to the interference of the mother tongue.
As a result, the researchers determined that it was necessary to investigate the impact of the language laboratory on the teaching and learning of English.
1.3 The Study’s Goal
The purpose of this study is to highlight the impact of the language laboratory on effective English teaching and learning.
1)To ascertain students’, teachers’, and administrators’ attitudes toward multimedia language labs in Nigerian junior secondary schools.
2)What factors might influence these stakeholders’ attitudes toward MLLs?
3)To assess Nigerian teachers’ use of MLLs.
4)Determine the reasons for the lack of MLL use.
1.4 Importance of the Research
The findings of this study will be invaluable to the government, the Nigeria Educational Research Centre, and curriculum planners because it will raise awareness for the installation of language laboratories.
The research is expected to help English teachers identify problems and become aware of factors that impede English teaching and how to deal with them. Students will also be aware of their major “roadblocks” to speaking and will be able to overcome them.
Finally, the findings of this study will be useful to all those involved in English language teaching in Enugu North and throughout the country.
1.5 The Study’s Scope
This study is limited to investigating the impact of language laboratories on effective English language teaching and learning in a few selected schools in Enugu North.
The scope of the research is limited to the availability of language laboratories, the qualifications of English teachers and teaching methods, the impact of the language laboratory on student performance, and finally, mother tongue interference.
1.6 Research Issues
The following research questions will be addressed in this study:
1)How do students, teachers, and administrators feel about multimedia language labs in Nigerian junior secondary schools?
2)What factors might influence these stakeholders’ views on MLLs?
3)How do Nigerian university EFL teachers use MLLs in their reporting?
4)What are the reasons given for not using MLLs?
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IMPACT OF THE LABORATORY ON ORAL ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL